The shortage of Nurses and retention of present Nurses is reaching critical levels throughout my institution. Some of the reasons for the shortages are due to the long hours worked by Nurses which cause fatigue and burnout and mandatory overtime that nurses are expected to work. My paper will address how nursing shortages, retention, and staffing affects patients comfort and safety.
Description of the Problem
A problem that I am currently encountering in my nursing practice is the conservation of Nurses. "Nursing is considered number four when it comes to employment growth” stated by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2013). …show more content…
Kolcaba achieved her Nursing Diploma from St. Luke 's Hospital School of Nursing in 1965, she later graduated in 1987 from the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing at Case Western Reserve University. Kolcaba obtained her Ph.D. in Nursing and received a Certificate of Authority as a Clinical Nursing Specialist in 1997. Her education concentrated in Gerontology, End of Life and Long Term Care Interventions, Comfort Studies, Instrument Development, Nursing Theory, and Nursing Research (currentnursing.com).
Kolcaba first presented her Theory of Comfort in 1994 that was influenced by her work as a graduate student studying the idea of comfort (McEwen &Wills, 2014 p. 244). Comfort theory is a middle range nursing theory in which comfort is defined as “the satisfaction of providing care either actively, passively or cooperatively of the core human needs. The Comfort Theory includes basic principles to ensure satisfaction such as Relief- having comfort needs met, ease- being calm and content, and transcendence- a feeling that one can rise above their problems or pain due to stressful hospital situations”. (McEwen, & Willis, …show more content…
Kolcaba 's theory was also used in developing many research tools such as questionnaires and checklist in the areas of hospice, radiation therapy, and frequency of comfort are just a few in which patients can rate their comfort (McEwen, & Willis, 2014.p.246). The comfort theory has also been incorporated into the nursing curriculum as part of the nursing educational to help educate individuals on the end of life issues such as death and dying and how to care and provide comfort for the patients and families during these difficult times (McEwen, & Willis,