Philosophy

Loyola University New Orleans, College of Nursing and Health’s School of Nursing Nurse-Midwifery program is founded on the following core beliefs regarding the health care of women and childbearing families: 

• Nurse-Midwifery care honors the unique psycho-social, emotional, spiritual, and cultural attributes of each individual woman. Every person is a unique, holistic, spiritual being who possesses dignity, worth, and purpose.
• Nurse-Midwifery care is built on a partnership with women to provide optimal, holistic, culturally sensitive care and promote empowerment to make informed decisions.
• Nurse-Midwifery care respects the normalcy of pregnancy and birth, life cycle stages, and transitions as a physiologic process.
• Nurse-Midwifery care is provided in an interdependent, multi-disciplinary collaborative model within the health care system to ensure family-centered comprehensive care using evidence-based practice.
• The nurse-midwifery faculty is committed to improving the health and well-being of all women, with a particular focus on the women and families of Louisiana. 
• Our program holds several beliefs regarding learning and education:
• Congruent with the mission of the College of Nursing and Health, the nurse-midwifery program students and faculty are part of a larger academic community that in entirety, is committed to educational excellence, scholarship, and service aligned with Ignatian values to foster health in mind, body, and spirit.
• The learning environment is based on mutual respect of faculty and students.
• Nurse-Midwifery education recognizes that adult students are self-directed and have primary responsibility for their learning. Faculty provide resources and promote an environment that fosters knowledge acquisition and skills necessary to safely enter beginning practice.
• Education and continuing competency are lifelong pursuits.
• Nurse-Midwifery education is enriched through the diversity of students and faculty and supports anti-racism in student education both in the classroom and clinical settings.
• Evaluation promotes learning through reinforcement and constructive feedback.
• Self-evaluation is a crucial to the learning process; thus, students have the responsibility to engage in personal reflection, as well as to communicate their needs to academic and clinical faculty.
• Each faculty member has individual teaching styles just as students have different learning styles. 
• Interprofessional healthcare education aids in the overall preparation of midwives to better function as part of a healthcare team. 

Purpose/Mission

• Prepare safe, beginning nurse-midwifery who are eligible for certification by the American Midwifery Certification Board, and whose knowledge and clinical skills are in accordance with the Core Competencies for Basic Midwifery Practice as defined by the American College of Nurse-Midwives.
• Prepare conscientious, service-minded midwives prepared to improve practice through sound clinical judgment, scholarship, research, formulation of health care policy, and provision of primary health care to women and newborns.
• Enhance health care systems through education, practice, and research as outlined in the American College of Nurse-Midwives Hallmarks of Midwifery Care. 
• Prepare graduates who will function consistent with the ethics of the profession.
• Articulate the crucial role that public policy has in shaping the midwifery profession as well as health care services for women, infants and families on local, state, regional, and national levels.
• Graduate midwives with a deep commitment to social justice, invested in improving care for families and their community.
• Program Objectives/Outcomes
• Upon completion of their program, each nurse-midwifery graduate will have the knowledge and skills to:
• Competently and independently provide effective, evidence-based and safe midwifery care at the level of the Core Competencies for Basic Midwifery Practice as defined by the American College of Nurse-Midwives.
• Promote health equity by recognizing and eliminating disparities in the care of women and their families.
• Provide the highest quality and seamless care within an interdisciplinary health care system of care that fosters collaboration among licensed, independent providers.
• Commit to life-long learning, education, research, and service
• Be knowledgeable about basic concepts of public policy at the local, state, national, and international levels and the impact on midwifery practice and the women and families served.