Business Review: Hospitals Invest in Midwives to Combat Physician Shortage

The Albany Business Review published an article featuring an interview with Margaret Holcomb, DNP, CNM, of Capital Region Midwifery. Holcomb discussed the growth of midwifery in the Capital Region and the misconceptions that remain about the profession.

From the story:

Even as demand rises, finding midwives can be just as hard as finding a physician because of a general lack of providers in this area, said Margaret Holcomb, founder of Capital Region Midwifery. Entry-level midwives now need a master’s degree, she said.

Holcomb said the number of patients using midwives isn’t as high as it should be. At this point, it’s not even the majority of births, often stemming from misinformation.

When people think of what a midwife is, they may think of the traditional unlicensed types who only do home births and don’t use medication. But all hospital midwives are medically trained and births happen at the hospitals, though there are increased options such as water births. There are very few home births, for which Burdett works with specific practices.

“There’s still a lot of misinformation out there about midwives,” Holcomb said. “Those are probably the biggest barriers, is that the public still just doesn’t know what a midwife’s role is.”