Nurse Midwives
Diagnose and coordinate all aspects of the birthing process, either independently or as part of a healthcare team. May provide well-woman gynecological care. Must have specialized, graduate nursing education.
Also Known As:
Certified Nurse Midwife (CNM)
Certified Nurse-Midwife (CNM)
Nurse Midwife
Staff Certified Nurse Midwife
Staff Nurse Midwife
Wages
Annual wages for Nurse Midwives in United States
Job Outlook
Bright
New job opportunities are very likely in the future
United States
2033 Projected Employment
7,700
7% Change From 2023
Explore Nurse Midwives video
Tasks you might complete in a day.
- Instruct student nurse midwives, medical students, or residents on the birthing process.
- Order and interpret diagnostic or laboratory tests.
- Conduct clinical research on topics such as maternal or infant health care, contraceptive methods, breastfeeding, and gynecological care.
- Monitor fetal development by listening to fetal heartbeat, taking external uterine measurements, identifying fetal position, or estimating fetal size and weight.
- Initiate emergency interventions to stabilize patients.
- Document findings of physical examinations.
- Consult with or refer patients to appropriate specialists when conditions exceed the scope of practice or expertise.
- Perform physical examinations by taking vital signs, checking neurological reflexes, examining breasts, or performing pelvic examinations.
- Educate patients and family members regarding prenatal, intrapartum, postpartum, newborn, or interconception care.
- Plan, provide, or evaluate educational programs for nursing staff, health care teams, or the community.
- Manage newborn care during the first weeks of life.
- Provide patients with direct family planning services, such as inserting intrauterine devices, dispensing oral contraceptives, and fitting cervical barriers, including cervical caps or diaphragms.
- Read current literature, talk with colleagues, or participate in professional organizations or conferences to keep abreast of developments in midwifery.
- Instruct student nurse midwives, medical students, or residents on the birthing process.
- Monitor fetal development by listening to fetal heartbeat, taking external uterine measurements, identifying fetal position, or estimating fetal size and weight.
- Order and interpret diagnostic or laboratory tests.
- Provide primary health care, including pregnancy and childbirth, to women.
- Document patients' health histories, symptoms, physical conditions, or other diagnostic information.
- Provide prenatal, intrapartum, postpartum, or newborn care to patients.
- Write information in medical records or provide narrative summaries to communicate patient information to other health care providers.
- Perform physical examinations by taking vital signs, checking neurological reflexes, examining breasts, or performing pelvic examinations.
- Establish practice guidelines for specialty areas such as primary health care of women, care of the childbearing family, and newborn care.
- Plan, provide, or evaluate educational programs for nursing staff, health care teams, or the community.
- Consult with or refer patients to appropriate specialists when conditions exceed the scope of practice or expertise.
- Explain procedures to patients, family members, staff members or others.
- Write information in medical records or provide narrative summaries to communicate patient information to other health care providers.
- Prescribe medications as permitted by state regulations.
- Develop and implement individualized plans for health care management.
Subject areas you may need to master.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Mathematics - Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
- Transportation - Knowledge of principles and methods for moving people or goods by air, rail, sea, or road, including the relative costs and benefits.
- History and Archeology - Knowledge of historical events and their causes, indicators, and effects on civilizations and cultures.
- Computers and Electronics - Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
- 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.
- Fine Arts - Knowledge of the theory and techniques required to compose, produce, and perform works of music, dance, visual arts, drama, and sculpture.
- Biology - Knowledge of plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, interdependencies, and interactions with each other and the environment.
- 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.
- 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.
- Law and Government - Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
- 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.
- 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.
- Food Production - Knowledge of techniques and equipment for planting, growing, and harvesting food products (both plant and animal) for consumption, including storage/handling techniques.
- 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.
- Economics and Accounting - Knowledge of economic and accounting principles and practices, the financial markets, banking, and the analysis and reporting of financial data.
- Sociology and Anthropology - Knowledge of group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures, and their history and origins.
- Telecommunications - Knowledge of transmission, broadcasting, switching, control, and operation of telecommunications systems.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Production and Processing - Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Design - Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models.
Strengths you may need in this role.
- Management of Financial Resources - Making spending decisions and keeping track of what is spent.
- Systems Analysis - Figuring out how a system should work and how changes in the future will affect it.
- Management of Material Resources - Managing equipment and materials.
- Judgment and Decision Making - Thinking about the pros and cons of different options and picking the best one.
- Active Listening - Listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions.
- Mathematics - Using math to solve problems.
- Learning Strategies - Using the best training or teaching strategies for learning new things.
- Operations Monitoring - Watching gauges, dials, or display screens to make sure a machine is working.
- Persuasion - Talking people into changing their minds or their behavior.
- Operations Analysis - Figuring out what a product or service needs to be able to do.
- Service Orientation - Looking for ways to help people.
- Systems Evaluation - Measuring how well a system is working and how to improve it.
- Repairing - Repairing machines or systems using the right tools.
- Management of Personnel Resources - Selecting and managing the best workers for a job.
- Equipment Selection - Deciding what kind of tools and equipment are needed to do a job.
- Quality Control Analysis - Testing how well a product or service works.
- Science - Using scientific rules and strategies to solve problems.
- Operation and Control - Using equipment or systems.
- Time Management - Managing your time and the time of other people.
- Instructing - Teaching people how to do something.
- Equipment Maintenance - Planning and doing the basic maintenance on equipment.
- Reading Comprehension - Reading work-related information.
- Social Perceptiveness - Understanding people's reactions.
- Negotiation - Bringing people together to solve differences.
- Technology Design - Making equipment and technology useful for customers.
- Programming - Writing computer programs.
- Troubleshooting - Figuring out what is causing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs to not work.
- Installation - Installing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs.
- Monitoring - Keeping track of how well people and/or groups are doing in order to make improvements.
- Writing - Writing things for co-workers or customers.
- Speaking - Talking to others.
- Critical Thinking - Thinking about the pros and cons of different ways to solve a problem.
- Active Learning - Figuring out how to use new ideas or things.
- Coordination - Changing what is done based on other people's actions.
- Complex Problem Solving - Noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it.
- Deductive Reasoning - Using rules to solve problems.
- Hearing Sensitivity - Telling the difference between sounds.
- Auditory Attention - Paying attention to one sound while there are other distracting sounds.
- Sound Localization - Noticing the direction that a sound came from.
- Speech Recognition - Recognizing spoken words.
- Wrist-Finger Speed - Making fast, simple, repeated movements of your fingers, hands, and wrists.
- Extent Flexibility - Bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching with your body, arms, and/or legs.
- Peripheral Vision - Seeing something to your side when your are looking ahead.
- Perceptual Speed - Quickly comparing groups of letters, numbers, pictures, or other things.
- Oral Comprehension - Listening and understanding what people say.
- Written Comprehension - Reading and understanding what is written.
- Information Ordering - Ordering or arranging things.
- Category Flexibility - Grouping things in different ways.
- Selective Attention - Paying attention to something without being distracted.
- Manual Dexterity - Holding or moving items with your hands.
- Control Precision - Quickly changing the controls of a machine, car, truck or boat.
- 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.
- Stamina - Exercising for a long time without getting out of breath.
- Visualization - Imagining how something will look after it is moved around or changed.
- Oral Expression - Communicating by speaking.
- Dynamic Strength - Exercising for a long time without your muscles getting tired.
- Fluency of Ideas - Coming up with lots of ideas.
- Dynamic Flexibility - Quickly and repeatedly bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
- Glare Sensitivity - Seeing something even if there is a glare or very bright light.
- Gross Body Coordination - Moving your arms, legs, and mid-section together while your whole body is moving.
- Inductive Reasoning - Making general rules or coming up with answers from lots of detailed information.
- Mathematical Reasoning - Choosing the right type of math to solve a problem.
- Arm-Hand Steadiness - Keeping your arm or hand steady.
- Multilimb Coordination - Using your arms and/or legs together while sitting, standing, or lying down.
- Response Orientation - Quickly deciding if you should move your hand, foot, or other body part.
- Explosive Strength - Jumping, sprinting, or throwing something.
- Spatial Orientation - Knowing where things are around you.
- Far Vision - Seeing details that are far away.
- Number Facility - Adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing.
- Memorization - Remembering words, numbers, pictures, or steps.
- Time Sharing - Doing two or more things at the same time.
- Finger Dexterity - Putting together small parts with your fingers.
- Reaction Time - Quickly moving your hand, finger, or foot based on a sound, light, picture or other command.
- Near Vision - Seeing details up close.
- Flexibility of Closure - Seeing hidden patterns.
- Speed of Closure - Quickly knowing what you are looking at.
- Written Expression - Communicating by writing.
- Originality - Creating new and original ideas.
- Problem Sensitivity - Noticing when problems happen.
- Speed of Limb Movement - Quickly moving your arms and legs.
- Depth Perception - Deciding which thing is closer or farther away from you, or deciding how far away it is from you.
- Speech Clarity - Speaking clearly.
- Static Strength - Lifting, pushing, pulling, or carrying.
- Night Vision - Seeing at night or under low light.
- Trunk Strength - Using your lower back and stomach.
- Visual Color Discrimination - Noticing the difference between colors, including shades and brightness.
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")