Katherine Kolcaba developed the Comfort theory in the 1990s. In her theory, Kolcaba explains that there are three types of well being: relief, ease and transcendence. Relief refers to physical comfort, alleviating symptoms such as pain, nausea, fatigue, etc. If the patient has reached a level of comfort from a physical standpoint, then they will feel at ease which is the mood a person has when dealing with adverse situations of high stress and anxiety. Lastly, transcendence is the state of mind in which the patient feels as if they can deal with the challenges life may bring. To develop her theory, Kolcaba created an analysis of the concept of comfort, revising literature from several professions including nursing, medicine, pathology and ergonomics. …show more content…
For example, a patient with advanced stages of cancer, complaining about pain, nausea and mental and physical fatigue to the point of expressing the desire to die, the advanced nurse will attempt to calm the mental agony the patient feels. The NP should be knowledgeable of the resources existent to help the patient such as pastoral services, social workers, counselors, and evaluation for hospice. Factors like socio-cultural that are affecting the patient, such as lack of family support, a dysfunctional family or high levels of stress in the family, should also be …show more content…
Standard interventions are those applied by norm, such as analgesics, antiemetic’s and everything necessary to keep the patient hemodynamically stable. Coaching interventions are focused on minimizing fear, anxiety and the stress of the patient and their family. Finally, the interventions to help the soul are other actions the nurse can do to facilitate the well being of the patient and their family, such as a massage, relaxation techniques, meditation, and applying modalities of integral nursing or holistic like energy healing (Medscape multispecialty, 2005). On several occasions, the advanced nurse will encounter patients whose only goal is to have a peaceful death, without suffering, although sometimes it is difficult to accept, as professionals we must adopt ethical aptitude as well as in areas of desires, rights and reality of the patient’s
Happiness is a euphoric state, it is the light at the end of the tunnel, it is what individuals seek to achieve. Human beings inherently want to be happy. Happiness is unique because it has seven billion different definitions. In his book Immune to Reality, Daniel Gilbert argues that individuals are only as happy as the subconscious function of their brain allows them to be. Additionally, he questions the state of happiness by citing the psychological immune system. The psychological immune system is a subconscious process of the human brain, which favorably rationalizes human decisions whether they were right or not, regardless of outcome it always finds something favorable to take away. In Barbara Fredrickson’s Love 2.0, she introduces the vagus nerve as a biological apparatus to increase loving potential; Fredrickson links higher levels of loving potential to increased overall health. Most importantly, Fredrickson establishes the relationship between love and happiness as an interdependent one, “Having at least one close relationship like this is vital to your health and happiness” (108). Fredrickson believes that humans have the power within them to biologically alter themselves and to shape their own identity. Inversely, Malcolm Gladwell proclaims that human identity is shaped by the environment an individual is subject to in his book The Power of Context. Gladwell affirms that humans have the power to shape their identity, however only by changing the
Facing the suffering of a serious and painful or unbearable medical condition, for which there is no hope of healing, is sometimes an intolerable situation. It can lead some patients to the deep desire of dying, hoping to end this suffering.
This author’s personal perceptions concerning patients facing a lingering terminal illness, have been shaped by over 20 years of critical care nursing experience. Facing death and illness on a daily basis requires self-examination and a high degree of comfort with one’s own mortality, limits and values. Constant exposure to the fragility of life forces respect for the whole person and the people who love them. A general approach to patients who are actively dying is to allow them to define what they want and need during this time. The nurse’s role
Death is inevitable. It is one of the only certainties in life. Regardless, people are often uncomfortable discussing death. Nyatanga (2016) posits that the idea of no longer existing increases anxiety and emotional distress in relation to one’s mortality. Because of the difficulty in level of care for end-of-life patients, the patient and the family often need professional assistance for physical and emotional care. Many family caregivers are not professionally trained in medicine, and this is where hospice comes into play. Hospice aims to meet the holistic needs of both the patient and the patient’s family through treatment plans, education, and advocacy. There is a duality of care to the treatment provided by hospice staff in that they do not attempt to separate the patient’s care from the family’s care. Leming and Dickinson (2011) support that hospice, unlike other clinical fields, focuses on the patient and the family together instead of seeing the patient independent of the family. Many times in hospitals, the medical team focuses solely on the goal of returning the patient back to health in order for them to return to their normal lives. They do not take into account the psychological and spiritual components of the patient’s journey and the journey that the family must take as well. For treatment of the patient, Leming and Dickinson agree that hospice does not attempt to cure patients, and instead concentrates solely
Hospice care is a model of care that focuses on relieving symptoms and supporting patients with a life expectancy of six months or less (Altshuler, 2013). For most nurses, caring for a dying elder (individual aged 65 years and above) is a discrete, time-limited experience that begins with first contact, often in a hospital, emergency room, or long term care facility, and ends with the death itself (Phillips & Reed, 2008).
It is a mid-range theory because of the limited number of concepts and propositions, its low level of abstraction, and ease of application to actual practice (Petiprin, 2015). There are three steps required in order to practically use Kolcaba’s theory. In order to use the theory successfully, one must understand the technical definition of comfort and its origins, understand the relationships between the general concepts involved in the theory, and lastly, relate the general concepts to specific problems within the clinical situation to which it is being applied in order to enlighten practice and create research questions (Kolcaba,
Comfort is defined by Merriam-Webster’s dictionary (2014) as “a state or situation in which you are relaxed and do not have any physically unpleasant feelings caused by pain, heat, cold, etc.” or as “a state or feeling of being less worried, upset, frightened, etc., during a time of trouble or emotional pain.” Dictionary.com (2014) defines comfort as “a feeling of relief or consolationm” or “a person or thing that gives consolation,”or “ a state of ease and satisfaction of bodily wants, with freedom from pain and anxiety.” Dictionary.com (2014) lists the origin of the word comfort as coming from the 13th century Old French term confort, meaning “source of alleviation or relief.” One can see there are multiple meanings and interpretations of the word comfort. This paper will set forth to discuss the word comfort as a concept and its interpretation and use in many disciplines, including its significance in nursing.
According to Kolcaba, (1994) the purpose of CT is to describe how negative tensions (discomfort) can be reduced by increasing comfort (positive tensions) through nursing intervention that eventually leads to an outcome of enhanced health-seeking behavior (HSB). Kolcaba provides an in-depth description of her theory that allows the reader to understand concepts and relationships.
I actually spent awhile looking for an article I read a few years ago regarding a child who needed to get the polio vaccination and his parents were given the option of a shot or an oral form of the drug. They chose the oral dosage and after a few hours there once the precocious little boy had gone from a thriving child to a shell of a person who barely had the energy to walk or play with toys. this isn’t a story of why vaccinations shouldn’t be mandatory or how they are causing autism or genetic disorders but how a young boy simply received a treatment and developed poliomyelitis. (Virology blog). So, this child suffered from an illness that they didn’t even know could possibly affect their child. after receiving a vaccination simply because it that was mandatory (Virology
Caring Hospice is a company that will provide nursing care to patients that are terminally ill. The ultimate goal is to insure the patient is kept as comfortable as possible while maintaining dignity during the dying process. This company will send registered nurses to the patient’s home for routine physical assessments, medication teaching and administration, education about terminal diseases and the dying process. The nursing staff will also create and maintain appropriate plans of care for the multi-disciplinary team to provide holistic care to the patient.
However, often the nurse will find herself dealing with difficult family dynamics with family members having differing expectations of the type of care that the patient should be receiving, staff conflict over treatment methods or strategies and high workloads. These issues can only compound the stresses on the Palliative Care Nurse and to cope
This theory has been a guiding frame for a lot of studies and researches. Some of the areas are nurse midwifery, perioperative nursing, urinary bladder control, orthopedic nursing, etc. For clinical practice, the perianesthesia nurses incorporated comfort theory in managing their patients’ comfort. The comfort theory was also used as a teaching philosophy in a fast- track nursing education program for students. Kolcaba developed the General Comfort Questionnaire to measure holistic comfort in a sample of hospital and community participants. She also asserts that emphasizing and
An author who writes about nothingness but lives with the motto of nothing less. “One of the most influential writers of the 20th century.” Ernest Hemingway was an influential author. His life and experiences helped him become the great author he was. Livings in different parts of the world and even being in a war are just a couple factors of Hemingway's writings. Ernest Hemingway used his novels and short stories to represent the theme of nothingness.
The case study based on the palliative patient Mrs. Mavis looks at issues both the family and the patient are dealing with in regards to the end of life treatment Mrs. Mavis is receiving. Mrs. Mavis is a palliative patient, currently unconscious, who is dying and only wants comfort measures within her nursing care. This was made clear through her advanced care directive, which was made weeks before beginning to receive her end of life care. Mrs. Mavis’ comfort measures include pain relief, hygiene and keeping her comfortable. Mrs. Mavis’ family want her to have fluids and medications to help improve her health. They also want oxygen and pain relief to help with her breathing. Issues such as educating and supporting the family, pain management, the effectiveness of having an advanced care directive and pain assessment will be evaluated to determine the best effective interventions for Mrs. Mavis and her families care. Interventions that will be discussed through-out this essay include the use of analgesia medication, the use of subcutaneous injections and syringe drivers, emotional support for the family, effective communication, educating the family on Mrs. Mavis’ wishes and the importance of having an advanced care directive. These interventions will be evaluated to ensure they are the best practice for Mrs. Mavis’ care.
The public policy I have selected is criminal justice. The criminal Justice system is a compilation of federal, state or local agencies that concern issues dealing with crime. This public policy is provided by the judicial, executive and legislative branches of government. The task of the criminal justice system is to figure out the truth, defend the innocent and even to make the guilty parties punishment not as harsh as it is originally said to be (cliffnots). And most of to provide justice.