Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is a Midwife?
A midwife is a primary health care provider who is legally licensed to give supervision, care and advice to women during pregnancy, labour and the postpartum period, to conduct deliveries on her own and to care for the newborn child.

2. How do midwives in Ontario work?
Midwives usually work in community-based group practices. They attend births in hospitals and women’s homes. They provide care throughout pregnancy, labour, birth and up to six weeks postpartum to the woman and her baby.

3. Do I need to be a nurse before I can become a midwife?
No. Midwifery is an autonomous profession separate and distinct from nursing and medicine. While there are basic skills that are common to all three professions, midwifery has a unique scope of practice and model of care.

4. What type of educational background do students who are accepted to the Program typically have?
Midwifery students come from a wide variety of educational backgrounds. Many of them have received previous university undergraduate degrees while others have graduate degrees, college diplomas, or are mature students. Prospective students are strongly recommended to have completed a minimum of one year of university education.

5. What are my chances of acceptance into the Program with little or no experience in the health field?
Past experience may be taken into account during the selection process, but it is by no means a necessary requirement for acceptance into the Program. Applicants are assessed for those qualities that will enable the individual to become a good midwife. Places in the program have been offered to applicants from many different walks of life.

6. What is the earning potential for a Midwife in Ontario?
The current minimum income range for midwives in this province is from $66,000 to $95,000 a year. The Association of Ontario Midwives which is the midwives' professional organisation, has regular discussions with the Ministry of Health in order to review the current range.

7. What is the employment outlook for students on completing the Program?
With demand for midwives exceeding supply, there are many opportunities for graduates to fill positions in Ontario and other provinces in Canada. Once students complete the Program, they are eligible to apply to the College of Midwives of Ontario for registration and are required to work in an established midwifery practice for one year. Ryerson graduates have successfully found positions in midwifery practices across Ontario and other parts of Canada.

8. What's the philosophy of the program?

The educational program is based on the following beliefs and values:

WE BELIEVE that midwifery has the potential to be one of the most important components of women’s health care in Ontario. Midwives’ expertise in the care of normal pregnancy and childbirth arises from their understanding of childbearing as a social, cultural and biological process and from their ability to competently exercise clinical skills and decision-making. Midwifery education must provide the base for sound professional practice.

WE BELIEVE that midwives are the best persons to teach the professional practice of midwifery. In addition WE BELIEVE that the educational program has a special responsibility to foster partnerships between midwives and other health care providers for the benefit of students and women who seek midwifery care.

WE BELIEVE the educational program is an integral part of the evolution of the profession of midwifery in Ontario and Canada. The program must help create future leaders and teachers. It must establish practice and teaching as a continuum so that learning environments become available across Ontario.

WE BELIEVE the educational program will best assure the acquisition of knowledge, skills and values, and foster critical thinking if the academic setting is respectful of students, is committed to scholarly enquiry and emphasized the lifelong ability to learn and change.

WE BELIEVE that accessible education, which is both flexible and culturally sensitive, requires high quality distance education.

WE BELIEVE that the collaborative model of program development and management described herein provides both a reflection of and a model for professional practice in the field of midwifery.