blackbird singing

As a Vanderbilt grad, I'm resurrecting my username to say - the Vanderbilt name is enticing, but I really wish I would have gone to Frontier... The financial cost has really not been worth it for me. I don't feel like I can't pay my loans, but it truly is an exorbitant amount of money.... You learn to be a midwife in clinical and on the job - the book stuff you can learn anywhere. So I say - save your money!

Hey Ashley! We already made one-- Search "Vanderbilt School of Nursing - Accepted Fall 2012" and you should find it!

direct entry midwife from midwives alliance of north america "a direct-entry midwife is an independent practitioner educated in the discipline of midwifery through self-study, apprenticeship, a midwifery school, or a college- or university-based program distinct from the discipline of nursing. a direct-entry midwife is trained to provide the midwives model of care to healthy women and newborns throughout the childbearing cycle primarily in out-of-hospital settings."

I one was in your same position, trying to figure out whether DEM or CNM was better. What ultimately won me over was the fact that CNMs are legal across the country (DEMs vary by state laws--in some states they can be considered practicing medicine without a license). Also, the route to becoming a DEM was a bit too flexible for me. That is to say, some DEMs are educated at the college level and receive a bachelors or masters in midwifery (but this is the minority of DEMs). The majority receive their education through apprenticeship. This leads to lack of standards. There certainly are DEMs who are well education, well trained, and are fully knowledgeable on what they are doing. But these lax regulations mean that there are a lot of DEMs taking on women that should not be birthing at home. If you are interested in reading more about this, you should check out the blog midwifeology. She was going to be a CPM, and after a lot of soul searching, she decided on CNM. Finally, I am interested in doing general well-women care, which CNMs practice, whereas DEMs typically only deal with women during pregnancy, labor, delivery, and a short postpartum period. Also, I realized that my philosophy on birth and women's health care would not change no matter the type of midwife I was. Also, the amount of time you spend with a laboring woman depends on the type of practice you work for. Some have midwives stick with their patient throughout their whole pregnancy, labor and delivery. Others have on-call, which as you mentioned, means you would leave at the end of your shift. CNMs do do home births, though. They are in the minority of CNMs, but they are out there. Just my 2 cents... GOOD LUCK!!

I think you will be the midwife you know you want to be. The education is just the way to get there. There are CNMs with different philosophies. Having said that, I agree with arabianeyez in that you will have a lot more opportunities available as a CNM. And you won't be restricted by different laws in different states as a CPM.

Although there are lists of the possible sites on their website (and I remember seeing one in Washington and one in Eugene, OR), you can also create a proposal for a site you have found, proving that it is a Health Professional Shortage Area. I have spoken with a woman that did this process. She said it was long and time consuming, but it was worth it because she got to work at a site that she knew she wanted to work at. And she was a new grad. I have always been under the impression that those that do this process are all new grads, but I could be wrong. Just an idea to be open to if you can't find a site on their pre-made list that is not in one of your preferred areas!

That's great news Midwife22! I've heard it is a lot easier to get into the midwifery portion if you have your BSN than it is to go for the ABSN/MSN all at once. Also that there are more spots available to those who are nurses already. Congrats! And Good luck to you!

I think it really varies by hospital the privileges that a CNA will have, but I can give you my experience. I am a CNA on a med/surg floor and we do typical CNA stuff: bathing, toileting, feeding, changing beds, send lab specimens, vital signs, blood sugars, pass ice, stock linens, etc. Where I work, the CNAs that work in ED are called Techs and are allowed to do blood draws, EKGs, and are more active in the code situations (I deliver the crash cart and get out of the way). My guess would be that a CNA in ED would do almost the same: toileting, stocking, vital signs, blood sugars, and the rest probably varies depending on the hospital. I would say both are going to be really great learning experiences! I would say put in an app for both and see where it takes you! Good luck and hope that helped

Ditto what de2013 said. There are some graduate entry level that are kindof akin to ABSN programs. They are intended for students who have a bachelors in another field, and the programs are quicker than those that are typical nursing programs. Might I also add, if it is a general master's degree, make sure it is a MSN if you intend to eventually be an advanced practice nurse (APN aka nurse practitioner, nurse midwife, etc). There are some master's entry level programs that grant the MN. The difference being that if you wanted to go from the MSN to an APN, you can simply go the post master's route. You cannot do this for the MN. There are extra classes required. This is simply a word of advice from a coworker who got her MN, was told she could simply do post-masters, and when she went to apply, found out that wasn't the case.... BUT that is all for the programs that include JUST the masters and NOT the specialty courses for a chosen field (i.e. pediatric NP, psych-mental health NP, family NP, nurse midwife, etc. etc. AFAIK there are barely any master's entry level programs to be a nurse anesthetist) Anywho! If you are interested in becoming an APN, most of these programs will have you indicate your specialty at the time of the application. These programs consist of 1 year to 1.5 years of general nursing courses before sitting for the NCLEX. THEN you take your master's level courses (the specialty courses in peds, midwifery, or whatever) to get your MSN. Then after graduation you take the boards to become whatever APN specialty you have chosen. Does that make sense? haha I wrote it kind of confusingly...I completed the application process last year and will be starting a similar program in the fall, so if you have any questions at all, feel free to let me know!

I asked in my interview "i know in the past you have accepted 8 students in the past. do you know how many you will accept this year?" and they said "about the same." but I couldn't give you the exact numbers.

Midwife22, you rock! Thank you so much for posting that! I am so excited about going to vandy, but at the same time, I can't help but be disappointed that I'm not going to OHSU. It was very refreshing to read your insight and friends' experiences, though!

Yeah, that stuff does stink. But hey, it's part of the job! I will second what everyone else here has already said. And, there is such a feeling of pride when you finish up a bath and see your patient or resident neatly groomed and smelling good. Or, after you clean up some stinky depends and leave them fresh and clean. Sometimes, it's the small things in life... And, you do get a lot of time to talk to them, more than the nurses. I work in a hospital, so it's a bit different than the LTCF, but we still are in charge of all of the same basics. The thing I am most grateful for in my job is the amount of learning opportunities! Even though I don't have the responsibilities that a nurse does, I am often the liason between the patient and the nurse. So, if something comes up where a patient asks me a question about their treatment or a medicine that I am unable to answer, I ask the nurse. So yay! Learning opportunity for me! I have also found that a lot of the nurses are very willing to ask you to help out with certain things so you can observe what they are doing: inserting a foley (i'm holding the patient's legs), changing a dressing (again, i'm holding up the limb), etc. And the best part of the day is when the patients and nurses thank me for all my help that day. It really does make the job a lot easier on one of those crazy days, and it's always wonderful to know that you are appreciated!

Yes, that is a real position! Most OB Techs are trained surgical techs since they scrub in for a lot of c-sections. This is all from my own research, but I know some are trained CNAs that have on the job training as a surg tech. In order to get hired as one, you could take your surg tech or your CNA training. In my own experience, applying for OB Tech positions around my area, I have found that you need to have A LOT of CNA or PCA experience, or know someone who will play a direct role in hiring you, in order to get the job. When I called one hospital to check up on my application, I was told there were 600 applicants for that particular job. Holy cannoli, I basically threw any hope of getting that job out the door!!! Again, I would consider it very rare to have your first job as an OB Tech. But that is just from what I have read about it! There are other ways to get in the door, too! You could start volunteering in the Mom/Baby Unit at a local hospital and ask occasionally if they are hiring and if they could put a good word in for you. I'm sure there are people on here who have different experiences... But, if you search for "OB Tech" up in the search bar, a lot of different forums about it will come up, too. I'm not trying to discourage you by telling you this, but as is for a lot of jobs, you often have to work your way up in the field! Good luck to you!!!

Hi everyone! I have been lurking around this board for a while in hopes of figuring out when I would find out if I was accepted or not. I got my letter today and was waitlisted... womp womp. I am pretty certain I am not going to send in the form to place myself on the waitlist simply because I have been accepted at Vanderbilt. (OHSU and Vandy were tied for my number 1 choices) Also, I don't think I would be financially ready to move across the country in 3 months, and vandy starts in August. Those extra months will really give me time to save to be able to get a decent car and have more savings when I start school. So that's one less person you waitlist-ers have to compete with. When I interviewed, I fell madly in love with the campus, the nurse midwifery program, the faculty, and the city. So, I will be keeping my fingers crossed that I can do my integration there. (At the potluck, I remembered a faculty member talking about doing her integration there, even though she attended school on the east coast--- maybe it's the same person Midwife22 is talking about!) And if that ultimately doesn't work, I will apply for their midwifery fellowship once I graduate. Like I said, I fell in love with it all, and I dream about getting back there one day!! Good luck to everyone here!! Thanks for all the updates and keeping us all posted about when we would get notification! haha

Obviously I'm not in school, but I can give a bit of input here as I'm a PCA now and just started 7 months ago. I have always hated vomit. Definitely my weak spot. I find myself holding my breath and having to turn away when dealing with it. I have gotten a lot better as now I can somewhat watch (okay, not watch, but if the situation presents itself and I don't have time to prepare myself!) instead of just running out of the room like when I first started. Poop is always gross, of course, but it's part of the job, so it is what it is. Blood, meh, never has bothered me. Mucus can be disgusting and I know a lot of people have trouble with it, especially suctioning (I can't do that, but I've heard the nurses talk). Once I saw a dude cough up a ball of mucus the size of a golf ball. Poor guy had really bad lung ca and he coughed those things up all the time. So I've only been at this 7 months and I got used to it all very quickly, mostly because I had to! You will never like dealing with any of those things, but the patient never likes it either!