We anticipate client participation and involvement in order to achieve the most optimal outcomes. Each year, approximately 400 new midwives pass the national certification exam. To be eligible to sit for the exam, the student must have graduated from an accredited ACNM program. This ensures that each midwife will keep a current knowledge base as well as be exposed to new practices and techniques. A large majority of the births occurred in hospitals and a smaller portion in freestanding birth centers and at home.
Current research supports the safety of midwifery care.
These arrangements exist so that a physician is available to assist whenever necessary. This affords women all the benefits of midwifery care with physician involvement as needed. A Supportive Partnership Intrinsic to midwifery is the underlying belief that birth is a normal physiologic event for a woman that has profound effects on both her and her family. As such, a supportive environment in which the woman feels nurtured yet strong is one of the goals. We encourage the development of a partnership between the woman and her midwife, whereby the woman receives care, support, guidance and advice and the woman shares insight, information and expectations about her pregnancy and birth.