Baylor nursing stepping up to fill growing need for nurse-midwives

The use of midwives in childbirth is on the rise nationwide as more and more women find that they prefer the more personal, natural approach nurse-midwives take compared to the average hospital. Baylor’s Louise Herrington School of Nursing (LHSON) is among a handful of universities stepping up to fill that need.

LHSON’s new nurse-midwifery program, which began fall 2009, allows students to progress directly from a bachelor’s degree in nursing to a doctorate in nurse-midwifery. The first nurses in the country to finish the program received their degrees in May 2010 from Baylor, according to the Accreditation Commission for Midwifery Education, which approved the program’s initial acceditation earlier this year.

Only eight nursing schools in the country offer the Doctor of Nursing Practice in nurse-midwifery program, and Baylor is the only one in Texas. In its accreditation letter, the Board of Review praised Baylor’s program and its coordinator, associate professor of nursing Dr. Mary Ann Faucher, “for an excellent program that will make important contributions to the underserved women and their families living in Texas, as well as those served by their mission work.”

Sic ’em, Baylor nurse-midwifes!