At USF Health, our certified nurse midwife team has critical roles in providing comprehensive care to our patients. In addition to helping mothers manage pregnancies and deliver babies, our full-scope midwifery services can include providing well-woman care to women across their lives, from their teens to their senior years.
A certified nurse midwife has earned a master’s degree in nursing and received specialized training in women’s health care, and is then certified by the American Midwifery Certification Board after successfully passing a thorough board exam.
For a woman choosing a midwife to attend the birth of their baby, connecting with the USF Health midwifery program gives her advanced care from certified nurse midwives, but also gives her – standing at the ready throughout her pregnancy and delivery – a team of USF Health maternal fetal specialists and the state-of-the-art Jennifer Leigh Muma Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Tampa General, just in case her pregnancy or delivery turns from typical to high-risk.
And that may be what sets our midwifery program apart from others: it is part of this region’s only academic health center, a connection that gives women throughout the Tampa Bay area not only access to coordinated care across multiple specialties, but also the expert care they want with their low-risk pregnancies. The USF midwives and doctors work collaboratively to provide both support of physiologic birth and care of medical complications of pregnancy.
Another unique feature of our midwife program being associated with an academic health center is the ability to help a woman have a vaginal birth after having had a Caesarean section. Women travel from all over the region to have an opportunity to have a VBAC with our skilled and supportive team. For a woman who wants the highest touch, lowest intervention kind of pregnancy management and delivery, she has that option with the USF Health Midwifery team.
If you have further concerns, please access Frequently Asked Questions or call us at (813) 821-8019. We are here to answer your questions.
