It is equally important that you understand this non-physician profession as the health care system as we know it is rapidly changing. Inherent in these changes will be the catapulting of non-physician professionals into an arena that used to be reserved only for the physician. It is already a legislative issue to slate Midwives as primary care providers. A Certified Nurse Midwife is licensed and registered by a State Board of Midwifery. In order to obtain these credentials a person must complete a nursing program and then continue with graduate studies specifically in the field of Midwifery.
Midwifery education consists of the complete knowledge of the female reproductive system.
Relative to their role in the health care system, they receive as stringent an education as a physician only not in the medical school tract. In fact, Ivy League schools such as Columbia and Yale University have Midwifery programs. She can render complete prenatal, intrapartum and post partum care as well as the diagnosis and treatment of the many common gynecological problems that affect women. Midwives do not do surgery and they do not manage high risk problems. They work within a collegial relationship with a physician with whom she can consult or refer a patient.