The purpose of this paper is to explain Katharine Kolcaba's middle-range theory of comfort and its application to the healthcare setting and beyond. The validity of the theory of comfort is emphasized in Kolcaba's theoretical framework, which is applicable to the nursing practice. Providing comfort is a necessity in the care of the patients in the hospital setting. Currently, comfort is being viewed as the last result for the terminally ill patients and not used as a standard hospital protocol to improve patient's health status. Dr. Katharine Kolcaba was one of the first researchers to develop a theory of comfort to improve patient satisfaction and outcomes as well as improve institutional integrity. Comfort is a vital part of the treatment and recovery of patients. Comfort has always been a defining characteristic in the nursing profession, but was never made into a nursing theory. It was this simple concept that turned into a theory that has become applicable and beneficial to patients. Katharine Kolcaba RN, MSN, PHD, devised the comfort theory. In a general sense comfort could be defined as the experience of receiving effective care that meets comfort needs (Eichelberger & Sitzman 2004). In her theory she describes comfort in three different forms: relief, ease and transcendence (Eichelberger & Sitzman 2004). Relief is the state of a patient who has had a specific need met (Eichelberger & Sitzman 2004). Ease is a state of overall calm and contentment (Eichelberger & Sitzman 2004). Transcendence is a state in which a person rises above problems and pain (Eichelberger & Sitzman 2004). These states of comfort are continuous, interdependent and can overlap (Eichelberger & Sitzman 2004). The experience of comfort occurs within different contexts. A desired result to appropriate comfort care would be optimal functioning in the following four contexts. Physical pertains to bodily sensations and homeostatic mechanisms (George 2011). Psych