Certified Nurse Midwife Salary And Job Description

What is Certified Nurse-Midwife?

Midwives existed in all countries for centuries when health care was available. In the 1920s they first appear in the United States. With the technological advances, the profession is still popular in the new generation. This field of nursing firmly believes that a woman during the pregnancy needs utmost care and support. Many women who lack the necessary environment and care during this phase experience bad health after delivery. Therefore, the need for nurse-midwifery emerges across the world.

A nurse midwife is the most popular career option in the United States. Most of the midwives are certified whereas few only attend home births, these are not certified by the international confederation of midwives. Few direct entries midwife also get certifications from the ACNM, i.e., North American registry of midwives.

These nurses are trained in midwifery and nursing so that they can give the best care to both mother and baby. A Certified nurse midwife is eligible to practice around 50 states including Puerto Rico and Columbia.

She is a trained specialist who takes care of a pregnant woman till the birth of a baby and even after that, till a particular period. These midwives are experienced in dealing with all the conditions that might occur during the phase of pregnancy. International Confederation of midwives, United States recognizes the nurses who are the advanced practice registered nurse.

Nurse-Midwifery Job Description

A midwife nurse works in private practices, birth centers, hospitals, health departments, and health maintenance organizations. They focus primarily on providing care to women who are pregnant and also to newborn infants. Their job is to monitor the social, physical and psychological conditions of the mother during the complete phase of pregnancy, during the period of labor and after giving birth.

What Does Nurse Midwifery Do?

They serve the primary healthcare services to a pregnant lady that includes routine checkups, preconception care, postpartum care, prenatal and family planning services and delivering babies. Midwives are the professionals that know how to assist the woman during labor, and thus they remain present during this phase. They are the most important person that takes care of a lady during all phases of pregnancy.

They are the one who provides the wide variety of care that highly depends on the place where they are working. Their responsibilities and duties are more than the ordinary nurses as at the same time they have to ensure the well being of two lives.

Role and Responsibilities of Nurse-Midwifery

• Their first and primary responsibility is to offer the basic and special health care to the women.
• They examine the physical conditions and diagnose the medical conditions.
• In some states, they are allowed to prescribe medicines to the women as per their current situations.
• She is the one who counsel and educates both husband and wife related to the necessary actions or precautions they should take during this condition.
• After delivery of the newborn infant, it is the responsibility of nurse-midwifery to take care of the baby for the first 28 days.
• They also support during the menopause and per menopause.
• They also have to perform the administrative duties such as keeping the record of the medical history, progress and health record of each month during and after pregnancy.
• They also work with male patients and guide them about sexually transmitted diseases or the reproductive health issues.
• Educate parents about how to take care of a child and how to raise him.
• They also guide about the good nutrition to be taken by the mother.
• Apart from medical advice, she also guides which exercise should mother perform during pregnancy that does not affect both baby and mother.

The responsibility of midwives is not limited till the birth because a mother needs good care even after the baby is born. It is so because; the labor process put the impact on the health of mothers. Thus, they require enough care and diet to regain the good health. Therefore, nurse-midwifery can be seen as the one who knows what is best for the woman during this phase. They know how to behave, what to eat, who family should treat the mother and baby, what medication is required, etc.

Many of the expected mothers who lack the aftercare have to suffer from significant health loss. But, nurse midwife keeps them healthy and provide aftercare. They have the huge impact on the health and life of these mothers. Therefore, it is necessary to ensure that they possess essential educational qualifications and requirements to become a certified nurse midwife.

What Are The Educational Requirements to Become a Nurse Midwife?

To become a nurse midwife, one must attain essential certificates, license and appear in the necessary training programs and courses. There are many online and on school courses available. To have a bright career in this field, one must have these requirements:

• License as a registered nurse
• Experience in the relevant field
• Master degree in the field of nursing

Associate Degree Programs

And or associate degree in nursing includes nursing, microbiology, chemistry, and anatomy. It is an entry-level program for the students in the medical field. After this, the candidate can enroll in the bachelor program of science. A diploma in the same field is also acceptable.

Bachelor Degree Program

A bachelor degree in nursing will offer the general understanding of nursing. After this program, the candidate can enter into the direct-entry programs. These programs give training and midwifery class work.

Master Degree Program

Having a master degree in nursing is the essential requirements to start a career in midwife nursing. A full-time course will complete in 18 or 24 months whereas the part-time course takes around 3 to 4 years. The course is about teaching the students about the labor and delivery as well related to other health issues. The advanced courses teach about the postpartum care, research methods, advanced practice nursing roles, applied pharmacology, physiology, and pathophysiology.

Doctoral Programs

A doctoral program is not the essential qualifications for the nurse-midwifery. But a candidate having this degree can also make his/her career. A person having this qualification can take the leadership role in this field. Identifying problems, finding solutions and other is the basic role that a doctorate has to do. They will learn these things in this program:

• Review policy related to women health and determines solutions
• Develop projects
• Effective communication
• To improve care, they learn how to use technology and information systems effectively

Online programs are also available for this profession. BSNs, MSNs are also available online for full time as well for part-time.

License And Certification

Almost all states of US recognize licensed or registered nurses. Many accreditation bodies issues licenses to these nurses. In the US, American midwifery certification board provides certification to work in any health care and hospitals as a nurse midwife.

Students have to pass the certification exams in which questions related to postpartum care, midwifery health care laws, antepartum treatments and women’s health. Once students pass the exams, they can apply for the license. Some state also asks for the additional requirements apart from these credentials that include years of experience and other.

Even after getting the license to work as midwifery nurse, they have to renew the license to continue their practice. To do that, they can participate in the ongoing education coursework.

Only degree, experience and credentials are not sufficient to make a bright career on this path. The candidate must possess necessary skills along with these qualifications.

Necessary Skills To Become A Nurse Midwife

A person should have excellent skills to pursue the career in this field. Some of these essential skills are as follows:

1. Communication Skills

The person must possess excellent communication skills such as the effective listener, speaker, verbal and nonverbal skills to deal with the family of a pregnant woman, their partners, and the mother itself.

2. Interest in The Field

A person must have in-depth knowledge and understanding of the child development, fetal development, and other health-related issues.

3. Good Problem Solver

Having good problem-solving skills are essential to working in this field. Many different situations can occur during the process, and hence one must be able to deal with all such unexpected problems. Some situations are natural to occur while others are rare and critical. A midwife should know how to tackle with them and what necessary medications should be given to the woman.

4. Ability to Teach

Apart from taking care, their role is to educate the new mother. Thus, they should be good at delivering information. And to teach the right things, the person must have enough knowledge related to health, pregnancy phases, nutritional recommendations, etc. this information is very important for the new mothers as they are going through this phase for the first time. Hence one must deliver correct information.

5. Interpersonal Skills

Midwives should have good people skills that mean they must be good enough to treat different people with care and humbleness. Their aggressive and rude behavior is not acceptable as it is not good for the mothers. They should stay calm and teach the same to the mothers as well. Apart from the pregnant woman, they also interact with the medical professionals and other family members. Therefore, it is necessary to communicate effectively with them so as they can deliver their knowledge in the correct way.

The person should not be extra judgmental or nonjudgmental as the expected mothers and their families are depending on this nurse. They should know what they are doing and what they must do. No need to include their problems with the patient, just have a simple and humble nature with them.

These skills are not developed in any schools or universities. A person must inculcate these skills on their own, and they can do this only when the real meaning or role of nurse-midwifery. As this is the growing and most popular professionals, thus the salary packages are also impressive.

Certified Nurse Midwife Salary

The need for midwives is increasing, and it is because of the increase in the number of births. The total number of midwives is expected to grow by 21% till 2026. The statistics are given by the bureau of labor statistics of US.

The annual salary of the midwives is $66,228-$110,698. Various factors play important role in deciding the average salary of this profession. But, the highest paying states according to BLS are :

Hourly Pay of Midwives Nurses

The median salary for midwife nurse is $44.12 the average hourly pays lies between $20.13- $58.40. However, there is other who works less than an hour. These people earn less than $50. The figures are based on research. About 50% of nurses work in the hospitals and other healthcare as certified nurse midwives.

How Much Do Midwives Nurse Make?

Beside their salary, they get bonuses and compensation as well. They also get benefits such as social security, pension, and time off. The salary of these nurses varies as per the declaration, specialty, employer, and region of a workplace. These factors contribute highly in determining the annual salary of these healthcare professionals.

They earn the pretty decent salary in comparison to the other medical professionals. The annual salary of the midwives nurse is around $90k per year whereas the median annual salary of the midwife nurse is $88,497. For their overtime work, they get $36.50.

Conclusion

Building a career as midwife nurse is a great career option for the medical students. Viewing at their salary details, it shows that they are paid well according to their role. However, one needs to be careful and determinant to serve as midwife. So, before starting a career in this field, make sure you are passionate and understand the role and responsibilities of these professionals very well.

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