Midwives

Salary Overview

Job Outlook (2024–2034)

Key Skills

Knowledge Areas

What They Do

• Identify tubal and ectopic pregnancies and refer patients for treatments.
• Provide necessary medical care for infants at birth, including emergency care such as resuscitation.
• Conduct ongoing prenatal health assessments, tracking changes in physical and emotional health.
• Establish and follow emergency or contingency plans for mothers and newborns.
• Identify, monitor, or treat pregnancy-related problems such as hypertension, gestational diabetes, pre-term labor, or retarded fetal growth.
• Obtain complete health and medical histories from patients including medical, surgical, reproductive, or mental health histories.
• Assess the status of post-date pregnancies to determine treatments and interventions.
• Perform post-partum health assessments of mothers and babies at regular intervals.

Tools & Technology

★ = Hot Technology (in-demand)

Education Requirements

Typical entry-level education: Some College

Related Careers

Careers with the highest skill compatibility from Midwives.

A Day in the Life

A Midwife's day is uniquely unpredictable, as births don't follow schedules and on-call responsibilities are a defining feature of the profession. Clinic days involve seeing prenatal patients for routine check-ups—monitoring fetal development, checking blood pressure and weight, ordering laboratory work, and providing education on nutrition, exercise, and birth preparation. Each appointment typically lasts 30 to 60 minutes, significantly longer than standard obstetric visits, allowing midwives to address physical, emotional, and psychosocial aspects of pregnancy. When a client goes into labor, the midwife may be called at any hour to provide continuous support through labor, delivery, and the immediate postpartum period—a process that can span many hours. During births, midwives monitor fetal heart tones, assess labor progression, provide comfort measures, and make critical decisions about when medical intervention is necessary. Postpartum home visits to check on newborn feeding, maternal recovery, and family adjustment are a cherished component of midwifery care. Between clinical duties, midwives handle documentation, coordinate with obstetricians and pediatricians for complex cases, and engage in professional development activities.

Work Environment

Midwives work in diverse settings that profoundly shape their daily experience and practice scope. Hospital-based midwives work within labor and delivery units alongside obstetricians, nurses, and anesthesiologists, managing patients in clinical environments with continuous monitoring equipment and immediate surgical backup. Birth center environments are intentionally designed to feel more homelike, with comfortable furniture, bathtubs for water labor, and minimal medical equipment visible, creating a calm atmosphere for physiologic birth. Home birth midwives travel to clients' residences with portable equipment including fetal monitoring devices, oxygen, IV supplies, and newborn resuscitation gear, adapting to each unique home environment. Clinic settings for prenatal and gynecological care range from community health centers serving underserved populations to private practices with more affluent clientele. On-call schedules are a significant lifestyle factor, with many midwives carrying a pager or phone 24/7 during their call periods, ready to attend births at any hour. The emotional intensity of the work is high—sharing the most intimate moments of families' lives brings profound satisfaction but also demands psychological resilience when complications arise.

Career Path & Advancement

The path to becoming a midwife varies depending on the credential pursued, with Certified Nurse-Midwives being the most widely recognized and practiced type in the United States. CNMs first earn a bachelor's degree in nursing and obtain RN licensure before completing an accredited graduate-level nurse-midwifery program, typically a master's or doctoral degree taking two to three additional years. Certified Midwives follow a similar graduate education path but enter from non-nursing health science backgrounds. Certified Professional Midwives pursue education and clinical training focused specifically on out-of-hospital birth, with credentialing through the North American Registry of Midwives. All pathways require extensive supervised clinical experience including a minimum number of births attended before certification eligibility. Early-career midwives typically join established practices or hospital-based midwifery services to build clinical volume and confidence. Experienced midwives may open independent birth centers, establish home birth practices, or move into leadership roles as clinical directors of midwifery programs. Academic pathways include teaching in midwifery education programs and conducting research on maternal and newborn outcomes.

Specializations

Midwifery practice encompasses several focus areas that allow practitioners to align their work with personal interests and community needs. Hospital-based midwifery involves attending births within medical facilities where backup obstetric services are immediately available, blending midwifery philosophy with institutional resources. Birth center midwives operate in freestanding facilities designed to provide a homelike environment for low-risk births with transfer protocols for complications. Home birth midwives attend planned deliveries in clients' homes, requiring advanced assessment skills and logistical preparation for managing emergencies in non-clinical settings. Gynecological and primary care midwifery extends beyond pregnancy to include well-woman care, contraception management, STI screening, and menopause support. Midwives can specialize in high-risk pregnancy support, collaborating closely with maternal-fetal medicine specialists to provide continuity of midwifery care to clients with medical complications. Global health midwifery involves working in underserved international settings where maternal mortality rates are high and midwives are often the primary providers of reproductive healthcare. Forensic midwifery is an emerging specialization addressing sexual assault examination, domestic violence screening, and trauma-informed reproductive care.

Pros & Cons

Industry Insight

Midwifery is experiencing significant growth and recognition as healthcare systems grapple with maternal mortality disparities and rising cesarean section rates that midwifery care models have been shown to reduce. The United States has the highest maternal mortality rate among developed nations, and expanding midwifery access is increasingly recognized as part of the solution, particularly for communities of color who face the starkest disparities. Legislative efforts to expand midwifery practice authority, Medicaid reimbursement, and prescriptive privileges are advancing in multiple states, broadening where and how midwives can practice. Telehealth is being integrated into prenatal care models, allowing midwives to conduct some appointments virtually while reserving in-person visits for clinical assessments and relationship building. The birth center model is growing rapidly, with new facilities opening across the country as consumer demand for out-of-hospital birth options increases. Group prenatal care models like CenteringPregnancy are demonstrating improved outcomes and patient satisfaction, reshaping how midwifery practices structure their client care. Increasing recognition of midwives as experts in physiologic birth and women's primary care is expanding their roles within interprofessional healthcare teams.