Reply to ON-GYN vs Nurse-Midwife

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I’m a CNM, happy to answer questions (not sure if you’re asking about the education/training or work itself).. Both great paths really depends on what someone is looking for. In my case, I went through one of the direct entry programs and had not worked in L&D prior to starting training.[/quote]

We'd love to know more about what it's like to be a CNM!  Can you tell me about your work, and what you see as the differences between your job and an OB-GYN, we'd be really grateful.

[/quote]

Sure! I trained at UCSF in a really wonderful program where all of our intrapartum (L&D) work was  at San Francisco General. That was a great experience for me as a trainee because it was a truly integrated service where OBs and CNMs worked together and there was shared respect among our instructors. I had young children at the point I finished my training and decided that for life-work balance I was going to focus on the “Gyn“ side of midwifery which really looks more like women’s health nurse practitioner so my career has been clinic rather than hospital based which is not what people think of when they think of midwifery. The way I explain it to people as a starting point is midwifery is similar to OB/GYN  (prenatal, intrapartum, and gyn) but with a more restricted scope. The degree of independence that CNMs have varies from state to state, for some people that is a really important consideration, for others not so much.Obviously OB/GYN involves a longer education with more training hours, managing greater levels of complexity and risk, bigger salary. Depending on where they work CNMs manage significant levels of risk as well but often in consultation with OB. CNN training also builds off a “nursing model“ which tends to be more holistic than the “ medical model” and for that if your kid is thinking about the two they may want to do a little bit of reading and see which feels like a better fit for who they are. I will say my friends from school who are doing full-scope midwifery seem really love their work but the exhaustion and burnout are real.  I’m happy with my more limited scope Gyn world because it’s allows me to be focused on health in a holistic way and I don’t miss managing labors and catching babies. So in the end, I probably should’ve just been a nurse practitioner to begin with! Anyway that’s a bit of a ramble not sure answered questions you have but if you’re looking for any additional specific insights glad to make my best attempt to answer[/quote]

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