Collaborating to Increase Access to Midwifery Education
Receive your Graduate degree from a collaborating school that is affiliated with the Nurse-Midwifery Education Program of Shenandoah University. The degree is granted by the collaborating school and a Post Graduate Certificate in Midwifery is granted by Shenandoah University Nurse-Midwifery Program.
Through our Midwifery Initiative, we offer options to make curricula more accessible to students living and working in rural areas. Since the nurse-midwifery specialty courses are completed in the second year of study, we allow students from the collaborating universities listed below to take the core credits of their graduate degrees at their home universities in their first year of study and then complete the nurse-midwifery specialty courses at Shenandoah in their second year. Upon completion of the program, students receive a Graduate Degree in Nursing from their home university with a Post Graduate Certificate in Midwifery from Shenandoah.
A Message From Our Director, Dr. Penny Marzalik
Collaborating Schools
While in the Shenandoah University Midwifery Initiative Program you will take your core graduate courses at your home university in the first year and the midwifery courses with Shenandoah University in the second year. Your classes with Shenandoah will be online but you will come to SU in person for a four day immersion in the Fall semester and Spring semester of the second year. You will also be at your clinical sites, which can be at a birth center, hospital, clinic, homes, military facilities, etc.
View collaborating schools:
- George Washington University
- James Madison University
- Marshall University
- Old Dominion University
- West Virginia Wesleyan College
Curriculum Requirements For Midwifery Initiative
Nurse-Midwifery Specialty Courses for Post Graduate Certificate Students
The certificate requirement is 26-31 total credit hours. Clinical practicum is approximately 720 clock hours. Since the length and timing of birth is unpredictable, students may require additional hours to gain enough experiences to successfully meet the ACNM Core Competencies for Basic Midwifery Practice 2020.
Specialty courses for this Certificate begin only in the Fall semester. They must be taken sequentially (see chart below). (Note: Graduate core courses will be taken at Home University.)
| Course | Title | Prerequisite | Credits | Semester |
| Semester 1 | ||||
| NM 610 | Primary Care of Women | Core | 2 | Fall |
| NM 620 | Antepartum Care | Core | 2 | Fall |
| NM 612 | Women’s Health | Core | 2 | Fall |
| NMLB 624 | Midwifery Practicum I (180 clinical hours) | Core | (3) | Fall |
| Credits for Semester One | 6 (3) | |||
| Semester 2 | ||||
| NM 640 | Comprehensive Perinatal Care | 610, 612, 620, 624 | 3 | Spring |
| NM 641 | Perinatal Complications | 610, 612, 620, 624 | 2 | Spring |
| NMLB 630 | Midwifery Practicum II (240 clinical hours) | 610, 612, 620, 624 | (4) | Spring |
| Credits for Semester Two | 5 (4) | |||
| Semester 3 | ||||
| NM 660 | Advanced Nurse-Midwifery Role Development | 640, 641, 630 | 2 | Summer |
| NM 652 | Evidence-Based Practice Project | 640, 641, 630 | 1 | Summer |
| NMLB 651 | Integrated Midwifery Internship (300 clinical hours) | 640, 641, 630 | (5)* | Summer |
| Credits for Semester Three | 3 (5)* | |||
| Total Credits in Clinical Cohort | 14 (12) | |||
| Total Credits in Certificate |
14 (12) |
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** Normally, our clock hour to clinical credit is 4:1, however, in courses with an IP clinical component, # of experiences should be sufficient to meet students’ learning needs. The length & timing of birth is unpredictable, therefore students may require additional hours to gain enough experiences to successfully meet the ACNM Core Competencies for Basic Midwifery Practice 2020.
Program Accreditation
Shenandoah’s Midwifery Initiative is accredited by the Accreditation Commission for Midwifery Education (ACME), 8403 Colesville Rd., Suite 1230, Silver spring, MD 20910-6374, Tel. 240-485-1802 acme@acnm.org; www.midwife.org/acme
You have developed a very solid plan.. We understand that students who are concurrently enrolled in both the Shenandoah School of Nursing Post-Graduate Certificate midwifery program and the affiliated universities graduate nursing programs will be awarded the already ACME-accredited Post-Graduate Certificate. We want to congratulate you on your continued creativity in extending the opportunities for nurses to become nurse-midwives through these innovative affiliations with Schools of Nursing. We also congratulate you on your innovative curricular design.”
Accreditation Commission for Midwifery Education, 2013