Midwifery Involvement in Education

Educating the next generation of maternity care providers

At Boston Medical Center one of the goals of the midwifery service is to provide didactic and clinical training to up and coming maternity care providers. We take pride in teaching obstetric skills to our obstetrics & gynecology, family medicine, and emergency medicine resident doctors. We work with learners beginning during their medical school education, through their beginning training in obstetrics, and ending with their final year of residency to promote holistic maternity care providers. In addition, we train one student nurse-midwife each academic year. Our commitment to education ensures that trainees learn the midwifery model of care and engage in creating collaborative interdisciplinary teams.

A History of Midwives in Education at Boston Medical Center

In 1979 Boston City Hospital opened its midwifery service. In 1996 Boston City Hospital and Boston University Medical Center Hospital merged to create Boston Medical Center (BMC).  This same year midwives were appointed as clinical faculty through Boston University School of Medicine, and the next year began teaching medical students.  In 2005 BMC launched an innovative collaborative practice model involving the midwifery service, obstetricians, and family medicine doctors to provide maternity care with a focus on interdisciplinary education. With the adoption of the collaborative model midwives began teaching residents. On labor and delivery interns began working directly with midwives and the women cared for by midwives. By 2009 midwives at BMC had developed didactic sessions and teaching objectives for interns. The following year chief residents began receiving formal training in the consultant role.  Currently, the midwives at BMC continue in their role as clinical and didactic educators to nurse midwifery students, medical students during their obstetrics and gynecology clerkship, obstetrics and gynecology residents, family medicine residents, and emergency medicine residents. Lastly, we participate in the American College of Nurse-Midwives Medical Education Caucus and were involved in developing a Toolkit for midwives engaged in medical student and resident education.

Learners provide care alongside the midwives on labor and delivery at Boston Medical Center. Our goal is to educate using evidence-based practice focused on physiologic birth.  This includes but is not limited to training focused on the normal course of labor and birth, nonpharmacologic pain control options in labor, supporting women while pushing, immediate newborn care with skin-to-skin contact, and delayed cord clamping. The Midwives at Boston Medical Center fulfill training requisites per the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education including:

• Patient care: respectful maternity care
• Medical knowledge: physiologic birth, low risk pregnancy care
• Interpersonal skills: collaboration with team models, managing differences in care based on care models
• Professionalism: respect of patients, practice models, and colleagues