About Nurse-Midwifery

What Is a Certified Nurse-Midwife?

A certified nurse-midwife (CNM) is a registered nurse who has completed advanced education to provide specialized health care to women regarding the following areas:

• Pregnancy
• Childbirth
• The postpartum period
• Care of the newborn
• Family planning
• Gynecological care
• Primary care

Certified nurse-midwives also prescribe drugs and order diagnostic and laboratory tests.

Education

Certified nurse-midwives in Kansas and Missouri possess the following to provide care:

• Graduate education from a pre-accredited or accredited university;
• A state board of nursing license;
• Passing results from a rigorous national exam conducted by the American Midwifery Certification Board;
• Continuing competency to practice as an advanced-practice nurse, dually recognized by Kansas and Missouri state boards of nursing.

Outcomes

According to Nurse-Midwifery in 2008: Evidence-Based Practice (American College of Nurse-Midwives, 2008), which is a summary of research on midwifery practice in our country, care provided by certified nurse-midwives results in these benefits:

• Decreased infant and neonatal mortality;
• Increased patient satisfaction;
• Increased spontaneous vaginal delivery rates;
• Decreased claims against obstetric care providers;
• Lower costs (1-9).

Approximately 11% of all spontaneous vaginal births and 7% of all births are attended by certified nurse-midwives (National Center for Health Statistics, 2007). Approximately 97% of CNM-attended births occur in hospitals, 2% in freestanding birth centers and 1% at home (ACNM, 2008).

Philosophy

Certified nurse-midwives believe that pregnancy is not an illness, but a normal and beautiful part of the life process. They devote time to personalized attention and consider all physical, social and cultural needs of each woman by supporting these principles:

• Women to be active participants in their own health;
• Non-intervention in a normal process of labor and birth;
• Referral of complications to collaborating physicians;
• Family involvement;
• Continuity of care.

Philosophy of the American College of Nurse-Midwives can be found at: www.midwife.org/philosophy.cfm.