Nursing Jobs: Certified Nurse Midwife
Introduction:
A Certified Nurse Midwife or CNM is an advanced practice nurse. These nurses take care of pregnancy, delivery of babies and well-woman routine care. They work under a physician, but are trained to diagnose and treat reproductive health in the office and/or hospital setting. CNM's are being used more and more to follow pregnancy, especially alternative and home birth choices. This has given women more options for their care and created more nursing jobs: certified nurse midwives is a quickly growing field. Read on to see what they do and how to become a CNM.
Job Description
Certified Nurse Midwives perform the following functions:
- Routine reproductive care; birth control, fertility planning/conception, annual pap smeals, and breast care
- Pre-natal care for low-risk pregnancies
- Deliver babies in the home, hospital, and birth clinic settings
- Post-partum care for mother's and newborns
- Lactation consulting
- Menopause care
Education:
There are a few ways to become a Certified Nurse Midwife. You can go for your RN with an Associates Degree, then move on to your Bachelor's Degree for another 1 to 2 years education depending on the program you choose. You then take an accredited Master's Degree program which is another 18 to 24 months. Read on for the breakdown:
- Completion of an Associate's Degree in Registered Nursing, AS Degree
- Completion of a Bachelor's Degree in Registered Nursing, RN-BSN
- Hold an active RN license in your state.
- Have experience working in the nursing field. (optional, but will help)
- Graduate of a Master of Science, Nursing Program. This program needs to have a focus on midwifery.
- Certification from the American Midwifery Certification Board
Job Outlook
The use of nurse midwives in the birthing field is becoming increasingly popular. This has helped reduce the risk of cesarean section deliveries and increased the rates of women breastfeeding. This field is growing rapidly with a 31% increase expected from 2012 to 2022 according to the
Bureau of Labor Statistics. There are 47,600 new positions in this field being added.
Pay
The median salary for Certified Nurse Midwives is $96,460 per year, which averages to about $46.37 per hour. The rates of pay are determined based on experience and place of employment. Larger teaching hospitals tend to pay higher salaries.
Summary
Average Pay $96,460
Education Master's Degree
Number of Jobs, 2012 151,400
Employment Growth from 2012 to 2022 31%
On-the-job training 728 Clinical Hours
Work Experience RN experience preferred, but not required