Karen exhibits every ingredient of what being an ICU nurse is about. She has oriented new nurses and has subsequently taught the majority of the unit at some point. She is able to teach the ability to critically assess and make decisions while instilling fundamental compassion and empathy to help orientees make patients and their families feel more at ease. Her presence exudes excellence, her abilities span across every critical care assessment area. Every staff member whether it is a nurse, nursing technician, intern, doctor or an EVS staff member has learned at least one skill or two from her in her over 15-year tenure. We could write novels of what her assessment skills and what her compassion has done for patients, patient families, and fellow staff members, but this DAISY nomination is for a specific action that has brought joy during a very uncertain time.
COVID-19 patients now fill our unit and the uncertainty that comes with an enemy that cannot be seen, brings palpable anxiety to the staff members of our unit. We are used to caring for critically sick patients in vulnerable states in the medical intensive care unit, but we are now seeing patients more critical than we have ever seen before. Karen Franz and her wife, who also used to be a former MICU RN herself, have taken on the role of bringing brightness and love back to our unit. Karen has been sewing scrub hats non-stop for the past two weeks for every nurse, doctor, nursing technician, respiratory therapist, and nurse manager on our unit. These scrub caps are not the typical caps, she brings in colorful fabrics and has each staff member pick their favorite pattern out, just to bring a smile to their face and make their day just even a little bit brighter. The designs range from paw prints, sports teams, colorful designs, and even staff member's favorite cartoon characters. These special scrub hats also hold a feature of sewn-on buttons on the sides, that allows for our mandatory face masks to rest on to help alleviate the pain behind our ears. She also takes the time to embroider each staff member's name on their unique cap. She does all of this on her days off and post twelve-hour shifts. She's sewn over a hundred, easily, and without accepting any monetary contributions or donation of materials.
Her overall goal is to bring the unit morale up and help take the anxiety off of our shoulders since the weight of bringing home COVID-19 to our families weighs heavy on our minds. These personal protective scrub caps, make us feel protected and loved all at the same time. This has boosted morale to a level I did not think possible during such a chaotic time. Karen's compassion by providing the unit with scrub caps has turned an otherwise cold and non-colorful hospital unit into a rainbow everywhere you look.
Note: This is Karen's 2nd DAISY Award!