My Course Work
Image from Wix Media
Currently Enrolled
Summer 2024
Further Coursework
Fall 2024
CLNC 2040
Phase Two Practicum
CLNC 2090
Phase Two Competencies
MDWF 2035
Complications of Human Lactation
MDWF 3060
Fundamentals of Waterbirth
Completed Coursework
Anatomy For Health Professionals
This course aims to acquaint students with basic human biology and the human body's major anatomical systems. A midwife who understands the body and how it functions is far more capable of helping clients with specific problems that may arise during pregnancy, labor, delivery, and postpartum. Basic knowledge of anatomy and physiology is an indispensable component of midwifery training. This course covers the identification and essential functions of various body systems, including the integumentary, skeletal, muscular, nervous, endocrine, cardiovascular, lymphatic and immune, respiratory, digestive, urinary, and reproductive systems. There is also an introduction to how pregnancy affects these body systems.
BIO 1050
Anatomy and Physiology of Obstetrics
This course covers pelvic bones, joints, ligaments and classifications, musculature of pelvic floor and perineum, fetal skull, fetopelvic relationships, reproductive organs, the reproductive cycle, natural child spacing, fertilization and early development, fetal circulation, and the female urinary tract.
BIO 2030
Hidden Organisms: Applied Microbiology for Midwives
Students study various pathogens and the role they play in well-person and perinatal health. Students receive a basic overview of the fundamentals of microbiology, including laboratory techniques, microbial characteristics, and control of infections and drug resistance. Students gain understanding of the normal flora of the reproductive system, GI tract, urinary tract, and skin. This course is practical for midwives because it focuses on etiology, identification, and treatment of infections that are relevant to well-person and perinatal care. In addition, it gives some perspective on the course of treatment prescribed by physicians. This information will allow the midwife to consult, refer, or transfer care to a physician with more confidence and knowledge to be a better link between the medical and traditional health world.
BIO 2050
The Science of Nutrition
This course will educate students to recognize the relation between health and nutrition and promote measures to reduce morbidity and mortality derived from chronic illness linked to nutritional inadequacy. They will be able to identify nutritional deficiencies and teach ways to overcome those deficiencies through a proper diet in accordance with the needs, means, and personal and cultural preferences of the client. They will understand the benefits and risks of supplements during pregnancy and will learn to recommend the appropriate use of vitamin and mineral supplements through childbearing the years. This course also addresses the nutrition of the baby during the first year of life
Herbology for Midwives
This course will guide aspiring midwives in acquiring knowledge and experience in the herbal healing arts for people in the childbearing year. Incorporating texts rich with applicable knowledge, students will apply their studies to hands-on experience incorporating fieldwork in identifying, harvesting & preserving plants, creating multiple herbal remedies, growing plants, taking herbal walks, creating a resource of plant profiles, exploring herbal applications for midwifery practice and culminating in a final project that fits the student’s pathway.
BOTNY 2010
Advanced Herbology for Midwives
Advanced Herbology examines and explores botanical medicine with the goal of gaining a deeper and broader awareness, comprehension and working knowledge of botanical medicine as it relates to the childbearing year. This class will develop: an understanding of foundational concepts in herbal medicine, including the history of herbalists, food as medicine and ethical/legal and safety practice considerations as well as understanding the body systems, the actions of plants on them and how to formulate for application. Students will work on creating, implementing, and assessing a personal health care plan with a focus on herbal remedies and formulating for specific needs. This class will guide students in integrating their knowledge of plants to confidently offer herbal therapeutics for common concerns during the childbearing year.
Clinical Practicum
Guidance for all aspects of the clinical program including evaluation and communication. Students will compile a portfolio containing practice guidelines, informed consent, and emergency care plan and client handouts.
CLNC 1050
Phase One Competencies
Students demonstrate practical skills and competencies necessary to begin assisting a midwife and prepare for Phase One Assessment. Clinical Competency classes are required during the final trimester of a Phase and may not be extended.
Phase Two Practicum
Students assist approved preceptors with appropriate prenatal, labor and birth, postpartum and newborn care duties and reflect on these experiences, linking knowledge or skills acquired in assistant experiences with knowledge acquired in phase two of study, including current research in the field. Students evaluate learning gained from assistant clinical experiences. Students should plan to spend a minimum of 80 hours in clinical placement during the trimester (an average of about 5.33 hours/week).
Phase Two Practicum
Students assist approved preceptors with appropriate prenatal, labor and birth, postpartum and newborn care duties and reflect on these experiences, linking knowledge or skills acquired in assistant experiences with knowledge acquired in phase two of study, including current research in the field. Students evaluate learning gained from assistant clinical experiences. Students should plan to spend a minimum of 80 hours in clinical placement during the trimester (an average of about 5.33 hours/week). By the end of the term you enroll in this class, you should have at least 7 assist birth numbers to be on track to complete your phase. This is not required but listed as information to help you decide on clinical class enrollment.
Outward Mindset & Dialogue in Organizational, Community, and Relationship Transformation
Explores the way in which we think about and see others (mindset), and our ability to develop and maintain the free flow of information (dialogue) is fundamental to effectiveness, productivity, and satisfaction in our work environments, the communities we live and serve in, and our intimate relationships. Students will learn the models, tools, and skills to engage in an “Outward Mindset,” and successfully navigate “Crucial Conversations” in work and private life.
Introduction to Writing
Students will grow academic-writing skills, becoming familiar with various sources, preparing students to communicate effectively by researching, organizing, writing, and editing. Students are oriented toward writing for an academic/professional audience, with a strong emphasis on APA format, style, and thesis creation. Students will hone skills of summarizing in preparation for next-level course (ENGL 1050). Students will begin creating midwifery specific documents such as a resume and professional presentations. Course emphasizes peer-review partnering and giving/receiving feedback on academic writing and APA.
Technical Writing for Midwives
Students will practice the writing skills necessary for midwives including creating research papers based on primary sources, practice guidelines, client educational materials, and business letters. There is a strong emphasis on APA format and style. Students will begin ongoing creation of their ePortfolio. Course emphasizes peer-review partnering and giving/receiving feedback on academic writing and APA.
History of Midwifery
The purpose of this course is to give students an overview of the history of midwifery, from ancient times through the present.
HLTH 1010
Medical Terminology & Charting
This course is intended to be an introduction-level class covering basic word structure; suffixes, prefixes and terminology associated with the prenatal period, labor, and birth, postpartum and the newborn. Additionally, charting guidelines and rules will be examined and applied with specific focus on applications for the childbearing year
HLTH 1030
Foundations in Public Health and Health Education for Midwives
This course will introduce students to foundational concepts in Public Health and taught to apply Public Health theory to midwifery practice. Maternal and newborn morbidity and mortality will be discussed from a Public Health perspective and students will identify interventions in the intersection of the fields of Midwifery and Public Health. Students will learn about health inequities and will have the opportunity to perform in-depth analysis of a selected health inequities. The health care and public health system, resources for mothers and babies, and the role of midwives in the broader system will be analyzed. Students will learn techniques in shared decision making and health education and will gain competency in these areas through case studies and an oral presentation.
Introduction to Midwifery
A solid understanding of childbirth as a human right, the Midwives Model of Care and the safety of out-of- hospital birth. Through narrative accounts, research documents and the powerful imagery of birth, students will emerge from this course understanding the power, value and importance of access to midwifery care for all who choose this maternity care option.
Human Lactation
Students will learn about the historical and cultural background of human lactation, anatomy and physiology of lactation, human milk and the infant, the infant feeding process, and possible problems.
IV Skills
This course covers the indications for IV therapy in childbirth, types of fluids, and proper technique in starting, administering, and discontinuing IVs, as well as proper charting.
Midwife’s Assistant Orientation
This course helps student midwives prepare to become efficient, trustworthy, and competent assistants. It is designed to give students an understanding of the requirements and duties of a midwife's assistant. After having completed this course, students will be prepared with the theoretical background necessary for her clinical practicum. Students will understand the scope and principles of general skills used in a prenatal setting and will explore the role of the assistant through case studies.
Prenatal Care I: Foundations of Prenatal Care
This course focuses on the basics of prenatal care from establishing initial contact, taking a thorough client history, initiating ongoing prenatal care, evaluation of the pregnant person and the fetus, addressing common discomforts and physiological changes of pregnancy, and recognizing when referral is indicated. With the midwifery model of care and an individualized approach, students will develop a portfolio of chart forms for routine prenatal care, client handouts, several practice guidelines, and the NARM Informed Disclosure of Midwifery Practice. Case studies are utilized to demonstrate the application of clinical judgment and management within the scope of practice of the Certified Professional Midwife.
Prenatal Care II: Prenatal Care for a Healthy Pregnancy
This course focuses on various elements of promoting a healthy pregnancy and caring holistically for clients. Students will create client educational materials or prenatal care plans which address nutritional, physical, environmental, emotional, social and sexual needs, changes and risks during pregnancy. Students will develop practice guidelines for several common disorders, diseases and infections during pregnancy. Case studies are utilized to demonstrate the application of clinical judgment and management within the scope of care of the Certified Professional Midwife. The following topics are examined as they relate to pregnancy: exercise, weight gain, herbs, tobacco exposure and cessation, optimal fetal positioning, glucose metabolism, and gestational diabetes screening. The course also introduces students to some complications of pregnancy they will revisit in later courses. Other topics explored include late term and post term pregnancy, urinary tract infections, environmental hazards and illnesses caused by environmental exposures, fifth disease, infectious disease reporting, unintended or mistimed pregnancies, abuse during pregnancy and substance use. Additional consideration is given to adolescent pregnancy, advanced parental age, grand multiparity, excess weight, and care of persons from populations on the margins such as those impacted by racism, xenophobia, religious intolerance, homophobia, transphobia, sizism, classism or other differentisms. Students will explore how to help foster their client’s wellbeing and resilience through a focus on emotional health, psychosocial care, cultural humility, and structural competency.
Labor, Birth and Immediate Postpartum
Physiology and management of first, second and third stages of labor are taught. Students also learn about the mechanism of labor for occiput anterior, transverse, posterior, face, brow, military, and breech presentations. Case studies are utilized to demonstrate the application of clinical judgment and management within the scope of care of the Certified Professional Midwife.
Postpartum Care
This course provides instruction in understanding, preparing for and meeting the normal physiological and emotional changes that may occur in the postpartum period. It includes what to do in the first few hours after birth as well as providing excellent care and record keeping in the subsequent postpartum care visits. Case studies are utilized to demonstrate the application of clinical judgment and management within the scope of care of the Certified Professional Midwife.
Pediatrics
This course is specifically designed to explore the anatomy and physiology of the newborn from birth through eight weeks. Students will understand normal and abnormal findings. Assessment, age-appropriate strategies, and cultural differences will be discussed. Current research will be reviewed by participants to enhance the midwife’s care of the neonate and case studies will be utilized.
Clinical Testing/Childbearing Year
This course includes the physiological changes of pregnancy, disease conditions relating to pregnancy and the reproductive organs, tests to detect physical conditions (both physiological and pathological), fetal diagnosis, maternal metabolic disorders, and postpartum testing. Case studies will hone the midwives’ understanding of screening and diagnostic tests and appropriate management plans for the scope of the Certified Professional Midwife.
Obstetrical Pharmacology
As midwives, we are responsible for providing high quality, comprehensive care to clients during their pregnancy and the birth of their baby. The expertise of midwives includes supporting and honoring uncomplicated pregnancy and birth. It must also include the knowledge, skill and ability to take action when intervention is necessary to improve health outcomes for client and baby.
This expertise requires that midwives be knowledgeable about both life-saving medications and those used to ease common discomforts of pregnancy. This course will focus on the medications, both prescribed and available over the counter, that midwives will encounter when providing care for clients and newborns during the antepartum, intrapartum and postpartum periods. The course will introduce the ways in which pregnancy impacts the absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion of drugs and the actions of these drugs in the body. Protocols for both common and life-saving medications will be developed to assist you in caring for your clients.
Ante/Intrapartum FHR Surveillance
This course offers a thorough review of fetal heart surveillance procedures while encouraging critical thinking. It discusses the physiological basis and instrumentation of antepartum and intrapartum monitoring including intermittent auscultation, electronic fetal monitoring, and ultrasound. The course teaches what AAT (Auscultated Acceleration Test) is and how we can use it prenatally and during labor. The second part of the class is about problems that can arise, like baseline changes, bradycardia, tachycardia, sinusoidal pattern and periodic and nonperiodic changes. The assignments include several case study evaluations.
This course will support the learner to use various instruments for fetal heart surveillance, recognize possible causes if the heart rate is non-reassuring, confidently interpret the results and take the appropriate steps to ensure optimal fetal outcomes. Students will also discuss access to technology and testing locally and globally and examine how inequities are evident even at the level of fetal heart tones and can result in increased referral for cesarean section in labor in the absence of racially/ethnically congruent care. Charting, communication, and transfers of care are also considered.
Equity and Anti-Oppression in Midwifery Care: Understanding Difference, Power, & Privilege
The purpose of this course is to introduce students to the foundational concepts of equity, anti-oppression, and cultural humility in midwifery care, and to engage critical learning of how difference, power, discrimination, and privilege intersect to produce documented disparities in perinatal health outcomes and practices in the United States. Students will have the opportunity to study and explore three broad areas of cultural humility, equity and (anti)oppression practices, and their impact on maternity care through historical and current sociopolitical frameworks: 1) Social identities, racism, and privilege; 2) Health disparities, inequities, and inequalities; and 3) Cultural humility and equity care models. Collectively, students will acquire foundational skills necessary for the provision of culturally safe care and the actualization of antioppression midwifery professional practices—in commitment to access and equity in perinatal health for all childbearing person
Culturally Safe Care
Building off a foundation of equity, anti-oppression, and culturally safe care from SOSC 1010, students will further explore difference, power, and privilege as it relates specifically to midwifery care provided in the childbearing year. Students will strengthen the skills necessary to provide non-discriminatory, equitable, and safe care to all clients. This course will do a deep dive into the impact to clients in the clinical setting associated with racism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, classism, ageism, and discrimination associated with relationship status and immigration status. The course will explore systems of impact in midwifery and how to engage within those systems to facilitate change that increases safety. Throughout the course, BIPOC and LGBTQ+ midwives who are doing the work of serving clients on the ground, and the organizations serving these midwives will be highlighted to demonstrate the effectiveness of evidence based culturally concordant care.
Portfolio Experience
Advanced Comfort Measures
PHYT 2050
A midwife’s ability to provide support in labor is a clinical skill that is, in fact, no less important than auscultating heart tones or reliably evaluating cervical dilation. The scientific evidence is clear: respectful, sensitive, individualized support allows normal, physiologic birth to unfold safely. Using research and the student’s own personal experiences, this course will examine practical, specific approaches and advanced techniques that promote safe and satisfying birth. The physiology of pain, research on the importance of relationship and storytelling, and research on mothers’ experiences will be explored, as will practical skills such as the use of nitrous oxide, TENS, sterile water injections, water immersion
Childbirth Education
SOSC 2030
This course covers the information needed to teach childbirth classes. It includes the development of course outlines, handouts, and teaching materials. Basic teaching skills and theory are covered.
Principles of Evidence Informed Practice
STAT 2010
This course will introduce students to the fundamentals of research literacy and evidence-informed practice. An evidence-informed practice framework facilitates shareddecision making, advances informed choice, and improves client-centered midwifery care. Also called “evidence-based practice” or “evidence-based care or medicine”, an evidenceinformed practice (EIP) framework rests in the triad intersection between the best available research with your professional expertise as the midwife alongside the client’s individual values, needs, and context. Upon completion of this course, students will be equipped with the basic conceptual and practical skills necessary to enact evidence-informed practice frameworks as Midwives of Excellence℠
MATH 1010
Introductory Math
This course teaches basic math skills to enable the midwife to make correct calculations and interpret data.