Comfort and the HOSPITALIZED CHRONICALLY ILL

Abstract

1. Although comfort is a word nurses use in their daily practice to describe a nursing measure, an outcome, and a goal, there has been very little research to determine the meaning of comfort from the patient's perspective. 2. The institutionalized elderly in this study described their comfort according to five themes: disease process; self-esteem; positioning; approach and attitudes of staff; and hospital life. So, as well as the physical component of comfort, the elderly viewed their comfort equally in terms of their relationships with others, their environment, and their feelings. 3. In order to best meet the patient's needs for comfort, the nurse should clarify the meaning of comfort with the patient so that he/she may individualize care.