Report on Results of Fall 2013 NACPM Member Survey
At the 2012 CPM Symposium, a number of priorities for the development of the CPM profession were identified by CPMs and multiple stakeholders. These priorities have informed the work of NACPM over the past year and a half, and the design of the Fall 2013 NACPM Member Survey.
The Fall 2013 survey “checked in” with NACPM members to evaluate whether these priorities continue to be relevant to members today and to ensure that NACPM’s 2014 goals and initiatives align with the priorities of our members. We are very grateful to the 68 respondents who took the time to complete the survey. We received many thoughtful responses and comments, and are excited to share the results with you.
Survey Question #1: Rating Priorities
When asked to rate the importance of NACPM’s 2012 Symposium priorities (figure 1), 6 out of 7 were still “very important” to a majority of respondents. The two top priorities, each listed as “very important” by over 85%, were:
Access for all women to midwifery care
Licensure for CPMs in all 50 states
When calculating responses by combining “very important” and “moderately important”, all of the priorities were ranked as important by over 90% of respondents, with the exception of including consumer voices in the development of the profession, with 67% of respondents ranking this priority as either very or moderately important.
Q1 – In 2012, the following priorities were identified by NACPM members as important to them. Please rate their current importance to you:
figure 1
Survey Question #2: Ranking Top 4 Priorities
This question (figure 2) asked respondents to rank their opinion of the relative value of a set of NACPM’s functions. From the experience of reviewing responses to this question, we have learned that this type of question is difficult to analyze meaningfully. From your comments on this question, we understand that you found the request to rank the functions frustrating, with some of you commenting that it was difficult to respond because you felt all of the functions were important.
What is clear from the results is that respondents strongly agree that advocating for CPMs to legislators and policy makers should be a top priority. While each of the 8 functions had its advocates as one of the top four priorities, the graph below demonstrates the top 3 of those 8 functions that were chosen by the majority of respondents.
Q2 – The following is a list of NACPM functions. Please rank your top four priorities from this list, with 1 being most important:
figure 2
Questions #3 & 4: Open comment opportunities to identify additional priorities
Survey participants provided many valuable suggestions in these comment sections, all of which have been brought to the attention of the NACPM Board of Directors, and a number of which have been in discussion in NACPM leadership conversations prior to the survey. In addition to the priorities identified in survey questions #1 and #2, suggestions included:
Educate public & consumers about CPM care & build appreciation for the CPM credential
Broaden the scope of practice for CPMs
Establish CPM-specific core competencies
Inform members about how CPMs can participate in the Affordable Care Act reforms
Provide clinical guidance to CPMs through a practice committee
Support increased access to insurance reimbursement
Offer annual CPM symposiums
Establish NACPM as the unified voice for CPMs
Strengthen the education of CPMs and support the MEAC school route to the credential
Provide for professional liability insurance at an affordable rate
Support for transfer of care and necessary clinical services such as lab and ultrasound
Align with ICM standards for education
Additionally, respondents expressed a need for regular news updates from NACPM detailing activities on behalf of CPMs, and for development and support for the CPM credential.
Finally, we learned through your responses that an overwhelming majority of respondents found the survey itself to be an effective way to give feedback to NACPM leadership. We look forward to engaging and collaborating with our members in future surveys.
It is immensely gratifying to find that the membership supports us in pursuing the very goals that the board is working hard to address. Our current fundraising efforts are focused precisely on advocacy for access and licensure, promoting CPMs, spearheading and collaborating to develop a scholarship fund for women of color, and launching an initiative to expand and diversify the CPM workforce.
Watch for a reinvigorated MAMA Campaign in 2014, ongoing NACPM participation in USMERA, an expanding NACPM Chapter Pilot Project, a webinar series to support state licensure and to inform members about CPM participation in ACA reforms, a 2014 year-end work group report on the development of the Practice Committee, and NACPM’s first virtual Annual Membership Meeting in March 2014.
Thank you again, to all who participated in the survey. We deeply appreciate your engagement and support for NACPM in creating a unified national voice for CPMs.
We welcome any and all comments from our members at any time. Please feel free to send your thoughts and ideas to executivedirector@nacpm.org and to admin@nacpm.org.
Mary Lawlor, Executive Director
Ellie Daniels, President