Barbara Schultz, MSN, RN, NE-BC
Associate Nursing Officer
Perioperative Services
Vanderbilt University Hospital
Barb Shultz has been a Registered Nurse for over 39 years. She earned her BSN from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania and started her career at the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh (CHIP) in Neurosurgery, Trauma and Transplantation. During her 20 year career at CHIP, she served in many capacities to include acute care, ICU, ED, clinics, clinical research, and outreach. In 2005, she and her family moved to Tennessee and she started at Monroe Carell Children's Hospital and earned her master's degree at Vanderbilt University Nursing School. Barb noted how exciting it has been to help Monroe Carell Children's Hospital grow. She has seen Monroe Carell earn level 1 Pediatric trauma center verification from American College of Surgeons (ACS), develop a Pediatric transport program, and expand the Periop Services to include an offsite center. In 2024, she joined the Adult Enterprise to serve Vanderbilt University Hospital Perioperative Services. She has a passion for compassionate and quality care, staff and team development, and operational improvements. Empowering the staff to be part of the solutions is a goal for her. In her spare time, Barb enjoys spending time with her family, outdoor activities, and motorcycle riding. Her faith is very important to her foundation.
Barb notes that it is hard to pick one thing that makes Vanderbilt nurses the best or what she likes about being a nursing leader at VUMC. We have the honor of caring for people at their most vulnerable times. Our nurses are amazing and truly care. They are focused on patient/family service, nursing science for high quality care, and compassion. As a nursing leader, Barb finds that watching our teams learn and grow is an incredibly rewarding experience. But she says that staff engagement in improving care, education, and ideas to improve service is the biggest reward of them all. Barb could not be prouder of our teams .
