Midwifery Education Trends Report 2011

Key Findings

• Although the number of midwifery education programs has remained at about 39-40 in the past five years, the number of spaces for midwifery students has increased due to the distance-based programs.
  
  
• The number of midwifery applications has increased substantially in the last two years of this five-year trend.
  
  
• The number of admitted students has consistently fallen short of the number of available spaces because there is a mismatch between the type of applicant and the type of available spaces: there are about 230 spaces unfilled every year nationwide that are available to RNs only, and there are many more qualified applications from people who are not nurses who want to become midwives. The type of program they need, the accelerated RN to MS-prepared midwife, has limited spaces. CM programs are also an option to address this gap.