Karen Miller wasn’t initially interested in nursing as a career. She saw the tremendous difficulties her mother faced as a psychiatric nurse — images of her coming home with patient-inflicted black eyes stuck with her. 

But what ultimately left a deeper impression was her mother’s unwavering dedication to her patients. “She said, ‘I’m there to help them,’” Miller recalls. That sense of purpose stayed with her. Long before starting her nursing career, Miller was already following in her mother’s footsteps, guiding others toward healthier lives by teaching fitness classes.

Miller, who is originally from Romulus, N.Y., taught these classes for years, finding the intersection of health and education to be rewarding. Then, in the 90’s, she responded to her calling and went to nursing school. “It seemed to fit with what I was doing,” she says. “I just enjoy working with people to make sure that we’re providing everything they need to be healthy.”

Miller has spent her 30-year nursing career in a number of disciplines: bedside nursing, critical care, open-heart surgery, medical surgery, and most notably nursing education. “I found that to be one of my passions — helping people get acclimated to the environment, making sure they have the tools to do their job,” she says. 

Nursing education ultimately led Miller to her current position on the infection prevention team at Cambridge Health Alliance (CHA). As an infection preventionist, Miller’s job is to ensure that each of the hospitals in the CHA system remains a safe and clean environment for every person under each roof. 

“We have staff, and then you have patients, and then you have visitors. Everybody’s walking around and everybody’s touching everything,” she says. “So that’s why it’s so important to make sure you’re doing the things to help prevent infection.”

Miller works with staff at every CHA hospital to maintain the organization from the standpoint of infection control. “So we look at [everything],” she says, “from how people wash their hands, to how they clean equipment, to how rooms get cleaned, to how food is served, to construction taking place.”

Day to day, Miller does multidisciplinary rounds, responding to questions from staff members, watching procedures, and evaluating patients through her infection control lens. She meets weekly with her team of infectious disease doctors, whose patients have illnesses caused by bacteria, viruses, fungi, or parasites. 

“What I love most about my job here is my team.”

Karen Miller

Without infection preventionists, Miller says hospital staff would be missing their true north. “They would still take care of the patients,” she says, “but would they have the resources to say: ‘Does this patient need to be in isolation?’ ‘Where do I put this particular thing?’ ‘Do I throw this out here?’”

It’s playing that precise role — educating and informing her staff and controlling infection — that motivates Miller to return to work each day. “What I love most about my job here is my team,” she says. “The staff is receptive. They have good conversations. They ask great questions. I love the fact that they reach out to us to find answers to things.”

Karen’s nomination letter:

Karen is a dedicated, reliable, passionate advocate for patient safety. She is an infection preventionist who goes above and way beyond to ensure the safety of all patients — and staff too! Karen has been working with me since 2020 and I cannot believe how lucky I am to have her as a colleague and friend. She assumes responsibility for our publicly reported infections through NHSN and other necessary state, local, and federal notifications. Karen is committed to advancing her knowledge through continuing educational events. She is clean intermittent catheterization certified and has been on the Board of Directors for APIC New England since 2021. I am incredibly grateful Karen chose to work at Cambridge Health Alliance as she is invaluable in our successful infection prevention program.

Nominated by Virginia Caples