Also Known As:
Birth Center Midwife
Certified Direct-Entry Midwife
Certified Professional Midwife (CPM)
Homebirth Midwife
Lay Midwife
Licensed Certified Professional Midwife
Licensed Direct Entry Midwife
Licensed Midwife (LM)
Licensed and Certified Midwife
Wages
Annual wages for Midwives in United States
Job Outlook
Bright
New job opportunities are very likely in the future
United States
2033 Projected Employment
44,300
6% Change From 2023
Explore Midwives video
Tasks you might complete in a day.
- Refer patients to specialists for procedures such as ultrasounds or biophysical profiles.
- Provide, or refer patients to other providers for, education or counseling on topics such as genetic testing, newborn care, contraception, or breastfeeding.
- Perform annual gynecologic exams, including pap smears and breast exams.
- Evaluate patients' laboratory and medical records, requesting assistance from other practitioners when necessary.
- Maintain documentation of all patients' contacts, reviewing and updating records as necessary.
- Set up or monitor the administration of oxygen or medications.
- Provide information about community health and social resources.
- Identify tubal and ectopic pregnancies and refer patients for treatments.
- Establish and follow emergency or contingency plans for mothers and newborns.
- Monitor maternal condition during labor by checking vital signs, monitoring uterine contractions, or performing physical examinations.
- Incorporate research findings into practice as appropriate.
- Inform patients of how to prepare and supply birth sites.
- Obtain complete health and medical histories from patients including medical, surgical, reproductive, or mental health histories.
- Suture perineal lacerations.
- Provide, or refer patients to other providers for, education or counseling on topics such as genetic testing, newborn care, contraception, or breastfeeding.
- Perform annual gynecologic exams, including pap smears and breast exams.
- Identify, monitor, or treat pregnancy-related problems such as hypertension, gestational diabetes, pre-term labor, or retarded fetal growth.
- Provide information about the physical and emotional processes involved in the pregnancy, labor, birth, and postpartum periods.
- Collaborate in research studies.
- Assess birthing environments to ensure cleanliness, safety, and the availability of appropriate supplies.
- Recommend the use of vitamin and mineral supplements to enhance the health of patients and children.
- Identify tubal and ectopic pregnancies and refer patients for treatments.
- Monitor fetal growth and well-being through heartbeat detection, body measurement, and palpation.
- Provide necessary medical care for infants at birth, including emergency care such as resuscitation.
- Respond to breech birth presentations by applying methods such as exercises or external version.
- Counsel women regarding the nutritional requirements of pregnancy.
- Estimate patients' due dates and re-evaluate as necessary based on examination results.
- Complete birth certificates.
- Identify, monitor, or treat pregnancy-related problems such as hypertension, gestational diabetes, pre-term labor, or retarded fetal growth.
- Collect specimens for use in laboratory tests.
- Perform post-partum health assessments of mothers and babies at regular intervals.
- Assist maternal patients to find physical positions that will facilitate childbirth.
- Evaluate patients' laboratory and medical records, requesting assistance from other practitioners when necessary.
- Set up or monitor the administration of oxygen or medications.
- Monitor fetal growth and well-being through heartbeat detection, body measurement, and palpation.
- Conduct ongoing prenatal health assessments, tracking changes in physical and emotional health.
- Develop, implement, or evaluate individualized plans for midwifery care.
- Compile and evaluate clinical practice statistics.
- Assess the status of post-date pregnancies to determine treatments and interventions.
- Provide patients with contraceptive and family planning information.
- Monitor maternal condition during labor by checking vital signs, monitoring uterine contractions, or performing physical examinations.
- Provide comfort and relaxation measures for mothers in labor through interventions such as massage, breathing techniques, hydrotherapy, or music.
- Test patients' hemoglobin, hematocrit, and blood glucose levels.
- Estimate patients' due dates and re-evaluate as necessary based on examination results.
- Perform annual gynecologic exams, including pap smears and breast exams.
- Treat patients' symptoms with alternative health care methods such as herbs or hydrotherapy.
- Assess birthing environments to ensure cleanliness, safety, and the availability of appropriate supplies.
- Conduct ongoing prenatal health assessments, tracking changes in physical and emotional health.
Subject areas you may need to master.
- Computers and Electronics - Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
- Biology - Knowledge of plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, interdependencies, and interactions with each other and the environment.
- History and Archeology - Knowledge of historical events and their causes, indicators, and effects on civilizations and cultures.
- Building and Construction - Knowledge of materials, methods, and the tools involved in the construction or repair of houses, buildings, or other structures such as highways and roads.
- Economics and Accounting - Knowledge of economic and accounting principles and practices, the financial markets, banking, and the analysis and reporting of financial data.
- Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
- Mechanical - Knowledge of machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.
- Mathematics - Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
- Chemistry - Knowledge of the chemical composition, structure, and properties of substances and of the chemical processes and transformations that they undergo. This includes uses of chemicals and their interactions, danger signs, production techniques, and disposal methods.
- Telecommunications - Knowledge of transmission, broadcasting, switching, control, and operation of telecommunications systems.
- Therapy and Counseling - Knowledge of principles, methods, and procedures for diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of physical and mental dysfunctions, and for career counseling and guidance.
- Geography - Knowledge of principles and methods for describing the features of land, sea, and air masses, including their physical characteristics, locations, interrelationships, and distribution of plant, animal, and human life.
- Administration and Management - Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
- Foreign Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of a foreign (non-English) language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition and grammar, and pronunciation.
- Transportation - Knowledge of principles and methods for moving people or goods by air, rail, sea, or road, including the relative costs and benefits.
- Design - Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models.
- Personnel and Human Resources - Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.
- Administrative - Knowledge of administrative and office procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and workplace terminology.
- Food Production - Knowledge of techniques and equipment for planting, growing, and harvesting food products (both plant and animal) for consumption, including storage/handling techniques.
- Law and Government - Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
- Engineering and Technology - Knowledge of the practical application of engineering science and technology. This includes applying principles, techniques, procedures, and equipment to the design and production of various goods and services.
- Psychology - Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.
- Fine Arts - Knowledge of the theory and techniques required to compose, produce, and perform works of music, dance, visual arts, drama, and sculpture.
- Philosophy and Theology - Knowledge of different philosophical systems and religions. This includes their basic principles, values, ethics, ways of thinking, customs, practices, and their impact on human culture.
- English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, and rules of composition and grammar.
- Communications and Media - Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.
- Sales and Marketing - Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.
- Medicine and Dentistry - Knowledge of the information and techniques needed to diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities. This includes symptoms, treatment alternatives, drug properties and interactions, and preventive health-care measures.
- Public Safety and Security - Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.
- Sociology and Anthropology - Knowledge of group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures, and their history and origins.
- Production and Processing - Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.
- Physics - Knowledge and prediction of physical principles, laws, their interrelationships, and applications to understanding fluid, material, and atmospheric dynamics, and mechanical, electrical, atomic and sub-atomic structures and processes.
- Education and Training - Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
Strengths you may need in this role.
- Active Listening - Listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions.
- Complex Problem Solving - Noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it.
- Judgment and Decision Making - Thinking about the pros and cons of different options and picking the best one.
- Systems Analysis - Figuring out how a system should work and how changes in the future will affect it.
- Repairing - Repairing machines or systems using the right tools.
- Management of Personnel Resources - Selecting and managing the best workers for a job.
- Negotiation - Bringing people together to solve differences.
- Writing - Writing things for co-workers or customers.
- Troubleshooting - Figuring out what is causing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs to not work.
- Management of Material Resources - Managing equipment and materials.
- Learning Strategies - Using the best training or teaching strategies for learning new things.
- Technology Design - Making equipment and technology useful for customers.
- Social Perceptiveness - Understanding people's reactions.
- Operation and Control - Using equipment or systems.
- Time Management - Managing your time and the time of other people.
- Critical Thinking - Thinking about the pros and cons of different ways to solve a problem.
- Coordination - Changing what is done based on other people's actions.
- Mathematics - Using math to solve problems.
- Instructing - Teaching people how to do something.
- Operations Monitoring - Watching gauges, dials, or display screens to make sure a machine is working.
- Quality Control Analysis - Testing how well a product or service works.
- Speaking - Talking to others.
- Persuasion - Talking people into changing their minds or their behavior.
- Science - Using scientific rules and strategies to solve problems.
- Service Orientation - Looking for ways to help people.
- Operations Analysis - Figuring out what a product or service needs to be able to do.
- Systems Evaluation - Measuring how well a system is working and how to improve it.
- Monitoring - Keeping track of how well people and/or groups are doing in order to make improvements.
- Equipment Selection - Deciding what kind of tools and equipment are needed to do a job.
- Reading Comprehension - Reading work-related information.
- Installation - Installing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs.
- Equipment Maintenance - Planning and doing the basic maintenance on equipment.
- Management of Financial Resources - Making spending decisions and keeping track of what is spent.
- Active Learning - Figuring out how to use new ideas or things.
- Programming - Writing computer programs.
- Oral Comprehension - Listening and understanding what people say.
- Oral Expression - Communicating by speaking.
- Fluency of Ideas - Coming up with lots of ideas.
- Problem Sensitivity - Noticing when problems happen.
- Number Facility - Adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing.
- Manual Dexterity - Holding or moving items with your hands.
- Wrist-Finger Speed - Making fast, simple, repeated movements of your fingers, hands, and wrists.
- Mathematical Reasoning - Choosing the right type of math to solve a problem.
- Rate Control - Changing when and how fast you move based on how something else is moving.
- Gross Body Equilibrium - Keeping your balance or staying upright.
- Glare Sensitivity - Seeing something even if there is a glare or very bright light.
- Night Vision - Seeing at night or under low light.
- Flexibility of Closure - Seeing hidden patterns.
- Memorization - Remembering words, numbers, pictures, or steps.
- Selective Attention - Paying attention to something without being distracted.
- Gross Body Coordination - Moving your arms, legs, and mid-section together while your whole body is moving.
- Depth Perception - Deciding which thing is closer or farther away from you, or deciding how far away it is from you.
- Peripheral Vision - Seeing something to your side when your are looking ahead.
- Stamina - Exercising for a long time without getting out of breath.
- Category Flexibility - Grouping things in different ways.
- Perceptual Speed - Quickly comparing groups of letters, numbers, pictures, or other things.
- Written Comprehension - Reading and understanding what is written.
- Visualization - Imagining how something will look after it is moved around or changed.
- Dynamic Flexibility - Quickly and repeatedly bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
- Dynamic Strength - Exercising for a long time without your muscles getting tired.
- Information Ordering - Ordering or arranging things.
- Deductive Reasoning - Using rules to solve problems.
- Control Precision - Quickly changing the controls of a machine, car, truck or boat.
- Finger Dexterity - Putting together small parts with your fingers.
- Far Vision - Seeing details that are far away.
- Auditory Attention - Paying attention to one sound while there are other distracting sounds.
- Near Vision - Seeing details up close.
- Hearing Sensitivity - Telling the difference between sounds.
- Sound Localization - Noticing the direction that a sound came from.
- Explosive Strength - Jumping, sprinting, or throwing something.
- Originality - Creating new and original ideas.
- Extent Flexibility - Bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching with your body, arms, and/or legs.
- Visual Color Discrimination - Noticing the difference between colors, including shades and brightness.
- Speech Recognition - Recognizing spoken words.
- Speech Clarity - Speaking clearly.
- Trunk Strength - Using your lower back and stomach.
- Time Sharing - Doing two or more things at the same time.
- Spatial Orientation - Knowing where things are around you.
- Static Strength - Lifting, pushing, pulling, or carrying.
- Response Orientation - Quickly deciding if you should move your hand, foot, or other body part.
- Written Expression - Communicating by writing.
- Arm-Hand Steadiness - Keeping your arm or hand steady.
- Reaction Time - Quickly moving your hand, finger, or foot based on a sound, light, picture or other command.
- Inductive Reasoning - Making general rules or coming up with answers from lots of detailed information.
- Speed of Closure - Quickly knowing what you are looking at.
- Multilimb Coordination - Using your arms and/or legs together while sitting, standing, or lying down.
- Speed of Limb Movement - Quickly moving your arms and legs.
Average Education Attained
Highest level of education earned by people in this career.
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Content sourced from United States Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration ("DOLETA") and the Minnesota Department of Employment & Economic Development ("DEED")