title: The University of California, San Diego Nurse-Midwifery Bridge Program. An opportunity to learn intrapartum nursing skills.
abstract: This article describes an innovative program developed by the University of California, San Diego Nurse-Midwifery Education Program to supplement the experiential background of prospective nurse-midwifery students. This preprogram enables RNs without previous labor and delivery (maternal/newborn) nursing experience to complete the bridge program and enter the UCSD student nurse-midwifery program on the same clinical level as other students and complete it within the standard time frame. The rationale for the program, its structural framework, and evaluation tools are presented. The authors hope that a description of the program will allow other institutions to replicate UCSD's success.
authors.affiliation: Division of Graduate Nursing Education, School of Medicine, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla 92093-0809, USA.
authors.forename: L P
authors.initials: LP
authors.lastname: Hunter
authors.forename: L R
authors.initials: LR
authors.lastname: Dixon
authors.forename: V R
authors.initials: VR
authors.lastname: Lops
mesh_terms: D002140:California; D003479:Curriculum; D004511:Education, Nursing, Graduate; D006801:Humans; D008880:Midwifery / Q000193:education*; D009936:Organizational Innovation; D011231:Preceptorship; D015397:Program Evaluation