Initiating midwifery school

Hello all,

I am new to this forum. By way of introduction, my name is Marla and I am a Licensed Midwife and Registered Nurse and have been involved in teaching direct-entry (non-nurse) midwives for several years.

A few years ago we began the process here in California of starting a midwifery school. The program, Nizhoni Institute of Midwifery, is a non-profit organization committed to the education of direct-entry midwives. We are in the process of obtaining accreditation with the Midwifery Education Accreditation Council (MEAC), a U.S. Dept of Education approved accrediting body, but that process cannot be completed until we have obtained approval from the California Bureau for Private Postsecondary and Vocational Education (BPPVE). That is proving to be rather daunting, but we are determined to "stay the course."

I have a few questions that I would like to ask the forum members. First of all, we decided from the outset to make this a diploma program rather than a degree program. Thanks to Dr. Bear's books over the years, I have been clear about the difference between state approval and regional accreditation, and felt that there was not a piper's chance that students would be able to have credits from a state approved degree program transfer to a RA college or university. Nevertheless, there are midwifery programs out there that offer degrees and students are very attracted to them. The best alternative I could find to this situation is to work with the American Council on Education (ACE) to have our program evaluated for credit-worthiness. Of course, RA colleges are not obligated to accept these degrees, and our courses would likely only ever qualify as elective credit. So I am wondering if I am too much of a purist, inasmuch as so many midwives and consumers of midwifery services really don't seem to care about the accreditation/state approval issue.

To clarify, I am not opposed at all to meaningful education from non-RA degree programs, but I thought it would be in the best long-term interests of the midwifery profession to avoid the "you must be a degree mill since you only offer state approved degrees" mindset that is often demonstrated.

Secondly, if anyone has any experience or ideas about working effectively with the California BPPVE, I would be delighted to know more. I will be calling an organization called California Association of Private Postsecondary Schools tomorrow--they evidently can provide referrals to consultants who assist new schools such as ours with this task. But I would be grateful for any assistance from forum members!

Thirdly, I would welcome any resources for developing online distance education expertise. We are planning to offer both residential and distance learning options. The program modules are designed to be done at a rate of one per month, and there are strict legislative guidelines in the California Licensed Midwifery Practice Act that dictate the subject matter to be covered. The modules are already written; the students must complete 37 mandatory modules and there is one optional advanced certification module. There is an externship during which time the students practice under direct supervision of a Licensed Midwife. Distance learning students complete didactic coursework at home but must attend three annual week-long clinical skills workshops and must also complete their clinical training under supervision in their own communities.

I would welcome any feedback you can provide, including observation of any potential pitfalls!

Thank you for the opportunity to be part of the forum.

Marla Hicks

 

the MEAC is an recognized proffesional accrediting body. So once you had state approval and MEAC accreditation you would have a nationally/proffesionally recognized program.

With the BPPVE which approval are you seeking? The requirements are very different based upon how the program is structured. I feel the fastest route would be the certificate aproach to abtain initial approval then if you are really interested in degrees offer top off optgions for midwives to obtain post proffesional degrees. MEAC scope of approval includes degree granting institutions but that process with BPPVE is much more involved.

If you would like to discus this further let me know.
Jeremy

 

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Marla Hicks, RN-C, CPM, LM:

Could you pm me with information on your Midwifery (Application, costs, length, courses) programs.

Thanks,

 

Midwifery

Hi, can u email me some info on this program, i am presently an LPN. I'm very interested in becoming a midwife. My email is [email protected]

 

Nizhoni Institute of Midwifery

 

Not to get into the professional midwife vs nurse midwife debate, just to throw out there another option. You can search for direct entry/graduate entry midwifery programs. This takes a non-RN that holds a bachelor's degree and goes directly to the MSN program --> CNM. I have five favorites if you'd like to look at these. There are others, just don't have them handy.- sorry, links on my other computer, you'll have to google the addys.

university of illinois-chicago
vanderbilt university
university of Cincinnati
columbia university
yale university

 

Hi, Maria. Nice to see you here, and with such a sensible plan.

I wish I had many useful things to say. Maybe the only one: two people who got their California authorization in a very short time told me that they had been suffering from bureaucratic nonsense until they went physically to Sacramento and dashed about in person. At least at those times, the in-person harder-to-avoid applicant was the equivalent of the squeaky wheel.

As it happens, I visited a month ago with an old friend who had two major midwifery hurdles. The first was getting licensed. She trained for a year in Guatemala (where, as she put it, she caught more babies in a month than most midwifes do in a year), but it took a looooong time before she could persuade the relevant people of the validity and quality of her training. And then, after a dozen years in Massachusetts, she moved to a small town in California where she was the only midwife in town, and she fought the medical establishment endlessly and only partially successfully, and last year gave it all up (after 20 years) and opened a gift shop for tourists and is thriving.

 

We did it!

Hello All,

I just wanted to take a moment to express my thanks to those who answered my original query re: establishing a midwifery education program in California. As you can see, it's been awhile since I posted, and the process has been an education in and of itself! But I am very happy to report that we (1) Achieved full approval from the Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education (formerly the BPPVE); (2) Received pre-accreditation status with the Midwifery Education Accreditation Council (with full accreditation to come when we have two additional graduates from the program); and (3) Received program approval from the Medical Board of California. Of course, all this means that the work has just begun!--nevertheless, we are happy and relieved. Many thanks to you for your interest and support.

We may not always be the only midwifery school in California to achieve this, but we will always be the first!

And to Jeremy and any others interested: Yes, I would like to discuss direct-entry midwifery degrees. It is very interesting to be involved in the academic evolution of a profession.

Thanks again,
Marla Hicks
Nizhoni Institute of Midwifery
San Diego, CA

 

Dear Friends,

It has been awhile since I posted here about our progress with Nizhoni Institute of Midwifery. I am happy to report that we did receive full approval from California's Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education (formerly the BPPVE) for both the residential and distance education programs of the school. The program was also approved by the Medical Board of California. Our residential program is now pre-accredited by the Midiwfery Education Accreditation Council, an approved U.S. Dept. of Education accrediting body, and we anticipate receiving full accreditation when our next students graduate from our program. We have learned so much in the process and I just wanted to say thank you to those of you who replied to my original query.

We are still very interested in pursuing MEAC accreditation of our distance education path. At the time of our site visit, MEAC felt that we had not sufficiently developed the means for providing the distance ed program. They also mentioned that there are already multiple distance programs out there for midwifery education. We will pursue further discussion with them on that topic after we receive full accreditation for our residential program, which should occur in 2011. Of course, we have many questions and hope it will be all right to return here to ask those "in the know" for their advice and counsel.

Thanks again for your support. We appreciate this forum a great deal!

Marla Hicks
Nizhoni Institute of Midwifery

 

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Kudos for your hard work! Wishing you many students