What is a certified nurse-midwife?

A nurse-midwife becomes an RN first and then goes to school to be a midwife for another 2 yrs. So she has a master in midwifery. She is a CNM and can prescribe medications and do hospital births. Rarely does a CNM do home births.

A direct-entry midwife goes straight into midwifery school for 2 yrs, pass a national exam and do about 3–5 yrs of internship She is a Certified professional midwife, usually with a state license. “ CPM”. CPM’s do mostly home or birth center births. Generally, she can’t do hospital births and have only a few medications they can use, taking only low-risk clients.

Then there are “traditional” midwives that are not licensed, have no requirements for schooling, usually trained by apprenticeship only. In some states this is legal and other states a traditional midwife is illegal.