Major

Hi, There are several routes to take to become a midwife. Take a look at acnm.org for more info. A nurse midwife (CNM) is a midwife who went through a nursing program (usually associate or BS level), then a midwifery program. These Midwifery programs can be at the masters level (I am currently attending a masters prepared nurse-midwifery course) or at a certification level in which no degree awarded. Most CNM's (80%) ARE masters prepared. CNMs are recognized in all 50 states. While most CNM's tend to practice in hospitals, many do birthing center and home births of low risk women. Full time most programs will take about 2 years. Advantage of hospital work is to be able to bring the midwifery touch to people who either arn't eligible for birthing center or home births -OR, like in the state of Ill where there ARE no birthing centers! These midwives, in consultation with OB physicians - (notice I DIDn'T say "under the SUPERVISION of...) can care for moderate to high risk patients in a Labor and Delivery environment. A direct entry midwife (DEM) (also 18 mo to 2 year program) is also supported by the American College of Nurse-Midwives (ACNM) these midwives did not start out as nurses, but did take a nationally recognized midwifery course and are nationally certified by the certification section of ACNM. Some states do not recognize this level of midwifery and are illeagle in some states. A third type of midwife is the MANA (sorry - cant remember the exact full name, no disrespect to the MANA midwives intended.) These are the "lay" midwives (oops - sorry mana midwives - I know you don't like this name...) They usually compleate an apprintice style of midwifery program. While many fine and skilled midwives are tought this way, the programs generally have no core curriclum, standards or way evaluate and quantify they education provide, these programs are not accepted for national certification nor are they recognized to practice legally in many states. Length of program varies. Doula schools abound. Doula's are great labor support persons, they usually attend classes with their clients, and provide continuous support throughout labor - no matter WHERE the client labors - home or in a hospital. length of programs vary Hope this helps Please excuse my spelling - bad, I know Hi, I'm a mother of a 2 year old and would like to get back into the working world. I used to work in the high tech industry and definitely do not want to do that again. I am very interested in changing careers and doing something related to pregnancy & childbirth. I have several questions for L&D nurses, Doulas & Midwives regarding your career, what kind of schooling is needed, a typical day/shift, can I work part-time?, what are the salaries like etc? I am having a hard time finding info on these careers and would also like to know how I go about getting info from my local resources? What lingo is used and who do I talk to? Where do I call? Etc. If anyone is interested in talking w/ me, my e-mail address is: [email protected] Thanks! Francine

Ave age of nurses is in their 40's now - which follows as it was in the 30's when I graduated from a BS progran at 26 - 14 years ago... AND I am in nursing school again - for my masters - most of my classmates are in their 30's to 40's

The reply depends on your support staff. Do you have nurses in a resonable ratio to care for the laboring women to free the midwives for just the deliveries? (unfortunetly this takes away the true labor support the midwife likes to give the midwife bascially becomes just another physician provider - but it increases the efficiency of your service) Are there back-up personnel to call if 2 or 3 deliveries happen at once? What is your normal Physician/laboring patient ratio? You probally sould not exceed that. Also - check out ACOG standards(American College of OB GYN) AND look at American College of Nurse Midwives standards - found at acnm.org I've seen a single Nurse Midwives in a large practices care for as many as 4-5 women in labor at once but it gets hard to coordinate the deliveries. AND most of these were low risk patients or moderate risk patients being co-managed/consulting with physicians. And it took place in a medical center with physician backup and nursing support. How is your system set up to address issues of understaffing?

Hello Brehon I am a Regular Army Major in the Army Nurse Corps, currently attending UIC in the Ns - Midwifery program under the Army's Long Term Health Care Training program. I have been in the Army for 14 years and believe it, as with all other professions, has its good and bad points. One of the strongest reasons I remain in the army is the amount of empowerment the nurses enjoy within the Health Care System. As I outrank most of the physicians I deal with and am considered an expert in my field, I am able to impact on the conditions and care delivery of my unit. In a big way. Army Nurses are hospital commanders in about 6 facilities - a traditional physician role. Other reasons include the experiences I've received, from setting up a 500-bed hospital in Egypt (2 months of eating sand), to learning about tropical medicine in a classroom in which the air-conditioning failed. In Texas. 100+ degrees outside. Appropriate topic for the conditions tho... The health care system it self is relatively good, but aimed at the active duty soldier. Every hospital is JCACHO certified, usually at 98-99 % - civilian hospital ave is around 92% 90% of the physicians are board certified (required) - as opposed to most civilian hospital physicians at 65% I noticed one person disliked the new civilian Tricare HMO system which is doing a lot of the Army's health care - fortunately the system bugs are starting to be eliminated. 19% of the ANC is male, as opposed to about 9% in the civilian world. Some of the drawbacks include getting deployed - and having to be away from your family for months at a time. The frequency of deployment depends on your specialty and station. Some get deployed a couple of times in their career, some a couple of times a year. You heed to have a self sufficient spouse. Other drawbacks include the tiny line on your contract "according to the needs of the army" - you may not get to do quite what you want. However, the career coordinators in DC are interested in retaining personal, so work to give you the specialty training and jobs you desire.