​​Welcome to In the Life of a Germ - a new educational website I created to make infection prevention, microbiology, NHSN surveillance, and healthcare safety easier to understand and a little more interesting to learn. It's built for healthcare professionals, but it's also for patients, families, students, and curious readers who want clearer answers about infection, how to prevent infections, and patient safety.

 

​Hi! I'm Nicole Amistani, an infection preventionist, clinical microbiologist, and germ nerd. My career has taken me from the microbiology bench to healthcare information systems and infection prevention, giving me a unique view of how infections are identified, prevented, investigated, and reported.​

 

For much of my infection prevention career, I was the primary IP, often working independently and learning on the job as new questions, requirements, and challenges came up. I quickly learned that the answers an infection preventionist needs are rarely found in one place.

 

That experience is a big part of why I created In the Life of a Germ.​ My Resources page includes a robust list of links to valuable references I've used throughout my career.  There's also a glossary, NHSN case studies, deep dives into infectious diseases, and more. 

 

And finally, I ask a lot of questions. And I hope you will, too!

 

If something doesn't make sense, if a recommendation seems contradictory, or if you simply want to understand why, ASK.

 

Questions are where the real learning begins!