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By Julie Rausch

WSU and three other universities in Kansas and Missouri will deliver a new joint program in nurse midwifery.

Wichita currently has only a few practicing certified midwives, according to Jan Riordan, associate professor of nursing and WSU program coordinator.

"This part of the country is unusual – some would say backward – from other countries and other areas in the United States, where the practice of nurse midwives is common," she said.

WSU’s and Fort Hays State’s midwife programs are not due to start until summer 2001. The University of Kansas Medical Center-Lawrence and the University of Missouri-Kansas City will accept three students each in the two-year, full-time programs starting next summer.

The new program will be funded by a $1.3 million grant from the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration. The Kansas Health Foundation provided an exploratory grant for FHSU, WSU and KU faculty to visit other midwife programs in the country.

The joint university program, preaccredited by a council of the American College of Nurse Midwives is unique, said Riordan. "Our regents universities are working together and sharing resources instead of being competitive."

The first regents-shared program was WSU’s nurse practitioner program, also piloted through a KHF grant. "It became a university model that other states envy," said Riordan.

Teleconferencing has made the joint programs possible, said Riordan.

After graduating from the midwife program, students will have a master’s degree in nursing, but will need to take a national midwife certification exam.

A certified nurse midwife is generally more highly skilled than a lay midwife, Riordan said. Lay midwives do not have to have a degree or any kind of specific medical training.

Clinics and hospitals hire certified nurse midwives to work with medical doctors. Midwives only accept patients expecting normal deliveries. Certified midwives usually perform deliveries in a clinic or hospital setting. Doctors are available if unexpected complications arise.

Studies show that nurse midwives have a commendable record of low percentage of problems in delivery.

According to a 1998 study from the National Center for Health Statistics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, infant death was 19 percent lower for births attended by certified nurse midwives than for births attended by physicians.

The risk of neonatal mortality (an infant death occurring in the first 28 days of life) was 33 percent lower, and the risk of delivering a low birth weight infant was 31 percent lower.

Other studies have shown that certified nurse midwives generally spend more time with patients during prenatal visits and often put more emphasis on patient counseling and education and providing emotional support, according to the National Center for Health Statistics.