Scope Of Certification and Student Handbook

Scope of certification

Doulas are care professionals, not medical providers. CPDs provide emotional, physical, and educational support in the birth and postpartum years. Care is tailored to meet specific requests but does not include medical advice or performing medical procedures nor is it to act in place of a medical provider.

Certified Professional Doulas do not diagnose, treat, or intervene.

Allo Doula Academy requires that doulas working within this certification program follow this scope of practice along with the guidelines of the mission and vision statement of the company. 

Students will be trained in the following topics:

  • The anatomy and physiology of birth and recovery

  • Common interventions 

  • Comfort measures and advanced comfort measures for birth and postpartum

  • Feeding support

  • Appropriate communication with medical care providers and staff 

  • Appropriate communication with clients

  • Newborn care

  • Postpartum mood disorders

  • The postpartum family

  • Healing for the postpartum mother

  • Infant Sleep Guidance

  • Sibling support and transitions

  • Whole family care 

  • Bereavement and end-of-life support

  • Professionalism

  • Professional business practices

CPD Doulas Do: 

  • Provide hands-on support

  • Provide evidence-based educational resources

  • Provide emotional support

  • Respect all medical professionals

  • Help the care team when appropriate 

CPD Doulas Don’t:

  • Perform medical procedures

  • Give medical advice

  • Take the place of medical personnel

  • Diagnose, Treat, or Intervene

Scope of certification

CPD doulas are certified by the National Doula Certification Board (NDCB), and students/candidates must complete the following steps in order to apply for certification.

  • Successful completion of Training Program

  • Successful completion of Clinical Experience

  • Successful passing of the CPD Exam

  • Completed Professional Portfolio

  • Completed Certification Application

Requirements for Certification

Following successful completion of each of the fifteen-week class periods, the homework assignments, skills assessments, quizzes, tests, each of the additional assessment pieces listed in the ASSESSMENT TOOLS section of this document and the clinical rotation requirements, students will be considered candidates for Certification and can apply to the National Doula Certification Board to complete the steps to certification.

The following four steps need to be completed by the candidate:

  1. CPD Certification Application

  2. The candidate will submit a professional portfolio to the National Doula Certification Board. The expectations for the portfolio can requested from the board which uses a detailed rubric for evaluation. The Portfolio passing standard is 200/250 (80%).

  3. The candidate will submit an hourly log, experiences checklist and a writeup detailing their clinical experience. The Clinical Director for the Academy holds a non-voting position on the National Doula Certification Board and provides oversight for the evaluation of the candidate’s clinical experience. The National Doula Certification Board holds the right to validate the hours log against the clinical site’s records of student rotation.

  4. Register and take the CPD Certification Exam. This exam is separate from the training program.

Upon successful completion of the above steps and a passing mark of 80% or greater on The CPD Certification Exam, the National Doula Certification Board will issue the credential Certified Professional Doula.  (See the Certification and Certificates section below).

Overview of the Training Program

The Certified Professional Doula Training Program is approximately a 200-hour synchronous course meant to be completed in 15 weeks with once weekly class sessions of four (4) hours and additional online lecture, question, and response postings. Approximately eighty (80) hours of coursework and homework will be completed outside of class sessions. Each student will complete a professional portfolio as a portion of a capstone project throughout the course. In addition to class time and in partnership with local hospitals, students will complete a clinical rotation of seventy-five (75) total hours.

Training Program Assessment Process

The assessment design for this course utilizes the integration of instruction and assessment in order to identify what students can do with their knowledge and skills in a specific domain, given real world scenarios. It seeks to balance between selected response and performance assessment. 

Assessment tools include:

  • Skills assessment

  • Bloodborne pathogens and universal precautions testing

  • Quizzes and tests

  • Professional portfolio development

  • Classroom role play

  • Dynamic problem solving

  • Presentation assignments

  • Class participation

  • Clinical hours logs

  • Observational logs

  • Clinical experience write-up summary

Certification Exam 

Upon successful completion of the above requirements, students will be eligible candidates to take the CPD Certification Exam. Please refer to the CPD Exam section of this handbook for further information.