The Nurse-Midwifery Fellowship at Mayo Clinic is a 12-month postgraduate program in the Mayo Clinic School of Health Sciences. Each year, the fellowship program admits two certified nurse midwives (one every six months). The fellowship focuses on new midwives, midwives returning to practice, or midwives with clinical experience who desire additional skills and expertise. The primary goals for our fellows are to expand their skills and continue developing compassion, efficiency, and confidence within the integrated care model at Mayo Clinic.

Program highlights

The Nurse-Midwifery Fellowship provides appropriate didactic education to complement an interprofessional and collaborative practice, highlighting the unique clinical model in place at Mayo Clinic. The curriculum is comprised of learning opportunities focusing on the clinical, research, and educational shields that represent the hallmarks of Mayo Clinic. The clinical component includes didactic education in addition to mentored clinical rotations in both the inpatient and outpatient obstetric and gynecologic settings.

All fellows spend approximately nine months in Rochester, Minnesota followed by approximately three months at one Mayo Clinic Health System location (Mankato, MN; Red Wing, MN; or Eau Claire, WI).

The objectives of the fellowship include:

• Providing fellows with the ability to acquire knowledge of pathophysiology, clinical presentation, and disorder management in obstetrics and gynecology
• Strengthening physical assessment and critical-thinking skills to provide high-quality, evidence-based, safe care
• Establishing a diagnosis, treatment plan, and ability to evaluate treatment outcomes
• Integrating the individualized needs of patients into the treatment plan and enhancing the education of patients and families
• Developing effective communication and presentation skills
• Further development of midwifery skills with a goal of confident, safe, effective care as an autonomous provider by the end of the program
• Gaining additional skills not taught in midwifery school. Curriculum is flexible and will be tailored to the individual's needs and interests
• Completion of a process improvement, quality improvement, or research project during the program

Completion and certification

The nurse-midwifery fellows will receive a certificate from Mayo Clinic School of Health Sciences with their specialty track denoted upon completion of the program. The fellowship program will support career growth and development for future employment opportunities.

Accreditation

Upon completion of the Nurse-Midwifery Fellowship, graduates will have gained a strong foundation in the obstetrics and gynecology specialty. Fellows will be able to demonstrate excellence in evidence-based clinical judgment and perform the necessary skills to succeed in a collaborative, multidisciplinary, integrated team-based practice.

National accreditation is not available for nurse-midwifery fellowship programs at this time. However, this program meets the standard requirements for an advanced practice provider fellowship at Mayo Clinic School of Health Sciences.