What is a Licensed Midwife?

Licensed Midwives are “experts” in healthy, natural pregnancy and childbirth.  Individualized care, education and guidance support good health habits for mothers and families.  Midwives care for women in a variety of settings including home, birth centers and clinics.

Midwives Provide Safe, Effective Maternity Care

• Time-intensive quality care and family-centered guidance in the childbearing cycle
• Culturally sensitive education, psychosocial support for improved pregnancy outcomes
• Lower maternity care costs, in part through reduced reliance on cesarean surgery

Midwives provide ongoing risk assessment throughout pregnancy.  If medical concerns arise, midwives collaborate with physicians and refer out when indicated.  Florida Licensed Midwives must complete three years of academic and clinical education and pass the North American Registry of Midwives national certification examination.

Midwives Model of Care    Copyright © 1996-2001, Midwifery Task Force, Inc.

Recognizing that pregnancy and birth are normal life processes, midwifery care includes:

• Monitoring the physical, psychological and social well-being of the mother throughout the childbearing cycle
• Providing the mother with individualized education, counseling and prenatal care, continuous hands-on assistance during labor and delivery, and postpartum support
• Minimizing technological interventions
• Identifying and referring women who require obstetrical attention

This woman-centered model has been proven to reduce birth injury, trauma and cesarean section.

What is a Certified Professional Midwife (CPM)?

A Certified Professional Midwife (CPM) is an independent practitioner who has met the standards for certification set by the North American Registry of Midwives (NARM) and is qualified to provide the Midwives Model of Care. The NARM certification process recognizes multiple routes of entry into midwifery and includes verification of knowledge and skills and the successful completion of both a Written Examination and Skills Assessment. The CPM credential requires training in out-of-hospital settings.