History
of Frontier School of Midwifery and Family NursingHistory
of Frontier School of Midwifery and Family NursingThe Frontier Graduate School of Midwifery was started in 1939 by the
Frontier Nursing Service (FNS) as a part of its demonstration project in
the care of the mother and child in rural areas of Kentucky. When FNS
began using nurse-midwives in the United States in 1925, it was able to
secure a qualified staff in only two ways, by sending the American
nurses to Great Britain for graduate training or by enlisting British
nurses already qualified as midwives. In the early years, the FNS
offered scholarships to American nurses to go to Great Britain for
training in nurse-midwifery, and recruited British nurse-midwives.
From the beginning, Mary Breckinridge viewed nurse-midwifery as central to health care. When World War II started in 1939, a number of the British members of the FNS staff wished to return to their homes. Under war conditions, it was not possible to continue to send American nurses to Great Britain. The FNS immediately put into operation its plan for a graduate school of nurse-midwifery. The Frontier Graduate School of Midwifery enrolled its first class November 1, 1939. The Frontier School has been in continuous operation since that time.
As the number of births decreased in Leslie County during the 1980’s it became difficult to support a traditional midwifery program. During this time period, the Community-based Nurse-midwifery Education Program (CNEP) began as a pilot project funded by the PEW Foundation. The development of the CNEP was originally a cooperative effort of the Maternity Center Association (MCA), the National Association of Childbearing Centers (NACC), Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing, Case Western Reserve University (FPBSON/CWRU) and the Frontier Nursing Service (FNS). The goal was to enable nurses to remain in their communities while obtaining graduate education as nurse-midwives and ultimately increase the number of practicing nurse-midwives working in underserved areas. Through an affiliation with FPBSON/CWRU students completed a certificate education with FSMFN and attained a Masters Degree in Nursing by completing nine credits on the FPBSON/CWRU campus in Cleveland, Ohio. The pilot project was very successful. In 1990, the FSMFN recognized that the CNEP model of education matched its own goals and mission. The President of the School and the Board of Directors voted to adopt the CNEP as its nurse-midwifery education program in 1991. Since then, FSMFN has graduated over 1000 nurse-midwives.
In the late 1960s, the Frontier Nursing Service recognized that as health care options became more complex, a broader based education was necessary for nurses to be able to provide comprehensive primary care to all family members. At this time the FSMFN developed the first certificate program to prepare family nurse practitioners. In 1970, the name of the School was changed to the Frontier School of Midwifery and Family Nursing (FSMFN) to reflect the addition of the FNP program. The last class to graduate from the combined family nurse-midwifery program was in August of 1990. The Community-based Family Nurse Practitioner (CFNP) education program was reestablished in 1999 using the CNEP distance education model. With the acceptance of CFNP class 1 in 1999, the Frontier School of Midwifery and Family Nursing comes full circle in its mission to educate nurses to provide primary care that is comprehensive, safe, and culturally sensitive.
In 2000, recognizing that students desired to complete their entire education at FSMFN using distance education methods, the Board of Directors approved a plan for FSMFN to pursue full accreditation as an independent graduate school which would grant a Master of Science in Nursing. There was much work to be done including a complete curriculum revision and the preparation of the faculty at the doctoral level. On December 6, 2004, the School was accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to grant a Master of Science in Nursing Degree. The American College of Nurse-Midwives granted institutional accreditation as well as programmatic accreditation for the nurse-midwifery program in February 2005. National League for Nursing accreditation followed in March 2005.
Today the School offers several programs geared towards nurses who desire to pursue preparation as a nurse-midwife or nurse practitioner. These include a Master of Science in Nursing degree with tracks as a nurse-midwife, family nurse practitioner and women’s health nurse practitioner. We also offer post-masters certificates in these specialties. The School is very proud of the advanced technology that allows us to educate students all over the world with the central location being here, in historic Hyden, Kentucky, the birthplace of midwifery and family nursing in America. We now have graduates representing every state in the United States and seven foreign countries.