Karen Zola is an absolutely amazing person and nurse. When you envision the "perfect nurse" and everything she would do, you are envisioning Karen. She will only provide the best care for her patients, even if it causes her to stay over her shift. She is more concerned with her patients receiving extraordinary care over anything else. Her patients trust her and she provides emotional support to them through their time of need. She keeps a positive attitude even through stressful situations and prays for more strength.

Karen collaborates with other members of the health care team in the best interest of her patients. She will ensure she speaks with a physician, social worker, case management, dietary, and testing areas to ensure only the best care for the patient and that all her patients' needs are met. She has been a nurse for many years and has great assessment skills and recognizes when patients are starting to deteriorate and will act swiftly to intervene and will not stop until patient is helped to the fullest extent.

Karen consistently demonstrates excellence through her clinical expertise and extraordinary compassion. To say she cares about her patients is not enough. She cares for her patients as if that is her loved one lying in the bed, no matter how the patient acts. She treats her patients with the utmost respect and professionalism and addresses them as "Mr." and "Mrs."

She demonstrates consistent use of nursing processes in patient care. She truly exemplifies the mission, vision and values of UPMC Mercy. If the size of someone's heart was based on how caring and compassionate a person is, then Karen's heart would be bigger than the rest of her body, and bigger than this hospital. She is a true pleasure to work with and deserves to be recognized for all of her hard work.