Scroll down for news on the Midwifery Faculty Trip on behalf of Midwives for Haiti

Now accepting applications for our Certified Midwife pathway courses

The Midwifery Institute of Philadelphia University is pleased to announce that they have received ACME accreditation for their CM pathway courses. Qualified individuals with a bachelor’s degree will take 3 foundational courses in basic health care skills and science. Upon successful completion of these courses, students will segue way into our existing midwifery educational program and will be fully integrated with our RN student midwives. After successful completion of our Master’s of Science in Midwifery, these graduates will be eligible for certification as a CM through AMCB. We are pleased to be the first ACME accredited program to offer this educational option at a distance. Acknowledgements go to Ronnie Lichtman and Barbara Graves for their support. We are building on the foundational work of Lily Hsia, Pixie Elsberry, Mary Ann Shah and Judith Fullerton in the expansion of educational entry points into the midwifery profession. We are currently accepting applications for Fall 2010.

For further information on CMs, interested readers are referred to:
Accreditation Commission for Midwifery Education. (2005). The Knowledge, Skills, and Behaviors Prerequisite to Midwifery Clinical Coursework. Retrieved from:
www.midwife.org/ACME-documents

Fullerton, J. T., Shah, M. A., Schecter, S., & Muller, J. H. (2000). Integrating qualified nurses and non-nurses in midwifery education: The two-year experience of an ACNM DOA accredited program. Journal of Midwifery & Women’s Health, 45(1), 45-54.

Midwives for Haiti

Midwifery Institute faculty Tanya Tringali, CNM, MS, Liane Miller, CNM, MS, and Cindy Farley, CNM, PhD, have safely returned from their trip to contribute to the recovery efforts in Haiti following the devastating earthquake there. They were part of a medical team that is rebuilding and staffing a birth center that has collapsed in Cite de Soleil.

The Philadelphia University team will be working with the organization Midwives for Haiti. Midwives for Haiti is a non-profit organization and has been in the process of educating Haitian midwives to improve care to mothers and babies since 2004. Now under disaster conditions, their mission has expanded to include direct care and rebuilding facilities.

Upcoming Class Enrollment

We are now accepting applications for Summer and Fall Terms 2010 and beyond. Our 16 member spring class will begin their journey to midwifery with an on line orientation January 5-7, 2010. Review our web pages detailing our programs and admission criteria. Call 215-951-2525 and ask for Dana Perlman with any questions regarding the admissions process.

Welcome, Vicki Burslem, new Midwife Tutor!

The Midwifery Institute of Philadelphia University is pleased to announce the appointment of Vicki Burslem, CNM, MSN, to the position of Midwife Tutor. She will join Cheri Van Hoover, CNM, MSN, as co-tutor to Class 23 graduating in May and to Class 26, beginning in January 2010 in MIPU’s team teaching/cohort model of midwifery education.

Problem-Based Learning

Through our HRSA grant, we are sending our faculty to McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada for training in the problem-based learning pedagogy that is used there. Problem-based learning uses a real world problem as the stimulus package for shovel-ready learning!! Faculty attending the PBL workshop in June 2009 included Cheri Van Hoover, Alex Schott and Cindy Farley. Dana Perlman and Elizabeth Parr attended the workshop in November 2009. They all enjoyed connecting with faculty from all over the world who are interested in applying this pedagogy to their curriculum. They also enjoyed the natural wonder of the Niagara Fall and the Niagara wine region during their stay.

HRSA Grant

Program director Katy Dawley is the project director of a funded 3 year HRSA grant titled “Diversity and Access: A Multi-Faceted Approach for Nurse-Midwifery”. Grant goals include facilitating teaching of diversity issues through incorporating Problem Based Learning into our curriculum and outreach, recruitment and mentoring of individuals of under-represented groups in midwifery. We were able to purchase birth simulators for teaching birth hand skills, demonstrated below by students Angela Carpenter and Adi Lazary-Dagan.