Maria
Barbagallo,
RN
Nurse Midwifery Student
Vanderbilt University School of Nursing
Maria Barbagallo, RN is a Nurse-Midwifery student at Vanderbilt University School of Nursing. Nursing is a second career for Maria. After working as a clinical recruiter and volunteering for multiple women's rights organizations Maria decided to go to nursing school to be more hands on. She plans on bringing what she learned from The Vanderbilt Maternal Addiction Recovery Program VMARP) into her career as a midwife. Her clinical experience includes VMARP, Vanderbilt Health On Call for primary care, Vanderbilt Women's Health for gynecological care, Vanderbilt Midwife Faculty Practice for antepartum care, Piedmont-Newton Hospital for intrapartum care and she will be completing her training with the midwives at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
Presenting at the Nexus Summit:
Background: Vaccinations prevent almost 6 million deaths worldwide and reduce the incidence of several cancers. The Vanderbilt Maternal Addiction Recovery Program (VMARP) serves antepartum and postpartum women with substance use disorder, primarily opioid use disorder. Data collected from this clinic in 2021 suggests that these patients have low vaccination rates, with fewer than 50% of surveyed patients having received common vaccinations. VMARP patients consistently cited lack of knowledge as the reason for vaccine refusal. The aim of this project was to educate 80% of clinic patients about…