The Comfort Theory and the Competency Standards for Nursing Practice in the Philippines
In 2005, the Board of Nursing created the Committee on Core Competency Standards Development in collaboration with the Commission on Higher Education Technical Committee on Nursing education with the primary goal to develop the competency standards for nursing practice in the country which will then serve as a unifying framework for nursing education, regulation and practice.
There are eleven key area of responsibility for nursing practice that were identified which includes Safe and quality nursing care, management of resources and environment, health education, legal responsibility, ethico-moral responsibility, personal and professional development, quality improvement, research, record management, communication, collaboration and teamwork. Under the safe and quality nursing care, we can apply Kolcaba’s theory as one of the core competency included here is the promotion of safety and comfort of the patients which includes measures in providing safety and comfort in all aspects of patient care.
Comfort in Nursing Education
The future of nursing lies with today’s and tomorrow’s nursing students. To become an effective nurse, a very effective foundation must be planted and these are the responsibilities done by the nursing schools today. The nursing curriculum is designed in a way to instill the right knowledge and skills to the students as to prepare them physically and mentally when they work in the hospital and different settings. Before the start of hospital exposure, a student must be trained for the routine hospital activities. These include vital signs monitoring, proper physical assessment technique, giving of medications, etc. Return demonstrations are done to evaluate the degree of learning of the student from a certain subject that the instructors taught. It has been emphasized the importance of providing privacy and proper positioning whenever a procedure is being done. Different therapeutic communication and several pain management technique has been taught, in other words, before we first lay our hands to our first patient, our instructors have incorporated us the science and art of giving comfort measures. Before we take our first vital signs from an actual patient, we have already known the rationale behind explaining the procedures to the patient. And since nursing is giving comfort, it can be applied in all settings. A nursing student is rotated on the different areas: ward, delivery room, minor and major OR, mental institution and a lot more. In every setting, we give comfort but in different ways.
It is also a part of the learning of a nursing student the different nursing theories and the concepts beyond it and I am sure that Katharine Kolcaba’s comfort theory has already been discussed by the colleges today. The theories are included in Nursing 100 or the fundamentals of nursing. However, the BSN degree does not focus on the theories and its application; rather, it focuses more on developing clinical skills or nursing procedures. The theories are only given highlight; hence, students just tend to memorize it during examination. On a higher level of learning, like the Master’s degree, theories are not a part of our subject anymore but we have one subject which is all about theories! Since theories serve as the baseline of our care; thus, our focus now is on its application throughout our career. We have to look beyond its definition and identify with its concept. We have to choose a theory which is best applicable for us in our current setting, may it be hospital, community or clinical.
Comfort has always been included in nursing education, and Kathatine Kolcaba’s theory seems simple yet an effective one when caring for a patient. We all know the definition of comfort; what we do not know is the science and the concept behind it and it is good that one fellow nurse has developed a theory to guide us in giving comfort measures. Katharine Kolcaba has presented the different types and taxonomy of comfort and has correlated it with our unique function which involves the holistic approach.
References:
Kozier, B., Erb, G., Berman, A., & Synder, S., (2004). Fundamentals of nursing: Concepts, process and practice. New Jersey:Pearson Education.
Kolcaba, K. (2003). Comfort theory and practice: A vision for holistic health care and research. New York, NY: Springer Publishing Company.
Board of Nursing. (n.d.) National competency standards for Filipino nurses. Retrieved July 06, 2010, from http://bonphilippines.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=261&Itemid=41
