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Nurse-Midwifery: A Developing Profession

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 April 2021

Sally Tom
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Extract

Consumer demand and federal support has caused the number of certified nurse-midwives to quadruple in the last decade, from 629 in 1970 to 2500 in 1982. Despite their record of reducing infant mortality and satisfying consumers, nurse-midwives are still an underutilized health resource. This article provides a brief history of nurse-midwifery. describes nurse-midwives’ education and current legal status, discusses obstacles to wider use of nurse-midwives, and examines the issues of safety and cost-effectiveness of nurse-midwifery practice.

The word “midwife” often evokes images of home births attended by “granny” or “lay” midwives who lack formal education in obstetrics. Yet, professionally educated nurse-midwives have practiced in this country since 1925, when an American nurse, educated in nurse-midwifery in England, came to the mountains of eastern Kentucky.

Type
Article
Information
Law, Medicine and Healthcare , Volume 10 , Issue 4 , December 1982 , pp. 262 - 282
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Law, Medicine and Ethics 1982

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References

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