Continuing Education at the 61st Annual Meeting

The ACNM Program Committee has worked hard to bring you the best evidence-based, practical, and cutting-edge continuing education the midwifery world has to offer. Between the blocks of education sessions (included in your registration fee) and half- or full-day workshops (additional fees apply), you can earn more than 23 contact hours!

Are you presenting an education session or workshop at the ACNM 61st Annual Meeting? Be sure to review our information for speakers. 

Education Sessions

     Download Session Handouts

Education sessions scheduled for Sunday, May 22

Education sessions scheduled for Monday, May 23

Education sessions scheduled for Tuesday, May 24

Education sessions scheduled for Wednesday, May 25

Education sessions scheduled for Thursday, May 26

Workshops

WK01 ALSO Provider Course Day 1 
8:00am-4:00pm - La Cienega, East Building, Upper Level
CEUs: 0.75
Track: Clinical
Presented by: Janice Taleff, CNM, MSN, LCCE; Larry Leeman, MD, MPH

Participants must attend both days. ALSO is an evidence-based multidisciplinary training program that helps you manage perinatal emergencies. This 2-day course on the practical management of obstetric emergencies is designed for all maternity care providers including physicians, nurse-midwives, nurses, and other clinicians practicing in many different settings. Get hands-on training with pre-course syllabus reading and small group workstations with minimal lecture time and low faculty-to-participant ratios, while earning CME/CNE. ACNM is pleased to support ALSO in offering midwives and others attending the ACNM 61^st Annual Meeting and Exhibit in Albuquerque New Mexico the opportunity to become an ALSO Instructor and take the Instructor Course immediately following the ACNM 61^st ACNM Annual Meeting and Exhibit. View the Instructor Course at http://bit.ly/1VxxoNc. Please note this is not an ACNM sponsored course.

WK02 Suture Skill Refresher: For New Grads and Midwives Returning to Active Practice
8:00am-4:00pm - San Miguel, East Building, Upper Level
CEUs: 0.75 - Rx: 0.25
Track: Clinical
Presented by: Jessica Anderson, CNM, MSN, WHNP-BC

This all-day suturing workshopis for midwives who may want to refresh their suturing skills if they are returning to practice and for new grads if they are entering practice for the first time. Participants will review basic suturing skills: suture materials, instrument use, basic stitches, knot tying, visualization, and repair of lacerations. CNM preceptors will assist with "hands on" practice. The workshop fee is inclusive of all class materials, including instruments, suture, and a take-home perineum model for practice. New for the first time is a pelvic suturing model with design input from one of ACNM's own member midwives.

WK04 ACNM Exam Prep Workshop: Two-Day Approach
8:00am-4:00pm - Tewa & Hopi, West Building, Lower Level
CEUs: 0
Track: Education
Presented by: Melissa Willmarth-Stec, CNM, APRN, DNP, FACNM

This 2-day workshop is designed to help students prepare for the AMCB national certification exam. The workshop features one day of content reviewing the 6 didactic areas including antepartum, intrapartum, postpartum, primary care, gynecology, and newborn care. Day 2 of the workshop features an interactive case-based learning experience for students to hone their test-taking skills and strategies while identifying strengths and possible problem areas.

WK05 Intrapartum Hydrotherapy: Clinical Application of Research on Labor and Birth in Water to Improve Safety, Client Satisfaction, and Interprofessional Collaborations
12:00-4:00pm - Cochiti, West Building, Lower Level
CEUs: 0.35
Track: Clinical
Presented by: Jenna Shaw-Battista, CNM, PhD

Conclusive data support the benefit and safety of warm water immersion during labor but utilization rates for this non-pharmacological pain relief method in the United States still lag behind those reported internationally. Controversy about water birth was reinforced by a 2014 cautionary committee opinion released by the American Academy of Pediatrics and ACOG which has impacted the practice of ACNM members and hydrotherapy access among women we care for. This workshop will examine these professional issues along with the ACNM member survey about water birth barriers and other recent research on the use and outcomes of labor and birth in water. Presenters will outline key steps in beginning and sustaining the option of waterbirth for your clients, including interprofessional communication, stakeholder engagement, and other practical strategies for overcoming barriers to water birth implementation and continued provision.

WK06 Curanderismo: Healing with Traditional Medicine of Mexico and the Southwest
12:00-4:00pm - Taos, West Building, Lower Level
CEUs: 0.35
Track: Clinical
Presented by: DR. Eliseo Cheo Torres; Tonita Gonzales; Rita Navarrete Perez

This is an integrated hands-on workshop designed to give you a brief historical overview of Mexican folk medicine and folk beliefs from Aztec to modern times, noting the influences of Spanish-Moorish and Native American traditions. We will discuss the role of tradition-the cultural and spiritual beliefs-in the birthing process. We will demonstrate the process of healing mind, body, and spirit on issues from infertility to birth and the postpartum period. This cultural belief system includes the use of herbal medicine, mantada (shawl healing), ventosas (fire cupping), temazcal (Mesoamerican sweatlodge), and sacred ceremony. You will be invited to participate in this hands-on workshop, and learn ways to help people create sacred, welcoming space in the birthing process. Your guides for this workshop are Dr. Eliseo "Cheo" Torres and Tonita Gonzales from Albuquerque, and Rita Navarrete Perez from Mexico City.

WK07 Protecting, Supporting, and Promoting Physiologic Labor and Birth in Your Practice Setting
12:00-4:00pm - Apache, West Building, Lower Level
CEUs: 0.35
Track: Clinical
Presented by: Tanya Tanner, CNM, PhD, MBA, RN, FACNM

This workshop will present work undertaken by ACNM and other maternity care organizations to promote healthy, physiologic birth in the United States. The work of the Healthy Birth Initiative will be presented, including how to use ACNM resources to support and promote physiologic birth in your practice setting to women, colleagues, and hospital systems. Promoting physiologic birth as a means to reducing cesarean section will be a focus. Effective use of the BirthTOOLS toolkit to achieve related quality measures will be included.

WK08 Mindfulness Skills for the Midwife and the Expectant Families She Serves
12:00-4:00pm - San Juan, West Building, Lower Level
CEUs: 0.35
Track: Clinical
Presented by: Nancy Bardacke, CNM, MA

This workshop offers participants the opportunity to experience mindfulness-the awareness that arises from paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, with openhearted curiosity - for reducing stress, enhancing work satisfaction, promoting self-care, and contributing to burn-out prevention. Drawing on the mindfulness meditation practices and skills taught in the Mindfulness-Based Childbirth and Parenting (MBCP) program, participants will begin or deepen their own mindfulness practice as well as learn ways they might share mindfulness skills with expectant women and families, including those populations where stress is a significant factor, undermining overall health and wellbeing during pregnancy and beyond. Given the accumulating evidence regarding burnout in the midwifery profession and the increasing stress on midwives in a rapidly changing health care environment, learning mindfulness skills holds great promise for relieving suffering and increasing happiness for both the midwife and her clients, even in the most trying of circumstances.

WK09 ASCCP-Educate the Educators II
4:30-8:30pm - Taos, West Building, Lower Level
CEUs: 0.25
Track: Education
Presented by: Alan Waxman, MD, MPH; Michelle Collins, CNM, PhD, FACNM

The introduction of HPV vaccines in 2006 and the widespread adoption of HPV testing created a need for educating the clinical community about the role of HPV infections in anogenital disease, appropriate clinical usages of HPV testing, and about the potential benefits of vaccination against HPV infections. In response to this need, the ASCCP developed an Educate the Educator program, which was a series of training courses designed specifically to address confusion in the clinical community after the introduction of cotesting, and the first generation of HPV vaccines-with the greatest challenge being in the smaller and mid-sized communities that lack clinicians who have expertise in this area. The Educate the Educators II will focus on the many recent changes in cervical cancer screening and prevention.

Sunday, May 22

WK01 ALSO Provider Course Day 2
8:00am-4:00pm - La Cienega, East Building, Upper Level
CEUs: 0.75
Track: Clinical
Presented by: Janice Taleff, CNM, MSN, LCCE; Larry Leeman, MD, MPH

Participants must attend both days. ALSO is an evidence-based multidisciplinary training program that helps you manage perinatal emergencies. This 2-day course on the practical management of obstetric emergencies is designed for all maternity care providers including physicians, nurse-midwives, nurses, and other clinicians practicing in many different settings. Get hands-on training with pre-course syllabus reading and small group workstations with minimal lecture time and low faculty-to-participant ratios, while earning CME/CNE. ACNM is pleased to support ALSO in offering midwives and others the opportunity to become an ALSO Instructor and take the Instructor Course immediately following the Annual Meeting. Please note this is not an ACNM sponsored course.

WK04 ACNM Exam Prep Workshop: Two-Day Approach
8:00am-4:00pm - Tewa & Hopi, West Building, Lower Level
CEUs: 0.75
Track: Education
Presented by: Melissa Willmarth-Stec, CNM, APRN, DNP, FACNM

This 2-day workshop is designed to help students prepare for the AMCB national certification exam. The workshop features one day of content reviewing the 6 didactic areas including antepartum, intrapartum, postpartum, primary care, gynecology, and newborn care. Day 2 of the workshop features an interactive case-based learning experience for students to hone their test-taking skills and strategies while identifying strengths and possible problem areas.

WK10 Changing the Culture: A New Approach for Managing Early Labor in the Hospital Setting- SOLD OUT
8:00am-12:00pm - Chaco, West Building, Lower Level
CEUs: 0.35
Track: Clinical
Presented by: Julie A Paul, CNM, DNP

One in 3 women experience a cesarean section in the United States.Labor dystocia, early labor mismanagement, and lack of education may contribute to the increase in cesarean births. In addition, contemporary studies challenge Friedman's Curve and redefine length of labor. In order to lower the cesarean birth rate and take measures that allow women the extra time to labor, it is imperative to change hospital culture surrounding early labor management to enhance physiologic birth and empower and support women in early labor. We have created an innovative early labor management program which offers a comprehensive approach for managing women in early labor utilizing both support and education in the home as well as hospital setting.

WK11 SHIFT to Positive Thoughts and Powerful Results: A Tool for Midwives in Clinical and Leadership Roles
8:00am-12:00pm - Santo Domingo, West Building, Lower Level
CEUs: 0.35
Track: Leadership
Presented by: Barbara Hughes, CNM, MS, MBA, FACNM, NE-BC

Today's midwives and midwifery leaders work in a complex and stressful health care environment. Demands for increased productivity, working in challenging organizations, and serving clients with diverse needs and demands often leads us to feel frustration, powerlessness, and anger. This workshop will introduce the concept of SHIFT and review the brain science involved in negative and positive thinking. Participants will experience a number of exercises to help them change their brains to move to positivity resulting in a more satisfying professional life. Whether you are a midwife in clinical practice or a midwifery leader this workshop is for you!

WK12 High and Dry in New Mexico: Pessary Fitting 101- SOLD OUT
8:00am-12:00pm - San Juan, West Building, Lower Level
CEUs: 0.35 Rx: 0.35
Track: Clinical
Presented by: Ellen Craig, CNM, MS, FACNM

The vaginal Pessary is a safe, cost-effective treatment for women with POP (pelvic organ prolapse) and UI (urinary incontinence), and midwives are well suited as expert providers of this non-surgical management. As the population of aging women grows, and health care systems change, midwives can expand their knowledge, skills, and services to provide pessaries for patients. Midwives can offer a pessary as a first-line, safe, and effective option. The CNMs teaching this workshop developed a dedicated pessary clinic in a busy multidisciplinary Urogyn service at University of New Mexico (UNM). They recently published an RCT studying hydroxyquinoline-based gel and pessary-associated BV. Katherine Beach, CNM, joins them as a pessary specialist who has researched pessary related vaginal ulcers and their classification. CNMs Craig and Rode are "spreading the word" about pessaries, and have taught locally to internationally. This dynamic, interactive workshop will provide hands-on learning of the basics of pessary fitting with creative use of case studies.

WK13 Acupressure in Labor: An Essential Tool for the Midwife's Armamentarium - SOLD OUT
8:00am-12:00pm - Cochiti, West Building, Lower Level
CEUs: 0.35
Track: Clinical




For over 2 millennia, midwives in Asia have been using acupressure for the relief of labor pain. Other uses include labor augmentation, reducing nausea and vomiting, and rotating the fetus that presents with occiput posterior. This workshop will provide the CNM with the skills necessary to assess the laboring woman from a Traditional Chinese Medicine perspective and to implement an acupressure prescription to facilitate her labor.

WK14 A Navajo Mentorship Pathway
8:00am-4:00pm - Zuni, West Building, Lower Level
CEUs: 0.75
Track: Midwifery Matters-Public Perception
Presented by: Ursula Knoki-Wilson, CNM, MSN, MPH; Barbra Overman,CNM, PhD, MSN, MPH

This full day workshop is cultural immersion in an educational process to prepare mentors or mentees interested in supporting potential or present midwifery students from non-dominant cultures. The workshop is structured and guided by the Navajo Blessingway Pathway and organized around the Navajo four direction-based framework. Participants engage together with the bicultural training leadership team that models dialog between western didactic and traditional Navajo ways of expressing principles of mentorship. Originally developed to foster mentorship relationships and networks among nurses in the four corners area adjacent to the Navajo Nation, this workshop offering provides a culture-based learning experience that creates opportunity for developing cultural humility in understanding diverse pathways into contemporary nursing and midwifery.

WK15 Preparing the Next Generation: Midwives as Educators and Preceptors in Midwifery, Nursing, and Medicine
8:00am-4:00pm - Pecos, East Building, Upper Level
CEUs: 0.75
Track: Education
Presented by: Dawn Durain, CNM, MPH, FACNM

This free workshop, offered by the newly created Midwifery Educators section of the DOE, is designed for educators, preceptors, or prospective midwife educators and preceptors who are working in women's health, specifically with students in midwifery, nursing, residency, and medical school programs. We will start with addressing a key topic in education. The topic for our general one-hour session will be either building diversity in education and how to support learners from diverse backgrounds or how to teach the physiologic birth and the midwifery model of care in each of our settings. That session will be followed by Interprofessional Collaboration in Women's Health. Attendees will discuss issues in education that are specific to teaching students in individual disciplines. Our goal is to share didactic and clinical teaching strategies from experienced educators and to investigate new modalities of teaching. FREE; preregistration is required.

WK16A Basic Obstetrical Ultrasound: Fundamentals for Midwives Newly Incorporating this Advanced Clinical Skill
8:00am-12:00pm - Taos, West Building, Lower Level
CEUs: 0.35
Track: Clinical
Presented by: Jenna Shaw-Battista, CNM, PhD

Join us to begin incorporating limited obstetrical ultrasound into your practice! This workshop will provide attendees with foundational knowledge required for further education and clinical training in obstetrical ultrasound. It was designed for midwives with little or no prior education or experience with ultrasound. Lectures, interactive case studies, and demonstrations will be used to assist participants with image recognition and clinical application. Topics will include assessment of fetal gestation age and presentation, placental location, safety, indications, and outcomes of ultrasound in the first, second, and third trimesters.

WK16B Obstetrical Ultrasound: A Case-Based Workshop
1:00-5:00pm - Taos, West Building, Lower Level
CEUs: 0.35
Track: Clinical
Presented by: Jenna Shaw-Battista, CNM, PhD

Are you an experienced midwife with some prior obstetrical ultrasound education or skills and looking for help with clinical application? Need a more advanced ultrasound session? This workshop is for you! Case studies and demonstrations will be provided with information about a new joint ACNM and Pegasus certification option with specific test-taking techniques for improving exam performance. This session will include normal and abnormal findings in pregnancy, amniotic fluid assessment, the fetal biophysical profile, use of ultrasound in labor and birth care, IUD localization, medico-legal considerations, and more! Midwives and presenters from the ACNM-ARDMS collaboration and ExamSim preparation program are leading this workshop.

WK17 How to Run a Midwifery Practice: Business Basics for Success
8:00am-4:00pm - Santa Ana, West Building, Lower Level
CEUs: 0.75
Track: Midwifery Matters Business
Presented by: Susan DeJoy, CNM, PhD; Marie Henderson, CNM, MSN

An interactive workshop led by 3 experienced CNM practice directors, specifically for early to mid-career midwifery practice directors. Each topic includes theory, practical examples, worksheets and resources. During the workshop, participants will develop Action Plans and "next step" for their practices and themselves as leaders. Topics include fundamentals of leadership, fiscal management, staff workload and scheduling, effective meetings, strategic planning, quality management and performance evaluation.

WK19 Abnormal Uterine Bleeding, Pathophysiology, Evaluation, Management and Endometrial Biopsy Simulation - SOLD OUT
1:00-5:00pm - San Juan, West Building, Lower Level
CEUs: 0.35
Track: Clinical
Presented by: Angela Deneris, CNM, PhD

Acute and chronic abnormal (AUB) and endometrial cancer are significant and increasingly common problems in GYN practice. It is important the midwives providing care to women are knowledgeable in the evaluation, differential diagnoses, and treatment modalities of AUB. The definitions, pathophysiology, evaluation, and management of AUB will be presented. The session will include simulated practice of 3 of the most common endometrial biopsy devises. Case studies will be utilized to facilitate participants' utilization of information into practice.

Monday, May 23

Accreditation Commission for Midwifery Education (ACME): Maximizing Educational Quality through the ACME Criteria
8:00am-2:00pm - Santa Ana, West Building, Lower Level
CEUs: 0.75
Track: Education
Presented by: Peter G. Johnson, CNM, PhD, FACNM; Gretchen G. Mettler, CNM, PhD; Heather L. Maurer, MA

The process of accreditation of midwifery education programs is becoming more complex. Often program directors and other faculty have not had experience in preparing for the accreditation process. This workshop is designed to provide up-to-date information on writing the Self-Evaluation Report and preparing for a site visit. Attendees will actively participate in activities designed to prepare them for a successful accreditation process and annual monitoring during the accreditation period. Information presented will also be relevant for those planning to start a new education program and preparing for the pre-accreditation process.

Tuesday, May 24

Midwives as Frontline Providers of Oral Health Care for Pregnant Women and their Newborns
5:45-8:45pm - Taos, West Building, Lower Level
Presented by: The Oral Health Nursing Education and Practice Program (OHNEP)

Oral health is key to overall health and well-being of pregnant women and their babies . The exciting interprofessional role of midwives in promoting oral health during pregnancy and preventing early childhood caries (ECC) in their newborns will be emphasized. During this interactive workshop, clinical competencies related to oral health assessment, oral health promotion interventions, and collaborative partnerships with interprofessional community colleagues and resources will be developed. Strategies for integrating oral health competencies in midwifery program curricula, including Smiles for Life, will be presented.