Certified Nurse Midwifery Practice

Clinical Practice Guidelines are recommendations for clinicians caring for patients with specific conditions or ailments. The Institute of Medicine defines clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) as “statements that include recommendations, intended to optimize patient care, that are informed by a systemic review of evidence and an assessment of the benefits and harms of alternative care options”.1

Along with other misconceptions regarding nurse-midwifery practice, is the idea the CNMs/CMs are inadequately educated when compared with physicians. Historically, in the medical world and with the medicalization of normal women experiencing normal childbirth, anything short of a traditional medical school education was considered inferior. As previously mentioned, certified nurse-midwifery education has not been designed to confer skills specific to a medical model of care, although there is expected overlap between models for certain aspects of care.

As defined by the American College of Nurse-Midwives (ACNM), midwifery as practiced by CNMs and Certified Midwives (CMs) encompasses a full range of primary health care services for women from adolescence to menopause.