History Of Nurse-Midwifery

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As early as the mid 1800s, women were choosing to give birth less with traditional midwives and began seeking the care of doctors. Childbirth often ended in mortality, of the mother and more often, the baby. Women in the middle and upper classes doubted the training of midwives. Doctors received formal training and were believed better suited to care for the challenge of childbirth. Medicine was embraced and encouraged by anyone that could afford it. Doctors were seen as a status indicator and midwives were only suitable for the poor. By late 1800s, doctors attended about half of the births in the United States. (Feldhusen, 2000) As cities became more popular, families left their large homes for smaller apartments. There was no longer room …show more content…

The Midwifery Section of the National Organization for Public Health Nursing released a statement recognizing pregnancy and childbirth as normal and natural. It was also during this time that a New York Hospital became the first mainstream medical institution to allow nurse-midwives. The 50s is also when the doctors Bradley and Lamaze made their first appearances. Each developed their own cirriculum for educating women on the events of childbirth and methods of coping without medical intervention. (Feldhusen, …show more content…

"I want to help treat the whole person, physically, emotionally, and socially." She completed her master’s degree in midwifery in 2009 and opened her partnership practice in 2014. "We left the large practice in 2013 with dreams of being able to give care that was more patient based. We didn 't expect to hit the ground running, but women needed us. We 've built a community." (S. Barton, interview) There are several classes of midwives. Certified nurse-midwifes and certified midwives require a degree whereas a certified professional midwife is certified but there is no degree requirement. There is also degrees of lay midwives. These are women who have apprenticed with other lay midwives and are practicing without a recognized certification. As previously mentioned the laws differ greatly for what is allowed and regulated in each of the states.
Certified nurse midwifery (CMN) is the most common method of entry into a certified midwifery position. This form of midwifery is recognized and licensed in all 50 states. A master 's or doctoral degree is required as well as clinical supervision and a current registered nurse

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