The American College of Nurse-Midwives (ACNM) and the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecologists (ACOG), with funding from the Josiah Macy Jr. foundation, launched the Maternity Care Education and Practice Redesign project in February 2017. The goal of the project is to develop interprofessional education (IPE) models that lead to a change in intrapartum maternity care practices and an increase in the interprofessional maternity workforce by educating more midwifery students in residency clinical sites where space is available. The underlying problems that this project seeks to address are the current and impending workforce shortages in primary care for women, in particular for maternity care services, and the less than stellar maternity care outcomes in the US. We intend to address both of these issues through the development and implementation of an IPE curriculum for midwifery students and ob-gyn residents that will both redesign clinical care for women into a collaborative model between obstetrician-gynecologists and midwives and lead to an increase in the number of midwifery graduates.

Four demonstrations sites, co-led by a midwife and ob-gyn physician team, are developing a series of interprofessional modules for use by graduate midwifery students and obstetrician-gynecologist (ob-gyn) residents. In addition, the related organizations that set program criteria/basic competencies and accreditation standards for both professions are meeting together to develop common language related to interprofessional education requirements.

Primary objectives of the project:

  • Develop/implement IPE curriculum for midwifery students and ob-gyn residents
  • Find solutions to site-specific barriers to fully implementing IPE curricula
  • Align accreditation criteria and core IPE competencies/objectives for ob-gyn residents and graduate midwifery students
  • Increase the number of midwifery graduates