Certified Nurse Midwife

Nurse Midwifery As the second hand on the clock ticks by, her contractions begin to occur closer and closer together. At thirty-nine weeks along, she has been preparing for this day for quite some time now and has reviewed all of her options. Her husband and herself have both made the conscious decision to not have the baby in the hospital, but rather in their own home; she knew that she wanted to be as comfortable as possible, and there is nowhere more comfortable than their home. Another contraction hits her and she finds herself yelling out, the pain becoming more defined with each minute. Right on cue, however, she also finds words of encouragement and a gentle hand on her forearm, both from her nurse midwife. Very early in her pregnancy,

By definition, prenatal is concerning before the birth of a child, as well as the aspects that concern pregnancy. According to Joyce J. Fitzpatrick and Emerson E. Ea (2011), “Certified nurse midwives are advanced practice nurses who specialize in providing care to healthy women during pregnancy, childbirth, and after birth,” (p. 165). To put it blatantly, nurse midwives can play a crucial role in an individual’s life when it is concerning starting a family. With this being said, however, nurse midwifery concerns more than simply that; these professionals do more than only caring for a woman during her pregnancy, as they have many different roles in today’s world concerning women. While it may be based on the nurse midwife’s specific education and training, many have more roles than what was previously stated. In fact, most spend majority of their time performing different tasks than the obvious. According to the American College of Nurse-Midwives (2015), “...midwives perform physical exams, prescribe medications including contraceptive methods, order laboratory tests as needed, provide prenatal care, gynecological care, labor and birth care, as well as health education and counseling to women of all ages,” (para. 1). Nurse midwifery is a field that has grown immensely through time, and possesses the potential for more. With this being said, there is a

Looking at the necessary characteristics and skills that go into nurse midwifery, there are seven of them that stand out the most. The first skill focuses on the social aspect of the job as good social skills are crucial. Nurse midwives have to be able to connect with the parents and form a good relationship with the mother, specifically, to be able to complete the job. Midwives work with all different types of people and it is important that they are able to interact and communicate with their patients in a way that will provide professional support and reassurance. Following this, the second skill falls under the category of communication. Communication is key in this field, so it is very crucial that the nurse midwife is good at listening and communication with the parents. Something that goes hand-in-hand with this characteristic is the possession of social perceptiveness as it’s important to be able to recognize the reactions of the mother and to be able to work with her as