WASHINGTON (October 3, 2023) – October 1-7th is National Midwifery Week, created by the American College of Nurse-Midwives. The United States is currently facing a maternal care crisis – many rural hospitals are closing their labor and delivery units, exacerbating maternity care deserts across the country, and maternal deaths more than doubled over the last two decades in the United States, among which black women died at the nation’s highest rates. The U.S. has the highest maternal mortality rate than any other developed nation.
Faculty experts at the George Washington University School of Nursing say midwifery can be a solution to the country’s maternal care crisis. They’re helping launch a new Masters midwifery education program that will help build and diversify the midwifery workforce.
“Midwifery is the answer to the maternity care crisis in the U.S., where maternal mortality is increasing and Black women die at three times the rate of white women,” said Tarnisha Hemphill, midwifery assistant professor at GW. “Midwives provide holistic, family-centered care for women throughout the pregnancy, birth, and the postpartum period, thereby supporting families and empowering women to become mothers.”
The nurse-midwifery program is an asynchronous online program geared toward adult learners. It provides education on midwifery history, the scope of practice, and the profession of midwifery in the first two years of the program, with the last two semesters focused on clinical experience in the students’ communities.
“In addition to the online courses, students will receive in-person clinical skills training from experienced midwives passionate about the field,” said Suzan Ulrich, director of Midwifery Education at GW. “The curriculum emphasizes health equity and culturally congruent care. We believe in the power of community birth which promotes physiologic births and family centered care, and plan to prepare GW midwifery students to provide care in all birth settings.”
The program will be enrolling its first class of students for the Fall of 2024.
WATCH: Hear more from Prof. Hemphill on the new program and how midwifery can improve health outcomes and increase access to care across the United States in this video here.
If you would like to speak with Professors Hemphill or Ulrich, please contact GW Senior Media Relations Specialist Cate Douglass at cdouglass
gwu [dot] edu (cdouglass[at]gwu[dot]edu).
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