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Emory University Nurse Midwifery Service
The Nurse-Midwifery Service at Grady Memorial Hospital was the first nurse-midwifery practice established in Georgia. The service was initiated in 1970 as a joint venture between Grady Memorial Hospital, the Emory University School of Medicine’s Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, and the Emory School of Nursing. The goals of the hospital and the university were to improve the standard of care for women of childbearing age and to educate future nurse-midwives. Twenty percent of all births in Georgia are conducted by nurse-midwives, many of whom were mentored by the nurse-midwives in the Grady Health System.
Grady Health System Atlanta, GA For over twenty years the nurse midwifery service was the primary clinical site for Emory’s Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing nurse-midwifery program. All graduates of the nurse-midwifery educational program received joint Master of Nursing diplomas from the School of Nursing and the Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics; in addition, some students earned dual Masters Degrees in both Nursing and Public Health. Since 1994 the Nurse-Midwifery Service has precepted up to three Emory nurse-midwifery students each year in outpatient clinics and the hospital’s family birth center. The service became the Emory University Nurse-Midwifery Service, Grady Health System, in 1992. Since its inception, the nurse-midwives have practiced in close collaboration with the attending and resident physicians of the Emory University Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics. Since 1970 the nurse-midwives in this service have attended over 40,000 births. Virtually all of the women for whom the nurse-midwives have provided care are considered vulnerable by age, socio-economic status, education, ethnicity or location of residence. These vulnerable women benefit from the individualized teaching and personalized support which are characteristic of nurse-midwifery care. Nurse-midwives are recognized as the preferred provider for adolescents; the nurse-midwives have staffed the Teen Clinic for more than twenty years to provide care for young pregnant women who were 15 years or less years of age at conception. By establishing and maintaining antepartum practices in Grady-affiliated community clinics the Emory nurse-midwives have played a crucial role in making OB services more accessible and acceptable to ethnically and culturally diverse women. Nurse-midwives staff five neighborhood clinics for prenatal care as well as clinics on the main campus of Grady Hospital. The nurse-midwifery service is identified as an open access point for prenatal services within this complex health system. Formal affiliations for referrals into care have been established with the Center for Black Women’s Wellness, Healthy Start Consortium, residential treatment centers for drug addicted women, Latina community health centers and school-based clinics. Continuity of care is a hallmark of this practice, with clinic assignments designed to maintain continuity of care. Nurse-midwives manage their own caseloads of patients, are responsible for follow-up of their own caseloads, and are available to respond 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to phone and pager calls from patients and their families. No other service within the health system promotes patient access to a primary provider with such ease and responsiveness. A nurse-midwife is always ready to offer advice, support and teaching based on the individually assessed needs of the patient. In addition, a nurse-midwife makes daily postpartum clinical teaching rounds to assure the patient returns to her primary midwife for postpartum care. The nurse-midwives spearheaded the development of CenteringPregnancyR, a unique model of group prenatal care that is highly satisfying to women as well as to providers. Between 2001 and 2006 the Nurse-Midwifery Service partnered with All of the nurse-midwives in this practice are members of the American College of Nurse-Midwives. They take their professional responsibilities seriously and actively participate in chapter activities and national ACNM events and represent ACNM at national and local events and meetings. The current staff members of the Emory University Nurse-Midwifery Service, Grady Health System, are: Cynthia Dubin Mary Gillmor Kahn Caryn Hanrahan Beth Knowlson Mary Malone Denise Mclaughlin Katie Smillie Anne Schnedl Claire Westdahl
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