Patricia A. Stinchfield, RN, MS, CPNPPatricia (Patsy) A. Stinchfield, RN, MS, CPNP is Immediate Past-President of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID). Throughout her 45-year nursing career, she  focused on infectious disease prevention and is a frequent national speaker on vaccine hesitancy, vaccinology, and vaccination of healthcare professionals. A pediatric nurse practitioner specializing in vaccine-preventable diseases, she currently has an affiliate faculty position in the School of Nursing at the University of Minnesota. Prior to her retirement in July 2021, she served as senior director of infection prevention and control at Children’s Minnesota, where she remains on professional staff.

Stinchfield is a widely recognized infectious diseases specialist, having served as the first nurse voting member of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) and served for many years as a liaison member for the National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners (NAPNAP), as well as a liaison member of the Influenza and Schedule Work Groups, as well as the Maternal and Pediatric Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) Work Group and the Measles, Mumps, Rubella Work Group. She was the hospital incident commander for the COVID-19 response at Children’s Minnesota and led the responses during the H1N1 influenza and the 2017 measles outbreaks. Stinchfield was lead author of a 2020 NFID report on Vitamin A for the Management of Measles in the US. She was also instrumental in increasing the staff voluntary influenza vaccination rate at Children’s Minnesota to 94 percent and sustained that over several seasons.

Areas of Expertise:

  • Childhood and adolescent immunizations
  • COVID-19 vaccination
  • Effective communications
  • Flu prevention and treatment
  • Measles prevention and treatment
  • Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV)
  • Vaccine confidence and addressing vaccine hesitancy
  • Vaccination of healthcare professionals

Quotes:

“Disease protection through vaccination should be like clean air and water and safe roads — something everyone, everywhere, should be able to count on for healthy lives. When I read about outbreaks, my thoughts are with the state, local and tribal public health officials, and doctors and nurses on the front lines. A disease like measles puts everyone in full incident-command mode, dropping everything to trace infections, map the spread and save the sick.” Source: The Hill

“RSV is a well-known problem in young infants and toddlers—and, certainly, we know that adults can get RSV. But I think the details of the number of hospitalizations and deaths attributable to RSV are not well known, even amongst healthcare providers.” Source: Hospital Infection Control & Prevention

“It’s sort of like we went from the covered wagon to the jet, and so when people get nervous that this [mRNA COVID-19 vaccine development] has gone so fast, well, we didn’t have to grow a virus in eggs, we didn’t have to encourage people to be part of the trials. People wanted to be part of these trials.” Source: WUSA9

“The United States and our vaccine approval process is one of the most transparent models in the world. That’s a really important part that people need to know, that we’re all working on this together. It is transparent. You can ask questions.” Source: Consultant360

“Our communication about COVID-19 risk needs to be proactive, empathetic, transparent, and tailored to each audience.” Source: COVID-19 Communications: Promoting Prevention Measures and Vaccine Confidence (NFID Report)

Stinchfield on COVID-19 Vaccines:

Stinchfield on Infectious IDeas Podcast:

In this episode of the NFID podcast Infectious IDeas, NFID President Patricia (Patsy) A. Stinchfield, RN, MS, CPNP, shares her insights on storytelling and effectively responding to parent and patient concerns about vaccines to protect against COVID-19, measles, and other preventable diseases …

To arrange an interview, contact: Diana Olson, dolson@nfid.org, 301-656-0003 x140

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Updated January 2023