Comprehensive reproductive care
Our Nurse-Midwifery (NM) track within the DNP degree program prepares you to provide comprehensive primary, sexual and reproductive care across the lifespan, with special emphasis on pregnancy, childbirth and reproductive health.
Nurse-midwifery practice focuses on:
- Providing comprehensive sexual and reproductive care, including gynecologic, contraceptive, family planning and preventive care
- Providing care before, during and after pregnancy and childbirth
- Caring for well newborns through the first 28 days of life
- Providing perimenopausal and postmenopausal care
You will learn to care for people from adolescence through older adulthood, and for well newborns during the first 28 days of life.
NM students engage in an extensive and rigorous learning experience rooted in anti-racism and reproductive justice, preparing them to provide trauma-informed care to vulnerable and often underserved communities.
Program format
The NM track follows the standard DNP program format: online coursework combining required live online sessions with asynchronous work, plus up to one on-campus intensive each quarter. Clinical placements begin in spring quarter of year two. All clinical placements are arranged by the UW School of Nursing and are located in Washington state.
What makes our DNP-NM track different?
The Nurse-Midwifery track combines comprehensive reproductive care, anti-racist and reproductive justice-centered education, hands-on simulation and coordinated clinical placements. You’ll develop the clinical judgment and leadership skills to care for individuals and families across the reproductive life course.
Ground your practice in anti-racism and reproductive justice
Learn within a program committed to addressing medical racism, advancing reproductive justice and preparing clinicians to provide culturally responsive, trauma-informed care.
Build clinical competency through hands-on simulation
Strengthen your assessment, diagnostic reasoning and patient communication skills during your on-campus intensives in our INACSL-endorsed Simulation Center, a controlled, psychologically safe environment for developing advanced practice competencies.
We coordinate your clinical placements
UW works with UW Medicine and an expansive network of clinical and community partners to integrate midwifery and reproductive health experiences into your program plan.
Provide comprehensive, person-centered midwifery care
Curriculum
You’ll build a foundation in population health, health policy, evidence appraisal and translation, leadership and health systems alongside DNP students from every specialty track, while advancing your knowledge of pathophysiology, pharmacotherapeutics and comprehensive health assessment.
Specialty coursework in sexual and reproductive health, childbearing and newborn care leads into a sequence of advanced clinical practica, clinical immersion and your DNP Project.
National certification
Graduates of our DNP Nurse-Midwifery program may be eligible to apply for the national certification examination administered by the American Midwifery Certification Board. Graduates who meet the certification requirements and pass the examination earn the Certified Nurse-Midwife (CNM) credential.
Philosophy, mission and objectives
The UW Nurse-Midwifery track undertook a truth and reconciliation process from 2020–2022 to address harms that affected former and current students in our program. You can review the final report describing the process and outcomes.
The UW Nurse-Midwifery track aims to train and support the education of highly qualified and compassionate healthcare providers caring for individuals and families through the reproductive life course. We acknowledge the unacceptably high mortality rate of Black, Indigenous and other birthing people of color and infants in this country due to medical racism, social determinants of health and chronic stress.
We also acknowledge that systemic racism exists within our school and our programs, and we strive to build an anti-racist culture in academia to create a more equitable and safe future for all families. Our guiding philosophy is grounded in the following values:
- Autonomy and self-determination: We believe all people have the right to access a full spectrum of sexual and reproductive healthcare, and we trust people to know what is best for their own bodies and make the best decisions for themselves. We provide training sites for our students to learn skills to provide services, including care related to pregnancy, birth, abortion care, gynecology across the lifespan, primary care and gender-affirming care for all people seeking these services.
- Social and reproductive justice: We believe that it is our responsibility to leverage the privilege and power granted to us by our position within the healthcare field to support and amplify the voices of communities marginalized by racism and discrimination. We recognize the need for all faculty and students to do the work to develop an anti-racist program. We acknowledge the deep history of medical racism and the structures within the healthcare system that perpetuate harm to marginalized communities. We aim for students to emerge from our program with the skills to disrupt and rebuild structures.
- Collaboration and community engagement: We believe collaboration extends beyond the traditional relationship with physician colleagues and includes those with expertise in other professions within and outside nursing. This includes nurses, other advanced practice nurse specialists, community-based midwives, nursing and midwifery students and the communities we all serve. Our commitment to community engagement is demonstrated by our goal to center community stakeholders, including students and alumni, in how the program is structured and to prioritize our relationships with community partners.
- Accountability: We hold ourselves accountable for adhering to these values and building systems that maintain integrity in our program. We prioritize student involvement in all aspects of the Nurse-Midwifery track and center their experiences as foundational to our success. We value the expertise of, and are accountable to, our community partners to ensure we uphold the values we describe.
The mission of the UW Nurse-Midwifery track is to advance midwifery practice through the preparation of nurse-midwives who will:
- Apply scientific evidence and person-centered care principles to promote the health and well-being of individuals and families in Washington communities and beyond.
- Serve as leaders in advancing healthcare practice by applying, generating and testing innovative models of care in perinatal care, sexual and reproductive healthcare, newborn care and primary care.
- Disrupt the racist and oppressive systems that affect access to the midwifery profession and midwifery care to improve perinatal outcomes for all communities.
- Be accountable for professional growth, evaluation of practice and the development and advancement of equitable policies supporting the philosophy and mission described above.
The specific objectives of the Nurse-Midwifery track are to prepare graduates who:
- Provide competent, safe, high-quality and culturally sensitive midwifery care to address the health needs of people from diverse backgrounds, experiences, family structures and communities.
- Critically evaluate theories, concepts and research findings from nursing, midwifery and related sciences for translation into clinical practice.
- Use effective communication and leadership skills in interprofessional teams to promote positive change in the health of individuals and communities.
- Use information systems and other technologies to improve the quality and safety of healthcare.
- Apply principles of transformative justice and the social determinants of health in evaluating health policies and advocating for the health of people and families in local, national and international contexts.
- Evaluate care systems by analyzing the needs of consumers, healthcare policies, service delivery and finance models, political contexts and health indicators to increase access to healthcare for all people and their families in a variety of communities.
Accreditation and graduation outcomes
For the years 2024–2026, the combined graduation rates for the DNP and graduate certificate programs were 91%, 96% and 93%. The graduation rate was 93% over the three years. Graduation rates for the Nurse-Midwifery DNP program were 91%, 83% and 80%, with a graduation rate of 85% over the three years. These figures do not include students on altered progression who are still working on completing their degree.
The University of Washington Nurse-Midwifery DNP and postgraduate certificate programs are fully accredited by the Accreditation Commission for Midwifery Education.
Why choose Nurse-Midwifery at UW?
A perspective from the specialty director
“UW’s Nurse-Midwifery Program is a place where you can develop exceptional clinical skills while staying grounded in the values of reproductive justice, equity, and respect for every person’s reproductive journey. Because we’re a small program, students build close relationships with faculty and classmates and receive a level of support that’s hard to find elsewhere. Our students leave not only ready to practice midwifery, but ready to help transform the systems in which they work.
We invest heavily in supporting each student as a whole person, not just as a future clinician. I love watching students grow into thoughtful, skilled midwives who are prepared to provide compassionate care and advocate for meaningful change.”
Experience & impact
The journey to my DNP has been very enlightening, specifically in the experiences of social justice, gender-affirming care and trauma-informed care. These experiences are unforgettable, and [I] will take them with me on this journey to becoming a midwife.
Graduate spotlight
Ceci Gilmore, DNP ’23, works with a UW program to improve maternal health outcomes for Black women and other underserved community members.
Application deadlines
You may apply to each specialty track once per admissions year.
Review application requirements
Apply through the UW Graduate School
