faculty profile

Margaret C. Taylor   DNP, APRN, CNM, FACNM

Instructor

Bio

Margaret Taylor is a Certified Nurse-Midwife, currently practicing full-scope midwifery in the VUSN faculty practice, teaching professional studies in the VUSN graduate school, as well as participating in Quality Improvement projects for the Vanderbilt University.

Dr. Taylor spent the first part of her career in Memphis, Tennessee, where opened the first midwife-owned private practice in the state in 1995 and worked in a federally qualified health center (FQHC) with an underserved and immigrant population.  In 2007, through a state grant award, Dr. Taylor launched a CenteringPregnancy program at the FQHC, and she joined the faculty of the Centering Healthcare Institute, teaching workshops on group care nationally.  During this time, Dr. Taylor participated in medical mission trips to Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, and India, providing maternity and women's health care to the local population, as well as teaching maternity care to nurses and midwives.  In 2012, she joined the Vanderbilt University School of Nursing in order to practice full-scope midwifery and to grow the midwifery profession nationally and globally through teaching the next generation of midwives. 

Education

  • Vanderbilt University School of Nursing, DNP 2017
  • University of Tennessee School of Nursing at Memphis, BSN 1994, MSN 1995
  • Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, Nurse-Midwifery 1986
  •  Memphis State University, ASN 1979

Current Research/Scholarly Interests

Graduate Research, Regional Medical Center in Memphis 1992-1994:  Graduate thesis on the accuracy of patient-collected cultures for Group B Streptococcus was published in the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology (AJOG) in 1995 and in the Journal of Nurse-Midwifery (JNM) in 1997.  The AJOG article became the seminal research cited by the CDC in 2010 that change practice recommendations in favor of patient-collected GBS cultures.

Academic Interests

  • Quality improvement in midwifery care
  • Reducing the primary cesarean rate

Representative Publications

Journals

Mercer, B.M., Taylor, M.C., Fricke, J.L.,Balseki, V.S., & Sibai, B.M.  The Accuracy and Patient Preference for Self-Collected Group B Streptococcus Am J Obstet Gynecol 1995, 173:1325-28

Taylor, M.C., Mercer, B.M., Englehardt, K. F., & Fricke, J. L.   Patient Preference for Self-Collected Group B Streptococcus Cultures in Pregnancy. J Nurs Midwife 1997; 42(5):410-13.

Representative Presentations

Taylor, M. C. (2019).  "Creating a Quality Improvement Process for Midwifery Care."  Poster presentation at 65th Annual Conference for the American College of Nurse-Midwives, Washington, DC

Honors/Awards

  • Vanderbilt Excellence in Patient Experience Award, 2017
  • Vanderbilt Five Star Excellence Award, Provider-Mid-Level - Overall Quality of Provider Care: Recognition for scoring in the top 10% nationally for "Excellent" responses, May 2015
  • Founders Award for Exemplary Service in Mission and Ministry of Christ Community Health Services, November 2012
  • Upstanders Award, Choosing to Participate Facing History and Ourselves, Healthcare Provider, 2011      
  • Memphis Business Journal Healthcare Heroes- Healthcare Provider, Finalist 2008
  • W. Newton Long Foundation Award, 1992

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