Clinical Faculty at NMI
Clinical Faculty play a crucial role in a student’s midwifery education and training. NMI Clinical Faculty are tasked with teaching the hands-on midwifery skills that are fundamental in the transformation each student makes in their journey to become a proficient, entry-level midwife.
Clinical Faculty are responsible for teaching in the discipline areas in which they have specific training and/or competence. All clinical faculty at NMI are required to facilitate student learning in the clinical setting by careful planning, organizing, and providing learning opportunities. Further, clinical faculty provide structured feedback to promote and direct student learning in alignment with NMI’s values and in a manner that meets the NARM Skills, MEAC Essential Competencies, ICM Core Competencies, and state and/or federal requirements.
In keeping with our mission to provide decentralized midwifery education, NMI does not place students with clinical faculty. Rather, NMI students are responsible for finding and securing their own clinical apprenticeships, ideally in their home communities or within the communities they hope to one day serve. However, NMI’s Clinical Director is available for support with finding clinical apprenticeships that best meet the needs of the individual student.
Typically, NMI students work with one clinical faculty member at time, who teaches all essential clinical skills to the student. However, some students learn in clinical sites with multiple clinical faculty, or apprentice with two midwifery practices at the same time. For optimal learning, students are encouraged to work with more than one clinical faculty member to broaden and diversify their learning experience.
NMI supports the primacy of the student-clinical faculty relationship and allows clinical faculty-student dyads to create their best arrangements for their work together.
Clinical Faculty Requirements
Clinical Faculty for National Midwifery Institute must be credentialed health professionals providing primary care for pregnancy and birth in an out-of-hospital setting, including postpartum care, newborn care., and reproductive health family planning care.
All clinical faculty must:
Be a health professional who provides primary care for pregnancy, birth, postpartum, and the newborn;
Be a certified, licensed, or otherwise recognized as a provider in their jurisdiction:
Midwives practicing where midwifery is neither regulated nor prohibited by enforcement of existing law must maintain the CPM credential.
Midwives and other providers practicing in states where licensure is required must maintain licensure.
All applicable certifications, licenses, and other documentation required must be unencumbered by holds/investigations/disciplinary action of any kind during active instruction and supervision of the NMI student.
Have at least three (3) years of work experience in clinical midwifery practice - OR - a minimum of 50 births as the primary attendant;
Be in active practice in an out of hospital setting;
Practice in a state where NMI has Permission to Operate;
Comply with all applicable local, state and federal laws pertaining to midwifery practice.
The preceptor may:
Be a midwife (LM, RM, CPM, CNM), family practice physician, or other care provider. If the preceptor is not a midwife, they are expected to make additional clinical experiences and practice opportunities available to students as appropriate for the student’s skill acquisition and in accordance with the provider’s practice policies;
Need to meet additional requirements, and/or complete additional registration or paperwork depending on the state, region, or country in which they practice, OR to meet qualifications required by the state, region, or country in which the student wishes to practice upon graduation.
Students and preceptors are responsible for doing the research necessary to determine what these additional requirements may be, and to fulfill them.
The Faculty Minimum Qualifications Policy and Procedures provides additional requirements and information on Key Responsibilities of the Clinical Faculty. In addition, preceptors should become familiar with the NMI Student Handbook (particularly areas related to Clinical Instruction & Apprenticeship, Clinical Faculty Evaluation Process, and Statement of Rights and Responsibilities).
Clinical Faculty must complete a three-step process: submit a Clinical Faculty Application, submit a Clinical Site Application (if not at an NMI Approved Clinical Site already) and completion of the NMI Issued Clinical Faculty/Student Work Agreement. These steps are essential in ensuring an adequate and safe learning site and with highly-qualified faculty.
