The Nurse-Midwifery Fellowship at Mayo Clinic is a 12-month postgraduate program in Mayo Clinic School of Health Sciences. Each year, the fellowship program will admit two certified nurse midwives. Nurse-Midwife fellows can apply to one of two cohorts — Entry to Practice or Advanced Level. The Entry to Practice cohort focuses on new midwives or midwives returning to practice that desire additional clinical training and mentorship. The Advanced Level cohort focuses on midwives that have at least three years of clinical experience and desire additional skills in high risk and complex obstetrics. Both cohorts will be trained and educated to become compassionate, efficient, skilled, and confident midwives within the integrated care model at Mayo Clinic.

Program highlights

The Nurse-Midwifery Fellowship will incorporate learning integral to an interprofessional and collaborative practice, highlighting the unique clinical model in place at Mayo Clinic. The curriculum will be comprised of learning opportunities that focus on the clinical, research, and educational shields of Mayo Clinic. The clinical component will include didactic education and mentored clinical rotations in both the inpatient and outpatient obstetric and gynecologic settings.

All fellows, regardless of cohort type, will rotate between three Mayo Clinic sites. All fellows will spend six months in Rochester, Minnesota, and will then spend three months at two of the other Mayo Clinic Health System locations — Mankato, MN, Red Wing, MN, La Crosse, WI, 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
• Entry to Practice objectives will focus on further development of beginner midwifery skills with a goal of confident, safe, effective care as an autonomous provider by the end of the program 
• Advanced Level objectives will focus on gaining additional skills not taught in midwifery school. Curriculum is flexible and can be tailored to individual fellow needs and interests. Advanced level fellows will also complete a 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.