Becoming a midwife is an exciting opportunity to join an honorable lineage of health care providers who serve women throughout their lifespan, in every rural, urban, tribal, and remote area of the world. Though having ancient roots, this modern profession is on the cutting edge of providing up-to-date, personalized, high quality care.
According to a report from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the number of midwives attending births in the U.S. reached an all-time high in 2009, and may still be rising. This is an excellent time to become a midwife. An increase in the midwifery workforce will bring the United States more in line with the rest of the world where midwives already play a central role in providing maternity and newborn care.
Become A MidwifeEvery country across the globe, almost without exception, has midwives. |
Development of the CPMIn 1983, the Midwives Alliance of North America (MANA) created a Credentialing Committee to gather information about the credentialing of midwives. By 1985, the Credentialing Committee was working in conjunction with the Standards and Practice Committee and the Education Committee to develop proposals for a voluntary Registry for direct-entry midwives. In 1986, MANA established the Interim Registry Board (IRB) to develop a test that would measure midwifery knowledge based on the MANA Core Competencies. |
15 Questions To Ask Before Choosing a Midwifery Path and ProgramWhat midwifery credential should I choose? How can I tell if a midwifery school is right for me? As a practicing midwife, I am asked these questions by potential students as they decide between becoming a certified nurse midwife or certified professional midwife and when trying to choose a midwifery program. |
Cultural Competency"Access" and "equity" are both words that capture the essence of this work: access = the right or opportunity to use or benefit from something; equity = the quality of being fair and impartial. As a midwife, you know that the right or opportunity to use or benefit from midwifery has not been fair or impartial. This is true for many, layered reasons |