University of Arizona working on adding a new midwifery program

PHOENIX (AZFamily) — The University of Arizona is one step closer to adding a new degree that will make it easier and faster for students to become nurse midwives.

In June, the Arizona Board of Regents approved the Master of Science in Midwifery degree. This comes after a heartbreaking report on maternal mortality rates in Arizona was released earlier this year.

In 2018 and 2019, there were 149 pregnancy-associated deaths in Arizona, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services. “The most shocking news of all of that, is that when they look at all of those deaths, 90% of them were preventable. And that gives me chills every time we talk about that data,” said Erin McMahon, with the U of A College of Sciences Midwifery Program.

She also says people of color are disproportionately represented, in particular Native American women.

McMahon recently spoke to Arizona’s Family and says one of the big issues facing many women across the state is that they don’t have access to the health care providers they need. She says there are no certified nurse midwives in some counties, and there is just one in Graham County.

McMahon says a nurse midwife, and additional medical attention, could help bring down those mortality rates. “While they’re expert in normal, people don’t always stay normal. Complications develop,” McMahon said. “The nurse midwives role is also to be ever alert for changes in status and complications so they can help that patient get to that next level of care.”

The new two-year program still needs approval from the Accreditation Commission for Midwifery Education and the Arizona Board of Nursing. If approved, the school hopes to offer the degree in the fall of 2025.

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