Table 1.

Comparison of five countries in professional organisation, education and certification.

		USA	Canada	UK	Australia	New Zealand
Professional Organisation		The American College of Nurse-Midwives	The Canadian Midwifery Regulators Council; the Canadian Association of Midwives and the Canadian Association of Midwifery Educators	Nursing and Midwifery Council	Australian Nursing and Midwifery Accreditation Council and Midwifery Board of Australia	The New Zealand College of Midwives
Education	Course requirements	Nursing or a health-related field other than nursing	Four-year undergraduate programme	Three-year programme and at least 18 months of nursing programme	Three-year full-time university programme	Extended three-year university programme
	Qualifications of certification	Master's degree	Bachelor's degree	Bachelor's degree	Bachelor's degree	Bachelor's degree
Certification		Recertification every five years	Midwifery regulation certificates from some provinces and territories	Dual registration	Registration with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency	Annual practicing certificates