Health Professional Education Associations: What Other Professions Teach Us About Building Resources, Community, and Advocacy for Midwifery Educators

In response to a looming health care workforce deficit, several health professions have experienced recent rapid workforce growth. These professions are supported by specialized health professional associations designed to promote educational excellence in the face of rapid growth. In contrast, the midwifery profession does not have dedicated professional organizations to support education programs. The purpose of this study is to better understand the various strategies used by selected health professional education associations and their value to the profession. This can be adapted to promote the growth and excellence of midwifery education in the United States, responding to the need for more midwives in a time of perinatal and reproductive health care workforce shortage. This project is a qualitative study that uses content analysis to analyze semi-structured interviews of representatives of various health professional education associations. Interviews were conducted with individuals in either a leadership or member role. Selected organizations have a website and are dedicated to the education of health professionals. Ten interviews were conducted in total and four different organizations represented in the sample. They were designed to answer the following research questions: 1. What services do health professional education associations provide? 2. What value do health professional education associations provide? 3. Which factors contribute to the sustainability of health professional education associations? By understanding the structure and function of health professional education associations, midwifery educators can envision whether and how such an organization would serve midwifery: strengthen networks and resources for midwifery educators to build stronger, more supportive learning environments for students. Midwifery educators are responsible for delivering high quality education to support national accreditation and certification standards associated with excellent care outcomes. Successful implementation of midwifery care requires that education programs incorporate effective learning design and that educators have access to pedagogical teaching methods and technologies. It also requires that educators have the skills to design learning environments responsive to the needs of their learners. But it is unclear that they currently have the resources available to sustain their roles as educators and optimize midwifery education models to increase accessibility to aspiring midwives and grow the profession.