Make a difference in women’s health care through a career in nurse-midwifery.
Nurse-midwives are advanced practice nurses who provide family-centered primary health care to women throughout their reproductive lives, including counseling and care during pre-conception, pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum periods. Midwifery is one of the most rewarding advanced practice nursing occupations, allowing you to gently and naturally aid the childbirth process and address women’s general health care.
Shenandoah’s Master’s of Science in Nurse-Midwifery prepares you with the necessary skills and knowledge to lead the profession in the promotion of high quality midwifery care, expand knowledge through research and evaluate and revise care through quality assurance.
Skilled midwifery can reduce the need for high-tech interventions for most women in labor, but midwives also are trained in the latest scientific procedures to assist in normal deliveries. Nurse-midwife-attended births account for 10 percent of all spontaneous vaginal births in the US, and seven percent of all U.S. births in total. Of these deliveries, 97 percent occur in hospitals, 1.8 percent in freestanding birth centers, and one percent at home.
Learn More About This Program & Its Accreditations
The Nurse-Midwifery Program at Shenandoah University is fully accredited by the ACNM Accreditation Commission for Midwifery Education (ACME), 8403 Colesville Road, Suite 1550, Silver Spring, MD 20910-6374; Tel: 240-485-1802, acme@acnm.org, www.midwife.org/acme
Learn more about Nurse-Midwifery at Shenandoah and Nurse-Midwifery Accreditations
Eleanor Wade Custer School of Nursing‘s programs are challenging, but the rewards of completing your degree and entering this critical profession are many. We are committed to providing an outstanding education to nurses at all levels— from people entering the profession with a Bachelor’s degree in nursing, to advanced practice nurses seeking doctoral-level training. Our programs are dynamic and responsive to the needs of our students and the health care industry. Shenandoah Nursing offers classes in Winchester at the Health and Life Sciences Building, and in Fairfax at the Shenandoah Northern Virginia campus. We’re excited to share our programs with you.
The curricula for the Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) and Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) programs combine important knowledge and skills with a friendly and caring spirit. Students like you share diverse backgrounds and personal and professional experiences with seasoned teaching faculty and clinical preceptors, who contribute to robust classroom discussions and enriching and exciting clinical interactions. Our goal is to prepare and challenge you for that next step in your professional career.
Career Possibilities
Our program prepares you to assume the role of a certified nurse-midwife in a variety of clinical settings. Didactic and clinical course content focuses on role development, assessment and management of women’s health, antepartal, intrapartal, postpartal, and neonatal periods as well as primary women’s health throughout the lifespan. You’ll gain clinical experience in a variety of health care settings, including ambulatory, rural and medically underserved areas.
Classes
Graduate core courses are offered face-to-face at Shenandoah University’s main campus in Winchester, Virginia usually one or two days per week. The Nurse-Midwifery specialty courses are offered in a hybrid format that allows you to access course modules on the Canvas Learning System, attend classes on campus for a concentrated period of time, and work with clinical preceptors for your clinical experience. The MSN or post-graduate certificate is conferred after successful completion of a final comprehensive exam. Students are encouraged to explore clinical site placement in their home communities and will be assisted by SU clinical site coordinators.
The degree requirement is 45 semester hours with a grade point average of 3.0 or better. Limit of 2 C’s in core courses. Clinical practicum is approximately 720 clock hours.
SU Core Curriculum Plan of Study
These courses will be taken in the first year of the program for students attending full-time, or in the first two years of the program for students attending part-time.
| Course Number | Course Title | Credit | Requisite Status | Session |
| 506 | Data Analysis and Interpretation | 3 | Fall 1/Spring 1 | |
| 512 | Theory, Research and Reasoning 1 | 3 | Fall 1 | |
| 521 | Theory, Research and Reasoning 2 | 3 | Spring 1 | |
| 532 | Roles and Issues in Advanced Practice | 3 | Pre/Co to specialty | Spring 1/Summer 1 |
| 550 | Advanced Pharmacology & Therapeutics | 3 | Spring 1 | |
| 560 | Advanced Concepts in Physiology & Pathophysiology | 3 | Pre/ Co to N580 | Fall 1 |
| 580 | Advanced Health Promotion & Assessment | 3 (1) | Fall 1/Spring 1 | |
| Total | 21 (1) |
Students come to campus one day a week in core year.
1 Credit Clinical = 4 Credit hours
There is a Clinical Fee per course in Graduate Nursing
Nurse-Midwifery Specialty Courses
| Course Number | Course Title | Credit | Clinical Hours | Requisite Status | Session |
| 610 | Primary Care of Women | 2 (1) | 60 | Pre to 630 | Fall 2 |
| 620 | Comprehensive Antepartal Care | 2 (1) | 60 | Pre to 630 | Fall 2 |
| 630 | Midwifery Practicum | (3) | 180 | Pre to 630 | Spring 2 |
| 640 | Comprehensive Perinatal Care | 2 (1)* | 60 | Pre to 630 | Spring 2 |
| 651 | Integrated Midwifery Practicum | (5)* | 300 | Summer 2 | |
| 652 | Evidence Based Practice Project | 1 | 0 | Summer 2 | |
| 660 | Advanced Nurse-Midwifery Role Development | 1 | 0 | Summer 2 | |
| Elective ** | 3 | 0 | Year 2 | ||
| Total | 10 (11) | >660 |
*Although the SU School of Nursing has a 1:4 clinical hour/clock hour ratio, the minimum # of hours is extended due to unique nature of Nurse-Midwifery case (1 birth/many hours).
During the second year of study students will be on campus one week in Fall and Spring semesters, and will not be on campus at all in the Summer semester.
**3 credit elective taken during specialty is not included in PC nor MI Credit Allotment
There is a Clinical Fee per course in Graduate Nursing
Application Information
We’re excited you’re interested in one of our graduate nursing programs! Shenandoah reviews applications on a rolling basis, which means we will begin evaluating your application once all your documentation has been submitted. Students submitting completed applications before our priority deadlines will be considered first.