When someone is sick - sick enough to require a prolonged hospitalization in an intensive care unit - both the patient and the patient's family need care and support. That is especially true when the patient is young and there is little or no hope of recovery. Staff nurse Karen Franz, BSN, RN of the Medical Intensive Care Unit (MICU) demonstrated the highest level in such a situation at Jefferson.

A young patient had been transferred to Jefferson from another hospital and admitted into the MICU for a prolong stay. After several cardiac arrests, it became clear that the patient was not going to recover and her family made the excruciating decision to remove her from life support.

The family also decided to make a gift of life and donate the patient's organs for transplantation. Throughout this difficult time, Karen provided exceptional care for the patient and excellent care and support for her family.

Here's how a colleague of Karen described her actions:

When the family decided to donate the patient's organs, Karen stayed by their bedside and provided lots of emotional and physical support. Since the transplant process is very long and unpredictable, Karen stayed past her duty hours until 1 a.m. and accompanied the family to the operating room.

Karen stayed at the bedside and cared for the family afterwards. In addition, she helped the medical and surgical teams with the transplant processes after the family left.

For providing outstanding care in a difficult and emotional situation, Karen recently earned a DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses. Congratulations Karen on winning a DAISY Award and thank you for demonstrating true Jefferson values in how you care for our patients every day!