How to get a midwife education is a complicated question. Today, many midwives are what are called certified nurse midwives (CNMs). There is a very clear path to getting training to become a CNM. Alternately, in some states midwives that do not have nursing degrees are allowed to practice, and the training path for this is slightly different and not always as flexible in terms of employment.
The usual path get a midwife education to become a CNM is to first earn a registered nursing (RN) degree. With this degree, whether a four-year undergraduate degree has been earned, people can attend many masters’ programs that offer midwife training. Many of them have additional prerequisites if people enter without a bachelor’s degree, but these are often fairly easily met. Lots of university programs will work with nurses who want to get a midwife education and create a plan for them to fulfill prerequisites so they can end studies with a master’s degree and are prepared to take any examinations required to get certification.
Both written and practical experience can still be required for licensure, and each state may set its own standards on how much supervised practice a midwife must have prior to getting a license. Practice includes being the principal actor before and during labor and delivery and afterwards during the postpartum period for a set number of childbirths. Once a person has become a midwife that is licensed, he or she may work in a variety of locations including birth centers, gynecology and obstetrical clinics, in hospitals, and often as home birth agents too.
There are other ways that people can get a midwife education. Separate midwifery schools exist that do not require nursing degrees. When a person wants to become a midwife and is not a nurse, he or she may be able to attend one of these schools and emerge as a direct entry midwife. Such schools offer significant training, and it is not fully clear that a CNM is necessarily more capable than a certified professional midwife. However, some states prefer CNMs because of the additional nursing background training.
Some midwives are also direct entry when they get a midwife education via internship with a practicing midwife. They must eventually demonstrate skills and pass examinations to get licensure. It is rare to become a midwife in this fashion today due to difficulties with licensure. Patients may be more comfortable with those who have more medical training, and states may not always recognize this form of training. Those interested in this field should do their homework and check with either a state nursing or state midwifery licensing board to make certain they get a midwife education that will lead unrestricted licensing and plenty of job opportunities.
