Nursing has become a science of its own over the last two hundred years and there are many wonderful nurses dedicated to the health and wellbeing of patients to thank for the advancements. One of these brilliant nurses is a theorist named, Katharine Kolcaba. Kolcaba began her career as a diploma nurse back in 1965. Over her career she continued her education and completed her doctorate in nursing. During her doctoral education, she focused her research on the concept of patient comfort. She is a recipient of many awards and honors for her research and theory development. She currently works as an emeritus professor at the University of Akron and continues to work with students and colleges to help with designing comfort studies (Comfortline,
…show more content…
Comfort has always been an aspect of patient care, but as an outcome not as a focus for care. The heath care team believes that as a result of nursing interventions, such as administering pain medication, the patient achieves comfort. Kolcaba embraced the idea of the importance of a patient achieving comfort as an overall state, not just as an outcome from nursing care. Kolcaba’s theory of comfort has three basic assumptions “(a) human beings have holistic responses to complex stimuli, (b) comfort is a desirable holistic outcome that is germaine to the discipline of nursing, and (c) human beings strive to meet, or to have met, their basic comfort needs” (Kolcaba, 1994). Along with these basic assumptions is a perspective that all of these states of being occur simultaneously and not separately to affect the patients overall response to nursing care and one must look at the response of a patient as a whole to determine their overall comfort (Kolcaba, …show more content…
The nurse must see comfort as not just a physical element such as pain, but a complete wellness of the patient. It is the nurse’s duty to assess and intervene when the patient’s comfort is not in balance. The theory helps to direct nursing practice of comfort into measurable outcomes for both the health care interdisciplinary team and the patient and provides an overall positive atmosphere for the patient to achieve ultimate wellness (Kolcaba,
Comfort has always been an aspect of patient care, but as an outcome not as a focus for care. The heath care team believes that as a result of nursing interventions, such as administering pain medication, the patient achieves comfort. Kolcaba embraced the idea of the importance of a patient achieving comfort as an overall state, not just as an outcome from nursing care. Kolcaba’s theory of comfort has three basic assumptions “(a) human beings have holistic responses to complex stimuli, (b) comfort is a desirable holistic outcome that is germaine to the discipline of nursing, and (c) human beings strive to meet, or to have met, their basic comfort needs” (Kolcaba, 1994). Along with these basic assumptions is a perspective that all of these states of being occur simultaneously and not separately to affect the patients overall response to nursing care and one must look at the response of a patient as a whole to determine their overall comfort (Kolcaba, …show more content…
The nurse must see comfort as not just a physical element such as pain, but a complete wellness of the patient. It is the nurse’s duty to assess and intervene when the patient’s comfort is not in balance. The theory helps to direct nursing practice of comfort into measurable outcomes for both the health care interdisciplinary team and the patient and provides an overall positive atmosphere for the patient to achieve ultimate wellness (Kolcaba,