In a hospital setting patient recovery integrates both medication procedures and other additional care practices. Through thoughtful processes, nursing theorists have been able to come up with various nursing theories that are key in ensuring both the patient and the nurse achieve their care desires and outcomes. This paper describes comfort theory developed by a nurse theorist Katherine Kolcaba. The paper provides Katherine's background as a nursing theory, including the various social and professional concerns that led to the development of the theory. Also, the discussion presents the major assumptions that might have been taken into consideration while developing the theory, some of the assumptions made by the theorist, and the application of the theory to a clinical situation.

Background of the Nurse Theorist and Various Issues that Influenced its Development

The comfort theory is a nursing philosophy that was developed by Katherine Kolcaba. Kolcaba is an American nurse, born in December 1944. Her theory has overtime been applied at institutional levels and is regarded as a midrange theory. All through her career, Katherine Kolcaba has been able to work in various sections in a hospital setting as a caregiver, which includes working as a long-term caregiver, medical nurse, and home caregiver. Although the concept of comfort in nursing existed even before Katherine, she revolutionized it by making it measurable by enhancing aspects that could be defined making her the pioneer of the theory (Snowden et al., 2014). Various social and professional concerns led to the development of the theory.

Katherine became more interested in turning around the concept that existed in nursing and caregiving and introduces a comforting concept that would facilitate measuring and evaluating the quality of care. One professional concern leading to the development of the theory was the unavailability of aspects that could evaluate the level of comfort existing in a caregiving setting for both the patient and the caregiver. She became more intrigued while working as a caregiver to patients with dementia. The realization that comfort was key to the quality of care given to patients led Kolcaba to integrate the environmental, physical, and sociocultural aspects that brought comfort.

Major Concepts and Relational Statements of the Nursing Theory

In most cases, the healthcare environment becomes a burden to both the care giver and the patient unless comforting measures are put in place. In the case of patients, they are often discomforted with the treatment procedures and medication they are subjected to for them to manage the disease they are battling.

From that perspective, Katherine Kolcaba identified the need for a measurable comfort philosophy and she believes that comfort is key to patients under care due to the side effects of the medication process. Thus, she developed comfort theory as a guide and a way to address the need for comfort during care. The major concepts of the nursing theory are that by providing a care setting that provides the patient with ease, relief, and transcendence, the patients, their families, and nurses can develop health-pursuing behaviors. The relational statement of the theory is that the main point of focus in caregiving is the patient. Thus, nurses are tasked with seeking approaches that provide a desirable physiological, mental and environmental state to the patient (Xiong et al., 2019). Therefore, by providing comforting parameters to a patient that is through availing ease, relief, and transcendence, the patient can cope with the stressful circumstances that arise due to the medical care process. The nurse, alongside the patient's family, is also afforded a sense of comfort regarding the patient's situation.

Assumptions made by the Nurse Theorist

The assumptions made by Katherine Kolcaba while developing the comfort theory are centered on the idea of a patient as any other human. The key assumption is that as human beings, patients respond to complex stimuli holistically. Therefore, as human beings, patients endeavor to attain a sense of comfort, and once they are availed with ease, relief and transcendence they gain a feeling of strength. In this case, ease creates an environment of contentment for the patient.

Providing a form of care that appeals to the patient whereby they can attain some sense of happiness and show gratification then they achieve comfort in form of ease.

The sense of feeling content with the care and overall treatment offered to the patient creates comfort. Another form of comfort needed by patients is through helping patients experience a sense of relief. That could be relief from the pain caused by medication procedures undergone or the side effects of the medication.

Relief could be in the form of medication intended to minimize the pain resulting from a medical procedure or a specific ailment. With transcendence, the assumption is built on the idea that patients provided with this sense of comfort can overcome the challenges the diseases are causing them. For instance, a patient suffering from a terminal illness understands that at some point they will have to give up their lives, however, through transcendence they are strengthened to overcome the anxieties and worry. The assumptions of comfort theory are consistently compatible with the personal philosophy of nursing, especially because comfort highly contributes to the quality of care given to a patient.

The Application of Comfort Theory to a Clinical Situation and How it Influences the way Care is Given

Comfort theory offers aspects through which a nurse can receive guidance in the provision of care and also evaluate their actions. The three main elements are ease, relief, and transcendence. The theory is applicable in a clinical situation where the patient under care is suffering from a terminal illness like cancer. In this case, the patient understands that they are will not recover and the realization that they will lose their lives can be discomforting. Also, the various medication procedures the patient underdoes put them in pain and discomfort. However, having a care setting that is guided by the comfort theory, the patient can receive comfort. Through ease, the caregiver can attend to the patient and provide contentment and satisfaction that helps the patient overcome any form of anxiety. Additionally, through relief, the patient can be relieved the pain and strain. Cancer patients are faced with many challenges including the side effects resulting from medication (Chou et al., 2016).

Therefore, through relief, the nurse can know how to attend to the patient and provide medication that reduces pain. Transcendence offers the patient the ability to stay strong and accept traumatizing facts like the disease is incurable and they will at one point lose their lives. The theory influences caregiving in a clinical setting by improving the quality of care for patients with terminal illnesses.