Comfort: A Fundamental Need

Long ago, the field of nursing was merely perceived as giving of care to sick individuals. Just like other things, nursing has also evolved as time passed. Its evolution greatly influenced the nursing profession. Decades of study, the traditional type of care given to patients has evolved holistically. 

Pioneered by Florence Nightingale, though was posthumously accredited as a nursing theorist, her nursing contributions had influenced the field of nursing far into holistic and professional level. At that juncture, the provision of care was reinvented which after her, other nursing theories has also been formulated and adapted into the practice of nursing. 
 
According to Tomey and Alligood, nursing theory is a set of concepts, definitions, relationships, and assumptions or propositions derived from nursing models or from other disciplines. This projects a purposive, systematic view of phenomena by designing specific interrelationships among concepts for the purposes of describing, explaining, predicting, and prescribing.

Interestingly, Kolcaba's comfort theory presents the very essence of nursing. Provision of care and comfort are the initial interventions that a nurse does for a sick person. The comfort theory was highly acknowledged because of its universality across all disciplines, widely an extension of other theories and was holistically given emphasis. 

Her theory was derived from her experience in the practice of nursing. In her quest to introduce the concept to students, one young man with previous experience in nursing homes raised one question, "Is this a new concept? I have never seen it being practiced?" Unknowingly, it has been practiced even before the conceptualization of theories but with the advent of advanced technology in treating patients, providing comfort has been set aside and has never been a priority. This serves as an eye opener to all nurses. After all, comfort is one of the fundamental needs of all individuals.

Reference:

Kolcaba, K. (2003). Comfort theory and practice: A vision for holistic health care and research. New York, NY: Springer Publishing Company.

Nursing theory. (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved July 07, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nursing_theory

Current Nursing. (2010, March 25). Application of theory in nursing process. Retrieved July 07, 2010, from http://currentnursing.com/nursing_theory/application_nursing_theories.html

A Closer Look at Kolcaba's Conceptual Framework

“I hope that nurses will collectively move boldly into a future where knowing about, and doing something about human needs for comfort and relief from pain are clearly within nurses’ realm.” – P. Chinn (Kolcaba, 2003, p.19)

Providing comfort is definitely within the nurses’ realm today. Nurses are the ones in direct contact with their patients, providing relief from certain discomforts, continuously assessing, monitoring and providing care that will ensure the client is at ease. According to Kolcaba, “Comfort is the desirable state that nurses would want for their patients.” 

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Dr. K on Facebook!

Right, you read that right, Dr. Kolcaba is on Facebook! We tried to contact her regarding the theory and good thing she promptly responded.

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You may use this quick link to her Facebook's Comfort Theory in Health Care page.

Nurse's Role

Several nurse theorists have already defined nursing. All of their theories has been tried and tested and it has affected our utilization of nursing services or the standards of care we give to our patients:

“…what nursing has to do…is to put the patient in the best condition for nature to act upon him.” – Florence Nightingale

“The care circle explains the role of nurses, and focused on performing that noble task of nurturing the patients, meaning the component of this model is the “motherly” care provided by nurses, which may include limited to provision of comfort measures, provision of patient teaching activities and helping the patient meet their needs where help is needed.” – Lydia Hall

All of these can be summed up in one word…COMFORT. Comfort is a concept that has a strong association with nursing. The term itself represented a relaxed, healthy, peaceful, and individualized condition. Nurses traditionally provide comfort to patients and their families through interventions that can be called comfort measures. The intentional comforting actions of nurses strengthen patients and their families. When patients and families are strengthened by actions of health care personnel (nurses), they can better engage in health seeking behaviors. 

Reference: 

Kolcaba, K. (2010, May 17). The comfort line: Frequently asked questions. Retrieved from The Comfort Line website: http://www.thecomfortline.com/FAQ.html