GW Nurse-Midwifery clinical immersion: NURS 6321 and NURS 6322
GW's Nurse-Midwifery MSN saves its clinical work for the end: 840 hours of immersion across the last two semesters, in NURS 6321 and NURS 6322, with a seasoned preceptor. CLASI opens semester 7, a Birth Center workshop comes by the end of year two, and GW's midwife network, local and national, leans strongly toward birth centers and home birth.
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Tell us your GW program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with the preceptor and site options that fit your GW course.
Two immersion courses after the didactic years
Midwifery students at GW carry two courses a semester. According to the program page, only the role-integration course is left once the final two terms arrive; everything else is finished first. Those closing terms hold the two clinical courses and all 840 hours.
| Course | Title | Credits | Role in the program |
|---|---|---|---|
NURS 6311 to NURS 6314 | Midwifery Management I to IV: primary and gynecologic, pregnancy, labor and birth, postpartum and newborn care | 3 each | Didactic groundwork before immersion |
NURS 6321 | Application of Midwifery Model of Care I | 7 | Clinical immersion, first semester |
NURS 6322 | Application of Midwifery Model of Care II | 7 | Clinical immersion, second semester |
NURS 6325 | Midwifery Role Integration | 2 | Runs alongside immersion |
GW publishes the 840-hour total but not the split between 6321 and 6322, so ask the midwifery faculty how your cohort's hours divide before you plan work around them. The Bulletin course list also still carries older role courses, NURS 6310 and NURS 6320, while the 2026-27 program table uses 6315 and 6325.
CLASI as semester 7 opens
Nurse practitioner students meet CLASI during NURS 6222. Midwifery students meet it later: the program page schedules on-campus CLASI as semester 7 opens, just ahead of immersion. It is the bridge between the didactic years and your first immersion day.
The full midwifery plan of study PDF is not in GW's public archive, so the semester count for the whole program is implied by that wording rather than published. The practical point stands: by the time you arrive for CLASI, your first immersion site should already be approved, because 6321 starts right after.
On-campus days follow GW's dress code: a lab coat, a stethoscope and no scrubs, as the NURS 6222 and CLASI page explains. Check the date for your cohort with the program before booking travel, since GW says specific schedules are posted about six months ahead.
The How to Start a Birth Center workshop
GW's midwifery page lists a second required event: the How to Start a Birth Center Workshop, to be completed by the end of year two. GW does not publish its agenda, format or date publicly, so your program's communications are the place to confirm it.
The workshop fits the program's character. Birth centers and home birth sit at the center of GW's midwifery networking, and a student who has already studied how a birth center is built arrives at immersion with a clearer sense of the settings on offer.
Year two is also a sensible time to start the immersion search in earnest. GW's placement requests run about four months ahead of the term, and the school cautions that sought-after sites commit more than a year out, so a birth center or home-birth practice that fits your goals is worth approaching while the didactic courses are still running.
How GW supports midwifery placements
GW's midwifery page words placement support more strongly than the general graduate rule. It promises help from two directions, the midwifery faculty and the clinical placement team, in finding sites where students live. GW also describes connections with midwives across metro DC and nationwide, weighted toward birth-center and home-birth practice. The school's FAQ still says securing a clinical site is the student's responsibility.
That same FAQ ties midwifery placements to the ACNM's core competencies for basic midwifery practice. The 2026 CORE workshop deck names a program associate on the Clinical Placement Team who covers CNM students alongside Acute Care, PMHNP and leadership.
Every site still needs a Site Prospector submission in CORE for each preceptor, an affiliation agreement and your clearance. Your RN license also has to cover each state where immersion hours happen; the RN license page has the detail.
From Shenandoah to GW, and the ACME wording
Midwifery clinicals at GW were once run by Shenandoah University under a partnership, with its faculty and staff managing sites and preceptors; today the program and its placements are GW's own.
The two GW sources that describe midwifery accreditation do not match. In the Bulletin 2026-27, the Accreditation Commission for Midwifery Education (ACME) is named as having fully accredited the program. The program web page, in its June 2026 copy, calls the status pre-accreditation. The Bulletin text is more recent, yet the conflict remains on GW's own pages.
A site may ask about accreditation before it signs an agreement. Confirm the current status with the midwifery program director so you can answer accurately, and see the accreditation page for how GW's other programs are accredited.
Why midwifery students choose us
Immersion asks for a lot from one placement: a seasoned preceptor, a practice that fits the ACNM competencies, and enough births and visits to carry 840 hours across two semesters. We search for certified nurse-midwives in your area, including birth centers, home-birth practices and hospital midwifery groups, and we match each to the course that follows.
Our packet for each midwife covers what CORE and GW's reviewers look for: the CNM's license, a CV or GW's preceptor bio, the person authorized to sign for the practice, and why the setting meets immersion goals. Your Site Prospector entry arrives whole, and the final yes comes from GW's program director. If a practice changes plans before or during immersion, we go straight to the next one. Our step-by-step process explains more, or write to us through the contact form.
Questions GW students ask
Do I have to complete immersion at a birth center?
GW's program page puts birth centers and home birth at the heart of its networking, but it does not say every student must use one. What GW requires is a placement that fits the ACNM core competencies, with a seasoned preceptor and faculty approval. If you want to combine a birth center with a hospital practice, agree the mix with the midwifery faculty before you file requests.
Can my immersion site be in another state?
It can, within GW's rules. GW says it maintains midwife connections nationwide, and its faculty and placement team help students look for sites close to home. You will need an RN license valid where you rotate, and your home state must be one GW can enroll online students from, as the state authorizations page explains.
Can a physician precept midwifery immersion hours?
GW's 2021 clinical placement guide lists MD and DO alongside NP and CNM as accepted preceptor credentials. Immersion, though, is built around the midwifery model of care and the ACNM competencies, and the course titles name that model directly. Ask the midwifery faculty before planning any hours with a physician, and build your search around certified nurse-midwives.
When should I start looking for an immersion site?
Well before semester 7. GW's website asks for placement requests about four months before the term, and it also tells students that many preceptors book up more than a year out. Working back from immersion, that points to year two, around the time of the Birth Center workshop, for your first real conversations with midwifery practices.
Is GW's Nurse-Midwifery MSN part-time?
GW admits midwifery students in fall only, and the plan its program page links is a part-time, fall-entry schedule of two courses per term. The plan PDF itself is not in GW's public archive. The program is 50 credits with 840 clinical hours, and the Nurse-Midwifery program page covers admission and the full course list.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-24
We check these pages against GW's Bulletin and GW Nursing's own program and clinical pages. Your course, CORE and GW's Clinical Placement Team have the final word.
GW asks you to find your own site and preceptor. Hand that search to us.
Tell us your GW program, where you live and which clinical course is next. We find preceptors who fit the course and prepare the license, bio and site details GW's review asks for, so your Site Prospector goes in complete.
- Preceptors matched to the course: family practice for
NURS 6230toNURS 6232, older-adult primary care for AGPCNP, psychiatric care for PMHNP - License, bio or CV and the site's agreement signatory ready for your CORE submission
- Close to home, in DC, Maryland, Virginia or wherever you live and hold your RN license
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