Vicki Brinsko
Healthcare Advocate
Vicki Brinsko, RN, BSN, BA, CIC
Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Nashville, TN
Recognizing the growing wave of mandatory hospital infection reporting laws being passed in the U. S. and the increased interest it drew from the Tennessee state legislature, Vicki Brinsko made the development of a methodologically sound reporting law based on HICPAC recommendations her top priority. She met with Tennessee politicians to educate them on the basics and nuances of hospital surveillance. Brinsko became an advocate for reporting legislation that would provide reliable data for the consumer. Brinsko was asked to serve as co-chair of the state’s advisory task force on infection reporting. In that capacity, she worked tirelessly with then Tennessee State Senator David Fowler to become one of the primary authors of the bill that became the state’s first mandatory reporting law, signed in June 2006.