cherrymary

Hi, I just wanted to piggyback on this fascinating discussion since you all seem to be so knowledgeable!! How easy is it to transfer a BSN from the States into a nursing license in France? I have dual citizenship with the UK so I can work in the EU without problems, and I took many years of French in school so presumably could pick it up after not too long. Thanks!

Hi all, I'm trying to figure out how I can take prerequisites for a direct-entry MSN program. This is sort of a new concept for me, so I really appreciate your help! I still have to take Microbiology, Chemistry (General and Organic), A&P I&II, Nutrition, and Human Growth and Development, but I'm traveling for part of the summer. The school said that they would accept online courses, as long as I get college credit from an accredited institution. What does that mean? Is U of Phoenix accredited? Also, I just found out about this thing called CLEP - the community colleges around me give credit for this, and I think I can take Chem that way. Anybody have any experience with this? Are there any other options I should be aware of? Thanks so much!

Hey, IntlNurse2b, congratulations!! My interview is on the 27th, how about yours? I applied to the midwifery program, which I hear is one of the more competitive specialties, so we'll see how it goes... Glad to see you on here, good luck with everything!

I just got my interview date at Yale after being waitlisted!!! :monkeydance:

Hi all, I thought I'd jump in again and explain myself since I'm the one who first responded to your post about Arabic patients, OB_RN. I apologize, my use of the phrase "racial profiling" was sort of a kneejerk reaction and not fair to you, I'm sure. What really got me - leaving "anchor babies" completely aside for the moment - was just the fact that you identified these people under the blanket term "Arabic-speaking" - which shouldn't be heard as a terrorist threat. I am of the opinion that language should not be conflated with race, culture, or political ideology, no matter whether it's a Spanish speaker assumed to be an illegal immigrant or an Arabic speaker heard as a terrorist threat. In my experience it's a totally natural reaction to be frustrated, annoyed, and even suspicious when you hear people speaking a language you don't understand - must be instinct or something - but that is no grounds for what amounts to discrimination based on national origin (see the USDOJ Civil Rights Act Title VI).

hmm.... racial profiling, much? charming. hope my family members never have you as a nurse.

Do CNMs do any oncology work? I know they can do all kinds of well-woman care, including breast and cervical cancer prevention, but how about treatment? I'm curious what you all have experienced.

You know, to me this sounds like something we talked about in a class I'm taking on the history of psychiatry, the idea that 50 years from now there will be no psychiatrists, only neurologists!! Just look at the trend: 70 years ago, mental health was about behavioral science and psychotherapy; now the approach is more biological, based on psychopharmacology. This goes along with the associated belief that most MH diseases have some kind of neurological basis that will be established in the future, even if we don't know what it is yet. Remember all the diseases that were once the domain of psychiatrists that were then found to have a physiological basis and began to be treated accordingly - syphilis is the big one, but also pellagra and, increasingly, Alzheimer's. So psych nurses might not be "phased out" necessarily, but their role is probably changing as our conceptions of mental health change. Do those of you who have been practicing for many years see this happen in your work? I'm curious (because I'm really interested in psych nursing) - how much of your practice is devoted to psychotherapy and social/behavioral aspects of MH, and how much is pharmacology? Or does it depend on where you get your training?

Right, and not only that they have the potential for slowing labor down (partly due to being strapped to one place, working against gravity), there's the fact that after getting an epidural women are NPO. At least at my hospital (I'm a doula) they are allowed to eat and drink lightly before they have one. So if you get an epidural before your labor is well-established (3-4 cm) you're setting yourself up for a long fast... First time labors can be 24+ hours, and inductions are generally days, not hours. That's a long time to go without food. Imagine telling a marathon runner they could only have ice chips for two or three days before the race!! It's not a surprise that this often leads to cesarean due to maternal exhaustion. I'm not against the use of epidurals, although as a doula I offer my clients alternative ways of dealing with pain (walking, changing position frequently, using the birth ball, massage, warm compresses, hot showers, breathing, visualization, aromatherapy, unconditional love and encouragement), but I do think they should be used judiciously, since we know that they can cause contractions to slow or even stop, which is dangerous for mom and baby. For this reason I also think that women should not be regularly induced before 42 weeks without indication of fetal distress (non-stress testing etc.) or other high-risk factors, which they currently are. Just my $0.02!!!

INFP! Never seen this before, not sure how much stock I put in it... but helpful at the moment cos I'm writing my application essay and I'm stuck on the question "Give a balanced assessment of your personal strengths and weaknesses"!! (Hard question, that!) Not that I'm going to say INFP, but it sure does help to keep some of these things in mind.

Hi all, In your area do they have any Certified Nurse Midwives, or just MDs? I want to be a CNM for the primary care and family planning as much as the labor and delivery part of it, and I would love to practice in a rural area where you know all your patients and their families. I'm getting my schooling in the city but I'm a real country girl... I left my heart on a small farm in central Illinois :1luvu: I would just like to know if this is realistic, anything about the possibilities of getting a job, what the practice is like, etc... any thoughts? I'm also thinking about working for the Indian Health Service or something similar for a while to pay back my loans. Thank you!

Oh yeah, my mom breastfed me and my brother for a LONG time - I was 3, he was at least 4, probably 5... and let me tell you it was GREAT!! Just wanted to add the kid's point of view... from someone who remembers it!

Thanks you two!! Yep, it's pretty twisted how money calls all the shots these days...

Well, it's a silly reason, but essentially because Yale has fewer prerequisites! If I were to apply to UW, I would have to spend a whole extra year taking science classes at a community college, because you have to have taken most of them by the time you apply (the deadline is in October). I really like Yale, though - the international programs look amazing, I know quite a few midwives who have gone there and loved it, it's closer to home, etc. But if I don't make it, UW (and OHSU in Portland) are next!!! All the best of luck, cherry

Does anybody know which direct-entry CNM programs also give you a WHNP degree? Pros, cons? Thanks!!

Hello LAW79, have you looked at the U of Washington at all? I visited there and it was definitely my first choice for midwifery - they have incredible clinicals in just about every type of practice you can imagine all over the state and the region - rural, urban, private practice, migrant farmworker clinics, etc. The Northwest is just naturally a very midwife-friendly place, and the UW Medical Center has the same high standards of teaching that you could hope to find anywhere. The nursing school was ranked number 1 by US News and World Report, and they receive one of the highest amounts of research funding from the NIH. They have a small midwifery faculty, but the students I talked to loved being able to practice so many styles of midwifery in clinicals. I know I sound as if I work for them, but I was just very impressed by the program!! I'm applying to Yale first, but if I don't get in I'm definitely trying there next year.

AND, the other thing I forgot to say is that you will have to do some kind of midwifery education in this country to get licensed here, even if you're qualified in another country. And even if you are a nurse and a midwife in the UK, you will still have to convert to an RN by working as a Labor and Delivery nurse for a year before you can even do a midwifery program. So if you're not that keen on the nursing itself, I would save yourself the time and just do midwifery in the UK, and then do a one-year or 18-month RN program if you decide to come here. Good luck!

Dear little_angel, I just wrote you a really long answer but the computer ate it!!! Basically, there is some good info for you to start with at http://www.acnm.org/careers.cfm?id=84 , the American College of Nurse Midwives' section on Foreign Educated Midwives. I am like you, a dual US/UK national who grew up in the UK (I'm in the States now) so I know what it's like to try to make these decisions. Nothing like having too many options!!! Anyway, there are probably a couple of things for you to keep in mind. First, as letina said, midwifery education is very different here than there. Certified Nurse Midwives (CNMs) do births in hospitals. They get their RN first and then do a MSN in midwifery, usually a 2-year program, so they have the same amount of education as most advanced practice nurses. Only about 2% of CNMs do out-of-hospital births. Their practice can vary enormously, but some complain that hospital birth is too medicalised and that they don't get to practice "real midwifery" often enough. However, there is a great need for CNMs, simply because the vast majority of births in the US still take place in the hospital. Certified Midwives (CMs) are not allowed to practice in hospitals, except in a few places like I believe New York and New Jersey. They mostly do birth center and home births. CMs are more like what midwives are in the UK, in that they are midwives first, not nurses, and are more free to give really individualized continuous care throughout the childbearing period. However, they are generally limited to working with a tiny (though growing!) percentage of the population - those who can afford to choose an out-of-hospital birth. So you have to think about what you want to do as a midwife, where you want to practice, who you want to work with, etc. I used to be really turned off by hospital birth, didn't want to be a nurse, and had my heart set on midwifery education in the UK. But then I realized that I ultimately wanted to practice in the US, and I didn't want to be limiting myself as a non-nurse midwife to a tiny sector of the population, and I wanted to serve the women that needed midwifery care the most. So I decided on the CNM route. It's a trade-off, I guess, but I'm very happy with the decision now (and even excited about the nursing part!). I'm applying to programs this year. Let us know how it goes for you. I wish you the best.

Did anyone go this route in paying for grad school? It's a looooooooooong way off for me - I'm going into my senior year of college (non-nursing), haven't even hit my accelerated BSN prereqs yet, but it's good to be prepared: is working for the IHS a good thing or a bad thing? I'm an anthropologist and firmly committed to the "preferential option for the poor" that Paul Farmer talks about so I'm inclined to work in underserved areas anyway... I think I just need some ammunition to talk my partner into coming with me :) thanks guys