Question: I'm in high school, and thinking about career paths. I want to learn more about being a CNM, a nurse-midwife?

Is anybody out their a CNM, or something similar? Or perhaps knows a little about this career, and what is needed to become a CNM? What is an average day, how often do you work and salary. Also about how many college years are needed, the requirements? Any information would be appreciated.

Answer:

It is a process that takes a bit of time. You have to start out as a regular Registered Nurse. You can get your RN license by graduating from either an Associate's Degree in Nursing (ADN) program at a community college (takes 2 years + about 1 year of pre-requisite courses) or going straight into a Bachelor's of Science or Arts (BSN/BAN) program at a regular 4-year college. You can do the ADN first and later complete the BSN program through a "RN to BSN" program which is about 18-24 months.

Then, you need a bit of work experience as a regular Labor & Delivery nurse. Usually about 1 year minimum for most CNM programs. CNM is currently a Masters of Nursing degree at a minimum, but by the time you get there it may well have converted over to the highest degree in nursing - the Doctorate of Nursing Practice. MSN is 2-3 years more school after the BSN. DNP is either 2-3 years post MSN or there are BSN to DNP bridge programs that can be done in about 3 years, but not all CNM programs offer this. So it's a lot of school.

But it's also a very rewarding job. I went into nursing with the intent of eventually becoming a CNM. I got my ADN, went to work as an L&D nurse while completing my BSN. I realized that I don't want all that responsibility. I actually discovered that I prefer working with pregnant women who are hospitalized with high-risk conditions, who are there for many days, sometimes weeks or months. I like doing the bedside care. I decided eventually CNM was not right for me, and I am currently in school for my MSN to become a Women's Health Nurse Pracitioner. As an NP, I will (hopefully) work in a clinic, seeing patients much as a doctor would. But I won't have to worry about being on-call rotations and doing middle of the night deliveries and being the one that they sue if something goes horribly wrong. :)

Salary for CNMs can vary, but generally any advanced practice nurse can usually make between $75k to $100k, sometime more depending on where you live.

**To add: CNMs provide all aspects of women's health care, so in terms of pregnancy, yes, the CNM would provide education regarding nutrition, any questions about prenatal care. Women do not need to also be seeing an OB doctor - CNMs handle all aspects of this care themselves, they act very much in the same capacity as doctors - they write prescriptions, do the actual baby deliveries at the hospital, etc. Sometimes they have to work within a clinic that has physicians in it for a backup, but that depends on each state's individual CNM scope of practice laws. It's important to stress that CNMs handle care of healthy, low-risk pregnant women. Higher risk cases are handed off to physicians for care and delivery. CNMs also cannot do c-sections,so if something happens during the labor process where a c-section become necessary, either a hospital physician or the doc that that works in their clinic takes over.

CNMs can provide all kinds of health care to women, starting with girls who want to get on birth control, doing pap smears and other testing for things like STDs and then ordering treatment (meds, etc.). They provide support and education for any kind of women's reproductive issue you can think of, but if it falls beyond their scope, like c-sections, high risk cases, and infertility issues, generally they will refer to the docs. But they definitely have a pregnancy focus most of the time and that will be the largest part of the job - seeing pregnant women in the clinic for their routine prenatal exams, and then having rotations in the hospital, birth center, or less commonly doing home births. Home births are less common because of RN licensing restrictions, so home births are usually done by Certified Midwives or lay midwives, neither of which have full medical education like CNMs do, they are just trained within the scope of pregnancy and childbirth issues. Hope that helps.