Dr. Barbara Wilson was the immediate past Interim Dean (2018-2020) and Associate Dean for Academic Programs at the College of Nursing from 2012-2020. Prior to joining the University of Utah, Dr. Wilson was a nursing professor at Arizona State University, including her role as Assistant Director of the Center for Improving Health Outcomes in Children, Teens, and Families; and Adjunct Assistant Professor at the Center for Health Information and Research (CHiR) through Biomedical Informatics. She also served consurrently as a research consultant for Dignith Health in the Phoenix Metropolitan area. Prior to entering academia, she held a number of clinical positions including staff nurse, charge nurse, head nurse, director, and ultimately service line administrator for women's and newborn services at Intermountain Healthcare,Urban Central Region.
Dr Wilson enjoys working with practicing clinicians to translate evidence into practice and conducting patient-centered outcomes research. Her most recent funded research from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality examined the impact of labor and delivery nurse staffing patterns on adverse maternal and newborn outcomes. Dr. Wilson also has an interest in healthcare workforce research, notably nursing shortages and gender wage disparities, as well as human factors engineering and patient safety.
Research Statement
Barbara L. Wilson's background includes many years in the acute-care setting where she assumed various clinical and administrative roles, primarily in women’s and newborn services. Her research interests are focused on healthcare services, evaluating the influence of providers, hospitals and the care delivery system on patient outcomes; and on the use of human factors engineering (HFE) in reducing clinical errors and promoting patient safety. As a nurse research consultant, Wilson also assists in translating evidence into practice by implementing evidence-based practice (EBP) and nursing research ‘at the bedside’ for and with practicing clinicians. These joint efforts with hospital community partners have resulted in widely disseminated results through peer review publications and presentations locally, regionally and nationally.