Midwives have a long and illustrious tradition of assisting mothers at birth. Today, certified nurse midwives are still the obstetric and gynecologic choice for many women.

That’s why our maternity programs offer nurse-midwifery services. Each hospital within the Medical College of Pennsylvania and Hahnemann University Hospital system seeks to maximize your choices about the care you and your baby receive.

Family-Centered Care

Certified nurse-midwives are educated in two disciplines – nursing and midwifery – with specialized focus in obstetrics and gynecology. They provide a time intensive, family-centered approach to care – empowering you and your family to actively participate in the decisions surrounding your pregnancy and birth experience.

Our nurse midwives devote a great deal of time to individual patient, both during prenatal visits and throughout labor, delivery and postpartum follow-up.

They take the time to get to know each of their patients, answer questions, discuss any fears and explore the many alternatives available. One of those alternatives is pain relief. Although midwifery is usually associated with natural childbirth, our nurse-midwives are most concerned with providing all options. They discuss with you the various types of pain relief in advances, so that you can decide what is best for you.

Through our nurse-midwives, you also have access to all the medical advantages and safety a hospital delivery provides. Family-centered childbirth is a priority at Hahnemann University Hospital.

The affiliation our nurse-midwives have with obstetricians on staff provides an added sense of security, knowing that our high-risk specialist can step in to help at any time you and your nurse-midwife think necessary.

Also, healthy women – from teens to those in their childbearing years and beyond – can choose a nurse-midwife for well-woman gynecologic care. They provide the same individual attention and unhurried atmosphere during your annual physical and gynecologic exam that they do for our mothers-to-be.



Hahnemann University Hospital (Center City Philadelphia) is an academic health center, which gives a woman the best of both worlds – a family-centered approach to care coupled with immediate access to specialists and the latest in technology. Your labor, deliver and recover in the same room and then move to the postpartum unit, where rooming in is encouraged. Should you and your nurse-midwife need assistance at any time, you can call on the Hospital’s specialists and our Level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, the most sophisticated available.