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Midwives

It's a bright outlook for

This career will grow rapidly in the next few years.

Learn more about what they do.

Provide prenatal care and childbirth assistance.

Related: Emergency Medicine Physicians Nurse Midwives Nurse Practitioners Obstetricians & Gynecologists Registered Nurses

Industries: Health & Counseling Government Education

Summary
Details

Develop, implement, or evaluate individualized plans for midwifery care.
Identify tubal and ectopic pregnancies and refer patients for treatments.
Establish and follow emergency or contingency plans for mothers and newborns.
Estimate patients' due dates and re-evaluate as necessary based on examination results.
Provide comfort and relaxation measures for mothers in labor through interventions such as massage, breathing techniques, hydrotherapy, or music.
Provide, or refer patients to other providers for, education or counseling on topics such as genetic testing, newborn care, contraception, or breastfeeding.
Collect specimens for use in laboratory tests.
Provide information about community health and social resources.
Provide necessary medical care for infants at birth, including emergency care such as resuscitation.
Monitor maternal condition during labor by checking vital signs, monitoring uterine contractions, or performing physical examinations.
Identify tubal and ectopic pregnancies and refer patients for treatments.
Evaluate patients' laboratory and medical records, requesting assistance from other practitioners when necessary.
Maintain documentation of all patients' contacts, reviewing and updating records as necessary.
Provide patients with contraceptive and family planning information.
Set up or monitor the administration of oxygen or medications.
Respond to breech birth presentations by applying methods such as exercises or external version.
Suture perineal lacerations.
Perform annual gynecologic exams, including pap smears and breast exams.
Collaborate in research studies.
Provide information about the physical and emotional processes involved in the pregnancy, labor, birth, and postpartum periods.
Recommend the use of vitamin and mineral supplements to enhance the health of patients and children.
Treat patients' symptoms with alternative health care methods such as herbs or hydrotherapy.
Perform annual gynecologic exams, including pap smears and breast exams.
Set up or monitor the administration of oxygen or medications.
Inform patients of how to prepare and supply birth sites.
Compile and evaluate clinical practice statistics.
Test patients' hemoglobin, hematocrit, and blood glucose levels.
Perform annual gynecologic exams, including pap smears and breast exams.
Counsel women regarding the nutritional requirements of pregnancy.
Provide, or refer patients to other providers for, education or counseling on topics such as genetic testing, newborn care, contraception, or breastfeeding.
Assess the status of post-date pregnancies to determine treatments and interventions.
Identify, monitor, or treat pregnancy-related problems such as hypertension, gestational diabetes, pre-term labor, or retarded fetal growth.
Complete birth certificates.
Monitor fetal growth and well-being through heartbeat detection, body measurement, and palpation.
Obtain complete health and medical histories from patients including medical, surgical, reproductive, or mental health histories.
Monitor maternal condition during labor by checking vital signs, monitoring uterine contractions, or performing physical examinations.
Evaluate patients' laboratory and medical records, requesting assistance from other practitioners when necessary.
Estimate patients' due dates and re-evaluate as necessary based on examination results.
Perform post-partum health assessments of mothers and babies at regular intervals.
Refer patients to specialists for procedures such as ultrasounds or biophysical profiles.
Conduct ongoing prenatal health assessments, tracking changes in physical and emotional health.
Monitor fetal growth and well-being through heartbeat detection, body measurement, and palpation.
Assist maternal patients to find physical positions that will facilitate childbirth.
Identify, monitor, or treat pregnancy-related problems such as hypertension, gestational diabetes, pre-term labor, or retarded fetal growth.
Conduct ongoing prenatal health assessments, tracking changes in physical and emotional health.

Management of Personnel Resources
- Selecting and managing the best workers for a job.
Critical Thinking
- Thinking about the pros and cons of different ways to solve a problem.
Management of Material Resources
- Managing equipment and materials.
Technology Design
- Making equipment and technology useful for customers.
Operations Analysis
- Figuring out what a product or service needs to be able to do.
Equipment Maintenance
- Planning and doing the basic maintenance on equipment.
Operations Monitoring
- Watching gauges, dials, or display screens to make sure a machine is working.
Systems Analysis
- Figuring out how a system should work and how changes in the future will affect it.
Science
- Using scientific rules and strategies to solve problems.
Persuasion
- Talking people into changing their minds or their behavior.
Operation and Control
- Using equipment or systems.
Systems Evaluation
- Measuring how well a system is working and how to improve it.
Quality Control Analysis
- Testing how well a product or service works.
Active Listening
- Listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions.
Learning Strategies
- Using the best training or teaching strategies for learning new things.
Instructing
- Teaching people how to do something.
Programming
- Writing computer programs.
Monitoring
- Keeping track of how well people and/or groups are doing in order to make improvements.
Speaking
- Talking to others.
Social Perceptiveness
- Understanding people's reactions.
Coordination
- Changing what is done based on other people's actions.
Repairing
- Repairing machines or systems using the right tools.
Complex Problem Solving
- Noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it.
Reading Comprehension
- Reading work-related information.
Active Learning
- Figuring out how to use new ideas or things.
Installation
- Installing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs.
Negotiation
- Bringing people together to solve differences.
Writing
- Writing things for co-workers or customers.
Mathematics
- Using math to solve problems.
Judgment and Decision Making
- Thinking about the pros and cons of different options and picking the best one.
Equipment Selection
- Deciding what kind of tools and equipment are needed to do a job.
Troubleshooting
- Figuring out what is causing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs to not work.
Management of Financial Resources
- Making spending decisions and keeping track of what is spent.
Time Management
- Managing your time and the time of other people.
Service Orientation
- Looking for ways to help people.

Auditory Attention
- Paying attention to one sound while there are other distracting sounds.
Mathematical Reasoning
- Choosing the right type of math to solve a problem.
Peripheral Vision
- Seeing something to your side when your are looking ahead.
Gross Body Equilibrium
- Keeping your balance or staying upright.
Problem Sensitivity
- Noticing when problems happen.
Written Comprehension
- Reading and understanding what is written.
Stamina
- Exercising for a long time without getting out of breath.
Spatial Orientation
- Knowing where things are around you.
Manual Dexterity
- Holding or moving items with your hands.
Finger Dexterity
- Putting together small parts with your fingers.
Multilimb Coordination
- Using your arms and/or legs together while sitting, standing, or lying down.
Response Orientation
- Quickly deciding if you should move your hand, foot, or other body part.
Perceptual Speed
- Quickly comparing groups of letters, numbers, pictures, or other things.
Explosive Strength
- Jumping, sprinting, or throwing something.
Information Ordering
- Ordering or arranging things.
Written Expression
- Communicating by writing.
Oral Comprehension
- Listening and understanding what people say.
Wrist-Finger Speed
- Making fast, simple, repeated movements of your fingers, hands, and wrists.
Arm-Hand Steadiness
- Keeping your arm or hand steady.
Rate Control
- Changing when and how fast you move based on how something else is moving.
Reaction Time
- Quickly moving your hand, finger, or foot based on a sound, light, picture or other command.
Trunk Strength
- Using your lower back and stomach.
Hearing Sensitivity
- Telling the difference between sounds.
Dynamic Strength
- Exercising for a long time without your muscles getting tired.
Glare Sensitivity
- Seeing something even if there is a glare or very bright light.
Visualization
- Imagining how something will look after it is moved around or changed.
Selective Attention
- Paying attention to something without being distracted.
Speed of Closure
- Quickly knowing what you are looking at.
Night Vision
- Seeing at night or under low light.
Far Vision
- Seeing details that are far away.
Gross Body Coordination
- Moving your arms, legs, and mid-section together while your whole body is moving.
Visual Color Discrimination
- Noticing the difference between colors, including shades and brightness.
Sound Localization
- Noticing the direction that a sound came from.
Deductive Reasoning
- Using rules to solve problems.
Inductive Reasoning
- Making general rules or coming up with answers from lots of detailed information.
Category Flexibility
- Grouping things in different ways.
Dynamic Flexibility
- Quickly and repeatedly bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
Speech Clarity
- Speaking clearly.
Fluency of Ideas
- Coming up with lots of ideas.
Originality
- Creating new and original ideas.
Memorization
- Remembering words, numbers, pictures, or steps.
Time Sharing
- Doing two or more things at the same time.
Control Precision
- Quickly changing the controls of a machine, car, truck or boat.
Flexibility of Closure
- Seeing hidden patterns.
Static Strength
- Lifting, pushing, pulling, or carrying.
Depth Perception
- Deciding which thing is closer or farther away from you, or deciding how far away it is from you.
Near Vision
- Seeing details up close.
Oral Expression
- Communicating by speaking.
Speed of Limb Movement
- Quickly moving your arms and legs.
Extent Flexibility
- Bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching with your body, arms, and/or legs.
Speech Recognition
- Recognizing spoken words.
Number Facility
- Adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing.

Customer and Personal Service
- Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
Telecommunications
- Knowledge of transmission, broadcasting, switching, control, and operation of telecommunications systems.
Law and Government
- Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
Communications and Media
- Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.
Production and Processing
- Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.
Mathematics
- Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
Psychology
- Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.
Food Production
- Knowledge of techniques and equipment for planting, growing, and harvesting food products (both plant and animal) for consumption, including storage/handling techniques.
Geography
- Knowledge of principles and methods for describing the features of land, sea, and air masses, including their physical characteristics, locations, interrelationships, and distribution of plant, animal, and human life.
Medicine and Dentistry
- Knowledge of the information and techniques needed to diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities. This includes symptoms, treatment alternatives, drug properties and interactions, and preventive health-care measures.
Education and Training
- Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
Fine Arts
- Knowledge of the theory and techniques required to compose, produce, and perform works of music, dance, visual arts, drama, and sculpture.
History and Archeology
- Knowledge of historical events and their causes, indicators, and effects on civilizations and cultures.
Foreign Language
- Knowledge of the structure and content of a foreign (non-English) language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition and grammar, and pronunciation.
Transportation
- Knowledge of principles and methods for moving people or goods by air, rail, sea, or road, including the relative costs and benefits.
Administration and Management
- Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
Biology
- Knowledge of plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, interdependencies, and interactions with each other and the environment.
Personnel and Human Resources
- Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.
Engineering and Technology
- Knowledge of the practical application of engineering science and technology. This includes applying principles, techniques, procedures, and equipment to the design and production of various goods and services.
Mechanical
- Knowledge of machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.
Economics and Accounting
- Knowledge of economic and accounting principles and practices, the financial markets, banking, and the analysis and reporting of financial data.
Design
- Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models.
Chemistry
- Knowledge of the chemical composition, structure, and properties of substances and of the chemical processes and transformations that they undergo. This includes uses of chemicals and their interactions, danger signs, production techniques, and disposal methods.
Therapy and Counseling
- Knowledge of principles, methods, and procedures for diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of physical and mental dysfunctions, and for career counseling and guidance.
English Language
- Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
Public Safety and Security
- Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.
Philosophy and Theology
- Knowledge of different philosophical systems and religions. This includes their basic principles, values, ethics, ways of thinking, customs, practices, and their impact on human culture.
Sociology and Anthropology
- Knowledge of group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures, and their history and origins.
Physics
- Knowledge and prediction of physical principles, laws, their interrelationships, and applications to understanding fluid, material, and atmospheric dynamics, and mechanical, electrical, atomic and sub-atomic structures and processes.
Computers and Electronics
- Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
Administrative
- Knowledge of administrative and office procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and workplace terminology.
Sales and Marketing
- Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.
Building and Construction
- Knowledge of materials, methods, and the tools involved in the construction or repair of houses, buildings, or other structures such as highways and roads.

Education

Postsecondary certificate

Work Experience

No work experience

Training

No on-the-job training

Education and Training Opportunities

Washington Annual Salary

69440/yr

Washington Hourly Wage

33.39/hr

Currently Employed

11,560

Yearly Projected Openings

960

Social: People interested in this work like activities that include helping people, teaching, and talking. They do well at jobs that need:

Dependability
Concern for Others
Integrity
Self Control
Stress Tolerance
Adaptability/Flexibility

Acute care fetal or maternal monitoring units
Bedpans
Blood collection syringes
Desktop computers
Electronic blood pressure units
Electronic medical thermometers
Endoscopic hemostatic balloons or needles or tubes or accessories
Glucose monitors or meters
Infant scales
Intermittent positive pressure breathing IPPB machines
Intravenous tubing with catheter administration kits
Lancets
Medical acoustic stethoscopes
Medical bulb syringes
Medical exam or non surgical procedure gloves
Medical gas cylinders or related devices
Medical oxygen masks or parts
Medical syringes with needle
Medical tape measures
Medical ultrasound or doppler or echocardiograph transducer accessories
Medical ultrasound or doppler or pulse echocardiograph or echocardiograph units for general diagnostic use
Mercury blood pressure units
Mobile medical services automated external defibrillators AED or hard paddles
Notebook computers
Patient floor scales
Personal computers
Reflex hammers or mallets
Surgical clamps or clips or forceps
Surgical needle holders
Surgical scissors
Suturing kits or trays or packs or sets
Therapeutic heating or cooling pads or compresses or packs
Transcutaneous electric nerve stimulation units
Urinalysis test strips
Urinary catheterization kits
Vacuum blood collection tubes or containers
Vaginal exam speculas