Washington DC -- Midwives are just as competent as they are in demand according to a study published in the British medical journal "Lancet".

The study of more than a thousand women at the Glasgow Royal Maternity Hospital in Glasgow, Scotland found no difference in the outcome of care they received from doctors and midwives except the women were more satisfied with the midwives.  "This is one of my studies that have consistently shown that midwives are competent healthcare providers who decrease risk and increase patient satisfaction," said Joyce Roberts, CNM. PhD, FAAN, FACNM, president of the American College of Nurse midwives.

Healthy pregnant women with no complications were randomly assigned to either a team of providers, including doctors and midwives, or midwives only.  Both groups reported similar outcomes with their patients.  The women in the midwife run program, however, reported greater satisfaction and less medical intervention.  Contributing to this satisfaction was the greater role the women were able to play in their own healthcare.

In the US, the demand for certified nurse-midwives (CNM's) is increasing and more than 5% of the births here are attended by these registered nurses, who also have advanced training in obstetrics and gynecology.  In 1975, the National Center for Health Statistics logged just 19,000 CNM attended births, but in 1994, the total was up to more than 200,000.  The number of CNM's in the US is also increasing with membership in the American College of Nurse-Midwives doubling in the last five years.

CNM's in the US also reported extremely high satisfaction ratings and have outcomes that are similar to physicians yet they rely on medical intervention less frequently.  The cesarean section rate of CNM clients is half that of the national average and CNM's perform episiotomies less frequently.

The American College of Nurse-Midwives (ACNM) is the professional organization that represents more than 6,000 CNM's in the US.  The ACNM's mission is to develop and support the profession of nurse-midwifery in order to promote the health and well being of women and infants with in their families and communities