Dorothea Orems Self-Care Model - Essay Example

Dorothea Orem’s Self-Care Model Dorothy Orem was born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1914 and died in 2007("Description of the," 2012). Orem was one of the 20th century’s leading nursing theorists. Additionally, Orem worked as a nurse in an expansive amount of contexts, including pediatrics, emergency rooms, operating rooms, and adult medical and surgical units. She would later develop the self-care model of nursing. This essay examines various elements of this model. Dorothy’s Orem paradigm is the self-care model of nursing.

This is alternatively referred to as the self-care deficit theory. This theory held a number of major assumptions. The most overarching consideration was that the theory believed that people should be self-reliant and responsible for their own care. In this mode of understanding, she viewed people as distinct individuals. Orem believed that nursing was a form of action, specifically between two or more people. As Orem believed that self-care was a human need many of the theoretical tenants of this nursing theory considered ways that nurses could facilitate self-care.

This theory then considered that the role of nursing was to ensure that the patient or members of their family were able to meet the patient’s care needs. Orem’s theory placed great emphasis on the notion of wholeness. This wholeness encompassed health concerns including biological, social, and symbolic elements. Orem was then concerned with establishing the differing means by which nurses could aid the patient with self-care. In this way she was concerned with self-care, self-care agency, therapeutic self-care, and self-care requisites.

Self-care agency refers to the extent that the patient is capable of taking control of their care needs. Therapeutic self care is the, “totality of self care actions to be performed for some duration in order to meet self care requisites by using valid methods and related sets of operations and actions” ("Dorothea orem's self-care," 2012). Finally, self-care requisites are the steps the patient needs to take to assume greater self-care. In conclusion, these comprehensive elements formed Orem self-care theory of nursing.

This model would greatly influence nursing theory throughout her time, and continues to influence contemporary contexts. Ultimately, the theory is essential for its recognition of the humanity of the individual. ReferencesDescription of the model. (2012). Retrieved from https://sites.google.com/site/oremstheory/description-of-the-modelDorothea orem's self-care theory . (2012). Retrieved from http://currentnursing.com/nursing_theory/self_care_deficit_theory.htmlLynn, P. (2011). Fundamentals of Nursing.

Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer Health.