The comforting role in critical care nursing practice: a phenomenological interpretation.

This paper provides an hermeneutic analysis of comforting as it applies in critical care nursing practice. Comforting emerged as an important phenomenon of an Heideggerian phenomenological study of the lifeworld of eight critical care nurses (Walters, 1992, unpublished Ph.D. dissertation). This study described three other themes; focusing, balancing and being busy. It also provides an ontologic description of critical care nursing practice. Comforting is described with reference to the following foci: providing support to the patient, relief from pain, relief from anxiety, communicating, using touch, facing death, comforting family and friends and supporting other nursing staff.