A certified nurse midwife specializes in recognizing what normal labor is and dealing with conditions that might need extra care or having to intervene in high-risk situations during labor and delivery. Problems that may arise include breech births, twin births, or when the baby is in a posterior position.
How to Become a Certified Nurse Midwife
To become a certified nurse midwife, you must meet the requirements below:
- Have completed and hold a Bachelor's degree in Science in Nursing from a recognized college or university
- Pas the NCLEX-RN exam
- Have an active RN license
- Have a Master's in Nursing Science (MSN), Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP), or a Ph.D. in a nursery midwifery specialization from an accredited program that's acceptable by the Accreditation Commission for Midwifery Education.
What Is A Certified Midwife?
Can an RN be a midwife? Once you have received your RN license and want to continue your education, there are options such as becoming a certified nurse midwife or CNM.
Transforming From RN to Midwife
You will care for women's health from adolescence until menopause, especially with pregnancies. To advance into this position, you will have to apply for an accredited program for Nurse Midwifery, following up with completing the American Midwifery Certification Board, and last, you will have to apply for your state license in the state you wish to practice in. This is a gratifying job for someone who pursues this career.
How Long Does it Take to Become a Midwife?
A full-time midwifery degree takes about three years. Half of the studying is on theory, and the rest is in a supervised setting where you will train in various settings. Things that will be your primary study will be as follows:
- Relationships with patients and their support
- Prenatal care
- Emergencies that call for the specialized skill of a midwife
- Midwifery research
- Public health
- Childbearing
Under Supervised Training, You Can Expect the Following:
- Watch midwives perform their duties.
- Under supervision, treat patients.
- Spend equal hours that a certified midwife would experience on the job.
- Observation of midwives.
- Practicing your skills as a midwife while being supervised.
Duties Of A Midwife
Assisting and working at clinics, hospitals, and maternity units, midwives are team workers, working with other staff such as doctors, social workers, and neonatal nurses. Often, midwives have maternity support workers they supervise.
Typical Midwife Tasks May Include:
- To examine and monitor pregnancies
- Antenatal care at hospitals, homes, and GP practices
- Performing screening tests
- Emotional support to women and their partner
- Taking vitals of patients
- Assistance in a woman's labor
- They are to monitor and give medication, and intravenous infusions during labor
- Help in coping with unfortunate situations, such as miscarriage, stillbirths, and neonatal death
- Keeping records
- Educating student midwives
- Being able to identify complications and high-risk pregnancies
Why Do Nurses Choose to Become a Midwife?
Most nurses choose their careers because they want to care for people; being a midwife has the same objection, only specializing in women and babies. Being a part of delivering a new baby to this world is an incredible experience, which is a lot of the motivation behind choosing this career. This job, along with other healthcare professionals, is a special kind of person. Being able to gain trust and confidence in your patients is an essential part of the job, along with being capable of multitasking.
Over the past decade, midwifery has continued to grow and is only predicted to continue an even higher demand for midwives in the future. This is an essential role in healthcare for women. You can converse with others who have sought out midwifery care and get feedback on their experiences, or talk to licensed midwives and see if this profession is something you want to pursue.
As a CNM, you will be the primary support for your patients. You'll advise on contraception, increasing the likelihood of conception, and educating on all matters concerning birthing. Midwives usually are there from the beginning to the end of the pregnancy, monitoring throughout the whole trimester until the birth.
