Overview (Didactic, Clinical, Skills & Teaching focus) 

The BMF in California is a one-year non-renewable fellowship recruiting two certified nurse-midwives (CNM) positions as clinical instructors at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) School of Medicine. Salary is expected to be $129,850 for 70% FTE effort (average of 28 hours a week). Fellows are paid and eligible for benefits in accordance with university policy. The incoming candidates will provide full scope nurse-midwifery clinical care including antepartum, intrapartum, postpartum, family planning services, with a focus in abortion. The Black Midwifery Fellowship is led by exceptional advanced practice providers and features practice-based learning, didactic education, mentorship and scholarly projects. The program is designed for new graduates (within 18 months of program completion) to expand the knowledge and skills acquired during graduate or doctoral training. Throughout the course of the fellowship year, a fellow can expect ongoing mentorship and engagement in self-assessment and performance feedback framed in practice-based knowledge, skills and attitudes. The program is a one-year commitment expected to run from Fall 2024-2025. Each fellow is expected to complete over 330 total hours of midwifery-based training with didactic and focused clinical rotations included below:

Didactic Focus

  • Weekly group discussions
  • Independent study [assigned and self-selected readings]  
  • Black Midwifery Fellowship Quarterly Virtual Conferences  
  • Reproductive Justice training & tour (inclusive of travel to other states)  
  • Networking conference of choice [e.g. Black Mamas Matter Alliance, I National Black Midwifery Alliance, Midwifery is Public Health etc.] 

Clinical Training  

  • Over 200 hours in comprehensive abortion care training:    
  • Abortion Care Training Primary Site: The Center for Pregnancy Options at Mt Zion is an outpatient, office-based abortion clinic, and therefore quite different from the experience of performing abortions within the hospital at ZSFG. Fellows learn best practices for abortion using paracervical block and oral medications for pain management. In addition, this site sees many more patients who undergo medication abortions and first trimester abortions, providing the fellows the bulk of their experiences. 
  • Abortion Care Training Secondary Site: The Women's Options Center at ZSFG sees a large volume of abortion patients, about half of whom receive first trimester abortions. The clinic is in a trauma hospital, and while it functions as an outpatient clinic, we have access to a blood bank, 24-hour anesthesiology, operating rooms, and interventional radiology. The Center offers conscious sedation or deep sedation with anesthesiology to all patients. The clinic performs mostly surgical procedures, and a few medication abortions. 
  • The possibility of Clinical care opportunities in an additional site is being explored.  
  • Antepartum/Intrapartum/Postpartum Midwifery Clinical Rotations at SFGH as a primary site. Zuckerberg San Francisco General Division of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences ZSFG is the City and County of San Francisco’s safety net hospital and serves as the main source of primary and specialty care for uninsured and underinsured residents of San Francisco. The Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital division is the largest of the six divisions in the UCSF Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences and includes the longest-standing hospital-based midwifery practice in San Francisco, attending births in a state-of-the art Family Birth Center. This clinical setting offers expanded options to patients, including nitrous oxide, as well as support of physiologic birth, including volunteer and community-based doula programs, and one of the lowest cesarean-section rates in California. ZSFG nurse-midwives are members of a collaborative, interprofessional team with a shared commitment to providing respectful, culturally appropriate care to all patients and families. This includes:  
    • Birth Center [triage, birth, and postpartum care] 
    • SFGH Obstetric, Midwifery, Gynecology clinic [prenatal care] 
    • Black Centering Midwifery Led-Group Prenatal Care 
    • Opportunity for postpartum home visits 
    • Collaboration and consultation with physician colleagues  
    • Documentation of care via electronic medical record 
 

Skills Training  

  • Interdisciplinary teamwork  
  • Simulation experiences navigating emergencies 
  • Participation in hospital-based Morbidity & Mortality conferences  
  • Ultrasound Training  
  • Varied workshop throughout the year 
  • Collaboration with doulas & community-based organizations 

Teaching Focus  

  • Annual Community based abortion and IUD workshop  
  • Classroom teaching opportunity in a Midwifery Program on desired topic  
  • Collaboration with Complex Family Planning fellows to develop quarterly conference presentations  
  • Sharing community with our patients outside of clinical care 
  • Scholarly Project