Margaret has been a Neonatal Nurse Practitioner since 1985 and has been involved both locally and nationally as a nursing leader in both neonatal and palliative care. Prior to joining the faculty at Emory, she was an adjunct faculty member at the Medical University of South Carolina School of Nursing for many years. Margaret's educational path has led her from receiving her nursing diploma at the Clara Maass Memorial Hospital School of Nursing through completion of her DNP in 2014 at the Medical University of South Carolina School of Nursing in Charleston, SC where her focus was on the implementation of a palliative care program in the NICU.
Margaret is a past president of the National Association of Neonatal Nurses, has served on the board of directors of the Perinatal Section of the American Academy of Pediatrics and was one of the core group of nursing leaders that developed the Pediatric End of Life Nursing Education Curriculum and the Precepts for Palliative Care for Children, Adolescents and their Families in conjunction with the National Association of Neonatal Nurses, the Society of Pediatric Nurses, the Association of Pediatric Oncology Nurses and the Last Acts Coalition.
Margaret's other area of focus has been on the stabilization of the extremely low birth weight infant following delivery. To this end, she has been involved in a statewide rollout of this process and is a contributing author for the book: Golden Hours: care of the very low birth weight infant. She has spoken nationally and internationally on these two topics as well as other topics related to the practice of neonatal nursing.
Margaret is the recipient of the Distinguished Service Award from the National Association of Neonatal Nurses as well as Outstanding Nursing Practice from the Medical University of South Carolina.

Awards

National Association of Neonatal Nurses Distinguished Service Award 1998 and 2004

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Chapters: Ethical Dilemmas and Team Work and Communication: Golden Hours: Care of the Very Low Birth Weight Infant, 2nd ed edited by Bissinger, R. and Annibale, D. Chicago, IL, The National Certification Corporation, April 2018

Staebler S, Meir S, Bagwell G, Conway-Orgel M (2016). The Future of Neonatal Advance Practice Registered Nursing Practice: White Paper. Advances in Neonatal Care; 16(1): 8-14.
Conway-Orgel M (2016) NICU Nurse Involvement in Ethical Decisions – Position Statement #3015. National Association of Neonatal Nurses

Conway-Orgel, M and Edlund, B. (2015) “Challenges in Change: the Perils and Pitfalls of Implementing a Palliative Care Program in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit”. Journal of Hospice and Palliative Nursing. May/June Vol 17 Issue 3 pp 206-12.

Crowell, B, Bissinger, R, Conway-Orgel, M (2011) “Congenital Hypoventilation: A case report” Advances in Neonatal Care

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Teaching has provided me with the opportunity to "pay it forward" by first introducing neonatal nursing to undergraduate students and then teaching and mentoring nurses as they move along their career path to become advanced practice nurses. I enjoy the diversity that online education has to allow for a richer educational experience as well as supporting an individual's lifelong learning regardless of where they are on their journey.