Nurse-Midwifery

Nurse-Midwifery Program at University Hospitals

Nurse-midwives are advanced practice registered nurses who hold a master’s degree or higher and have extensive education and training in midwifery and women’s health. University Hospitals has the largest, most experienced nurse-midwifery team in the Cleveland area, attending to more than 1,000 vaginal births annually.

Our nurse-midwives take a personalized approach to pregnancy and childbirth, offering unique services to improve patients’ experiences and reserving medical inventions for only situations that require them.

What Services Can a Nurse-Midwife Provide?

Our nurse midwives can provide routine and preventive gynecologic care for women in every stage of life. Services provided by our experienced team include:

• Annual well-woman exams
• Care for common gynecologic concerns such as abnormal bleeding, infections and pelvic pain
• Family planning and birth control
• Intrauterine device (IUD) insertion
• Pap tests and HPV screenings
• Pelvic exams
• Perimenopause and menopause management
• Prenatal, childbirth and postpartum care
• Prescribe medications and order lab and imaging tests

Why Choose a Nurse-Midwife?

There are many reasons a woman may choose a nurse-midwife to provide their pregnancy, childbirth and routine gynecological care. Research shows mothers and babies who receive midwifery care do as well as or better than those who receive physician care in areas such as preterm delivery, vaginal deliveries, infant and maternal death and breastfeeding. They are also less likely to need birth interventions such as labor induction, epidurals and episiotomies (a cut to enlarge vaginal opening during childbirth).

Women may choose a nurse-midwife if they prefer a prenatal and childbirth experience that includes fewer interventions and limited medical tests, or if they are interested in alternative birthing experiences such as water birth.

Other benefits of selecting a nurse-midwife for pregnancy and other women’s health services:

• Focus on promoting healthy choices at every stage of life.
• Evidence-based care.
• Emphasis on patient education.
• Empowering patients to be active participants in their healthcare.

State-of-the-Art, Personalized Pregnancy and Childbirth Services

Midwifery at University Hospitals provides the best of both worlds – highly personalized care combined with evidence-based medicine. Our team consists of certified nurse-midwives and nurse practitioners work closely with obstetricians, gynecologists and maternal fetal specialists to offer patients a full spectrum of care when needed.

Because midwife-assisted deliveries occur in a UH hospital or birthing center, patients are close to advanced equipment and state-of-the-art facilities in the event complications arise during or following labor or delivery. This makes it an exceptionally safe, personalized option for labor and delivery.

Just like a physician-assisted delivery, women who choose midwifery also receive comprehensive prenatal care and education throughout the pregnancy. Midwives are available to answer questions and evaluate patients to identify problems early, minimizing the chance of complications. Overall, a midwife-assisted pregnancy and delivery is more personalized and tailored to the woman’s individual needs and preferences.