Nurse midwife

[brightness]

I realize this is not a OBGYN, but it is working in that area, so thats why I posted here. I am thinking very seriously about getting a BSN and then becoming a nurse-midwife. Have any of you worked with nurse-midwives or are any of familiar with the position? I am just looking for more info, first person accounts, ect.
Thank you!
Lindsay 😛

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[tiredmom]

Hi Lindsey!
I've worked with a few CNM's. Most are pretty good, but I've worked with a couple that I didn't feel comfortable with. I was an L&D nurse before medical school, so I worked with them every day. I chose to go to medical school because I knew I wanted to deliver babies and felt like I was "too interventional" to be a midwife... I didn't like having to turn over the patient to someone else if a c/s was required (plus I also really like gyn). The qualities I love that midwives are generally known for are these: spending time with the patient, not just coming in at the last minute to catch the baby, as well as being more creative than just IV drugs or epidural for pain relief. What I did NOT like was: the militant vibe that I got from some of them. I actually had one scare a patient out of an epidural because the midwife didn't like them, telling her all sorts of wrong information. Good luck to you!

 

[Noyac]

This is interesting to me b/c as an anesthesiologist I deal with CNM's from time to time. I don't find that the ones I deal with have any reservations regarding epidurals but they seem to think of anesthesia as a service and that we don't need to be directly consulted as opposed to the OB's who get us involved and give us a very good detailed pt history.

The CNM history is usually as follows: "I have a young lady that wants an epidural. She has had a great pregnancy and her husband is in the room with her."

The OB's history goes like this: " I have a 24yo female G3P2 with an uneventful pregnancy. She is afebrile at this time, 5cm dilated, 0 station, 50% effaced. We have started pitocin and would like an anesthesia consult for pain/epidural management.

There just seems to be some resentment of the anesthesia service from some of them that I can't figure out. As a whole, I find their care to be acceptable to good the majority of the time. And yes, the pts seem to be at least as comfortable with them. I can appreciate the fact that they are present for the majority of the delivery as opposed to popping in at the last minute. But just as with doctors, there are good ones and there are bad ones.

 

[skypilot]

My sister is a nurse midwife. She handles all routine deliveries and gyn care. She prescribes drugs. She is trained to know when to call for a C-section and at that point she becomes the first assistant in the surgery. She really loves her job.

The hours are long and the work is sometimes stressful and the pay is of course a lot lower than an OB GYN. (about 70k) If you are interested in surgery or caring for ill patients or want to be the person in charge and own your own practice OB-GYN is a better choice.

Nurse midwives need to be extremely patient oriented and customer service oriented to succeed. Patients expect the world from you.

 

[brightness]

Are the hours longer than for an OB/GYN?

 

[skypilot]

The hours are not any longer than for an ObGyn. But you will have to do plenty of 24 hour call. Seems like most babies are born at 3 am! 🙂

It is a rewarding job. Your patients will send you baby pictures and flowers.

 

[tiredmom]

Are the hours longer than for an OB/GYN?

It really depends on the practice you are in. The ones I worked with were affiliated with a low income clinic in town. They didn't work nights or weekends, except one that did one overnight shift every 2 weeks or so once the resident work hours rule went into effect. Don't know what their salary was.

 

[brightness]

I am thinking about being an OBGYN as well. I'm not sure which one I should do! The OBGYN is INFINITELY a more difficult route, so I need to figure out if being more autonomous is worth it.

 

[MeowMix]

I considered BSN + CNM a couple of years ago.

Only this year did I find out that the job market for CNMs is pretty saturated, at least where I live (big city). The director of one local midwifery program told us she gets a ton of applications for each open position; there are more CNMs graduating than there are jobs. This is partly because CNMs really like their work and tend to stay in it for a long time, and partly because hospital programs are having trouble attracting clients (often because of insurance issues).

So, before spending a ton of money and time on this career option, I would definitely look into your local job market, and consider how far you'd be willing to move if necessary, and how long you could cover your debt if you had to wait to get a job.

I chose med school instead, in part because a very good friend (RN for 20 years) told me I'd last about 5 minutes as a nurse. 😀