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In cases where established preceptorships are not available in a student’s home area . . . students must be prepared to relocate for one or more sites if the community where they reside does not have adequate clinical training opportunities
Clinical Experience
The Department of Midwifery places all students in qualified clinical training sites. We replicate the age-old apprenticeship model where students work side by side with experienced preceptors who are licensed midwives and other professionals. Department staff works closely with each student in the process of arranging these clinical placements. Students need to live within a one-hour commute of qualified clinical faculty and must be prepared to relocate temporarily if the community where they reside does not have adequate clinical training opportunities. This requires flexibility and the support of the student’s family, as it may mean separation and economic challenges.
Students may obtain their clinical experience in gynecology/family planning clinics, prenatal/postpartum clinics, homebirth settings, birth centers, and hospitals in North America as well as overseas. (See Graduation Requirements for more specifics about clinical training requirements.) Students may work with licensed midwives, certified professional midwives, certified nurse-midwives, nurse practitioners, foreign midwives, naturopathic doctors, physician assistants, or physicians during these rotations. Clinical faculty must be practicing legally and have sufficient obstetrical/gynecological volume to adequately instruct, supervise, and evaluate the student’s clinical training. The Department of Midwifery screens and approves all potential clinical faculty.
Practicum begins a student's third quarter. Students start off very slowly, mainly observing for the first few months. What students are able to do in their preceptorships mirrors what they are learning in the classroom. Basic clinical skills, such as performing blood draws, IVs, physical/ vaginal exams, pap smears, etc., are all learned by students in the classroom first. By the third year most credits will be devoted to practicum, with 25 of the 50 practicum credits being completed in the last three quarters.