What Are the Main Points in Nursing Comfort Theory?

Nursing's comfort theory, which was first developed by Katharine Kolcaba, describes a method and processes by which a nurse performs comforting actions for a patient with expected positive outcomes. While patient needs can be met through family or friends, it is believed that only nurses can respond to additional needs for comfort. The primary focus is on each patient's individual needs in order to provide the right type of comfort care.

General Contexts

• Comfort theory in nursing is characterized by four general contexts that encompass all aspects of patient comfort: physical, psychospiritual, environmental and social. Each context is critical for complete patient comfort, so nurses are taught to address each aspect in a way that best suits the needs of the individual patient. Examples include turning or repositioning the body for the physical component, accommodating religious practices for the psychospiritual, modifying light and noise for environmental and providing continuity of care for sociocultural.

Interventions

• Nurses are trained to intervene in a patient's comfort situation by looking at both the general contexts and potential external variables, or barriers, to comfort. Needs under the general context categories are first assessed and then met. Additionally, a nurse may respond to an external situation, such as patient poverty or aloneness, in order to comfort the patient and create a feeling of relief from outside stressors.

Outcomes

• The most important part of nursing's comfort theory is the outcome experienced by the patient and the nurse's assessment of success. If the patient's comfort level increases, the nurse may choose to stick with the same plan; if the comfort level does not change as expected, the nurse may try something new or reassess the patient's comfort needs. Another important factor in comfort care is that when the patient does feel that a level of comfort has been achieved, his sense of achievement and health-seeking are positively affected. This aids in strengthening and engaging the patient.

Populations

• Newborns receive comfort from a nurse's touch.

  Although any patient would benefit from the care processes developed from nursing's comfort theory, specific groups have been known to benefit highly, especially when the patient is experiencing severe pain. When alone or near death, Alzheimer's and hospice patients receive comfort that they may not receive from family or friends. Newborns might receive comfort from nurses after birth and before leaving the hospital with family.