Nursing Theorist Dorothea Orem
Dorothea Orem, a Baltimore native, was one of America’s foremost nursing theorists with a wide variety of nursing experiences that influenced her development of the Self-Care Deficit Nursing Theory (SCDNT). Introduced as a general theory of nursing, the SCDNT is expressed in three theories which guide practice, education, and research. In addition, Orem’s conceptualizations are in continual development to improve clarity, simplicity, generality, and empirical precision.
History and Background
Dorothea Elizabeth Orem was the younger of two daughters that grew up in Baltimore, Maryland with her construction worker father, and homemaker mother. She began her nursing career at Providence Hospital School of Nursing
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They also state that self-care requisite of normalcy was explored with a mentally ill population. Additionally, the Vancouver Health Department has done major work in designing community population-based care using Orem’s conceptualizations. Furthermore, Tomey and Alligood cite Binghamton General Hospital as using Orem’s theory as part of the orientation process for their new graduate nurses. For new graduates, there is some conflict with school teachings and work values. SCDNT helps assist these nurses in combining their school teachings with the nursing work that occurs after …show more content…
Some of the elements of SCDNT emerged and were recorded in Guides for Developing Curriculum for the Education of Practical Nurses (Tomey 2011). There are a number of reports in the literature describing the use of SCDNT as the basis for the curriculum. At least 45 schools of nursing use SCDNT as the basis for their curriculums (Tomey 2011). For example, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga School of Nursing has used SCDNT to develop tools for: (a) Curriculum Template (b) Curriculum Map, (c) Nursing Health History, (d) Nursing Care Plan, (e) Clinical Performance Evaluation Tool, and (f) Professional Technological Skills Check List (Secrest
This entails that the professional nurse provide not only ordinary but extraordinary care and support to make it possible for these individuals to achieve their requirements for self-care. Furthermore, the professional nurse judiciously and collaboratively partakes in the individual’s health care provided by the medical doctor. Dorthea Orem understood that individuals possess the natural capability of self-care, and nurses have a duty to place emphasis on enhancing that capability. Nurses who deliver direct care can support these capabilities by offering learning opportunities and teaching methods that enhance self-care activities, therefore contributing a positive and encouraging influence on the individuals and caregivers quality of
This approach is based on four principles which are; to teach patients to assume their responsibility, to be well informed about their prevailing health issues, make them realize that their cooperation and willingness in treatment and prevention plan is in their own benefit and, let them take their own decisions. As narrated by Taylor (2006), Dorothea E. Orem's Self-care deficit theory of nursing emphasize that "People should be self-reliant and responsible for their
Nursing is a profession that requires a unique skill set. A few of the traits include compassion, understanding and empathy. Clayton State University has a goal to produce competent, compassionate, professional nurses with communication and technical skills. Clayton State’s School of Nursing has outlined nine program outcomes or concepts that are part of the Conceptual Curriculum Model. These concepts include caring, communication, critical thinking, human diversity, informatics, interdisciplinary collaboration, nursing therapeutics, professional development, and theory based practice. These program outcomes relate to three nurse and client transitions; health-illness transitions, developmental transitions and organizational transitions. In health care, it is necessary to be knowledgeable and advanced in many areas in order to provide efficient care; these concepts are the foundation for a healthy nurse and client relationship.
... M.A. (2006). Applications of Dorthea Orem's self care deficit nursing theory. In M.E. Parker (Ed.) (2006). Nursing theory and nursing practice (2nd ed., pp. 149-155). Philadelphia: EA. Davis Company.
Thorne, S. (2010). Theoretical Foundation of Nursing Practice. In P.A, Potter, A.G. Perry, J.C, Ross-Kerr, & M.J. Wood (Eds.). Canadian fundamentals of nursing (Revised 4th ed.). (pp.63-73). Toronto, ON: Elsevier.
The nursing theories that are currently in place in the emergency room to promote professional growth and development are vital; however, there are other nursing theories that could be implemented to help improve professional growth and development. A theory that should be implemented to more effectively promote professional growth and development is Orem’s theory of self-care deficit. Orem’s theory is considered a “realistic reflection on nursing practice” (McEwen & Wills, 2014, p. 146). If the nurse is not taking care of him or herself, “stress [can] accumulate [and the] nurse can … become angry, exhausted, depressed, and sleepless” (Ruff & Hoffman, 2016, p. 8). By the nurse having these feelings he or she is not able to take care of him
The best way to look at nursing theories is like the foundational block. Nursing theories are important set the tone of how a nurse will practice. A nurse will use intuition, practice, past expertise and events, and couple with learned theories to work every day in order to give the best patient care. it is all the more important to appreciate what first advanced nursing beyond mechanisms of practice to becoming a knowledge-based force in healthcare: That force is nursing theory and the theoretical thinking and research that generate theory. The complexity and depth of nursing are reflected in its structure of knowledge, which includes discipline-specific components such as philosophies, theories, and research and practice methodologies”( Reed, 2006). Patient care is a wide topic, but a key role in a patient’s care is the patient themselves, an educated patient is vital to their well being and higher level of care.
Her theory explains how an individual can achieve or maintain a healthy state using self-care, directly or through the help of a nurse. When an individual becomes unable to provide care for themselves, the nurse would be responsible for providing the assistance needed. However, if the person is fully capable of providing their own basic self-care, the nurse’s role would then be come supporter/education of that self-care. Stated on the Nursing Theory Webpage Self Care Deficit Theory, “Orem 's theory is comprised of three related parts: (1) theory of self-care, (2) theory of self-care deficit, and (3) theory of nursing system” (Self care deficit theory,
The concept of person refers to the recipient of nursing care, such that no person is the object of care and no aspect of wellbeing is left out (Arnold & Boggs, 2001; Thorne, Canam, Dahinten, Hall, Henderson, & Kirkham, 1998). This not only includes disease and illness states, but also psychological, social and spiritual dimensions. Therefore, factors such as gender, lifestyle, behaviors, beliefs, values, coping skills, habits, perceptions and lived experiences are considered (Arnold & Boggs, 2011). This holistic and multi-centered approach also extends to families, communities, and populations (Schim et al., 2007). The concept of person is central to nursing theory and research, and is fundamental to the, “Code of Ethics for Registered Nurses,” as outlined by the Canadian Nurses Association (2008). In practice, ‘person’ is used to guide client teaching and nursing interventions (Kozier, Berman, Snyder, Buck, Yiu, & Stamler, 2014).
The term socialization as described by Wilkinson and Treas, states that socialization is the informal education that occurs as you move into your new profession (Wilkinson & Treas, 2011). Socialization into nursing is more than just being knowledgeable of the information and skills required to perform an outlined role. It also includes learning and adapting to the behaviors, norms, values, and perceptions of individuals within the same group or role (Wilkinson & Treas, 2011). Socialization into nursing requires continuous research. Often, individuals enter the field of nursing with their own beliefs and life philosophies, however after much role modeling and reinforcement of applied behaviors and skills those beliefs and life philosophies either change or develop into theories. This paper will compare and contrast my personal beliefs and life philosophies to those of Virginia Henderson. I will give background information on Virginia Henderson and also explain the notable theory she has contributed to the world of nursing. I will then compare Henderson’s views to those of my own and clarify why I choose her as my theorist of interest.
I chose to do a concept analysis on ‘Self-Care.’ The nursing theory that uses this concept is Orem’s theory of nursing. This theory is a grand theory and consists of three minor interrelated theories; self-care, self-care deficit, and nursing systems. (Parker & Smith 2010). Orem defines self-care as when an individual initiates activities and performs to maintain life, health and well-being on their own and self-care deficit as not meeting adequate self-care requisites which include “limitations for knowing, deciding and producing care to self or dependent. (Parker & Smith, 2010)
The grand theory to be analyzed in this paper is Orem’s Self-Care Deficit Nursing Theory (SCDNT). The method used to analyze Dorothea Orem’s theory is Walker and Avant Theory Analysis (WAT). Theory analysis is a process of evaluating a nursing theory. The WAT is comprised of seven steps. The steps are defining the origins, meaning, logic, usefulness, details, structure and testability of the theory (McEwen & Wills, 2011). “Critical reflection of a theory determines how well the theory serves its purpose” (McEwen & Wills, 2011, p.95). Therefore, a critical reflection will be applied to the SCDNT. The purpose of this paper is to analyze and critique the SCDNT using the WAT method of theory analysis.
Her educational background includes a diploma as a Registered Nurse from People’s Hospital School of Nursing in Ohio (1947), Bachelor of Science in Nursing, Major in Mental Health/Public Health, Minor in Psychology, from University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA) (1957), and Master of Science in Mental Health from UCLA (1966). She became engaged in a graduate work for UCLA in the Mental Health/Public Health Consultation where she gained interest in community mental health as an emerging avenue for nursing practice. She was eventually appointed as the chair for UCLA’s Mental Health/Public Health Program and began teaching and developing a course to help graduate students focus on specific nursing problem areas. The outcomes of her labor led to the development of Neuman Systems Model (NSM) which focused on the client-environment interaction. Furthermore, Neuman’s mental health consultant role was not specified as nursing role, thus, influenced NSM’s applicability to various health professions and other
To make good nursing decisions, nurses require an internal roadmap with knowledge of nursing theories. Nursing theories, models, and frameworks play a significant role in nursing, and they are created to focus on meeting the client’s needs for nursing care. According to McEwen and Wills (2014), conceptual models and theories could create mechanisms, guide nurses to communicate better, and provide a “systematic means of collecting data to describe, explain, and predict” about nursing and its practice (p. 25). Most of the theories have some common concepts; others may differ from one theory to other. This paper will evaluate two nursing theorists’ main theories include Sister Callista Roy’s
One of the theories of nursing is Dorothea Orem’s self-care theory, also called the self-care deficit theory. Nursing theories are important for several reasons. The profession is strengthened when knowledge is built on sound theory (Black, 2014). Theory is important for reasoning, thinking, decision-making, and supporting excellence in practice (Black, 2014). Dorothea Orem’s theory is a conceptual model that provides a structure for critical thinking in the nursing process (Black, 2014). A conceptual model provides a comprehensive and holistic perspective of nursing (Black, 2014). Orem published her theory in 1959 and continued to develop her model, eventually formalizing three interrelated theories: theory of self-care, theory of self-care deficit, and theory of nursing system (Black, 2014). The focus of Orem’s model is the patient’s self-care capacity. The process helps to design a nursing process specific to each patient that will provide for the self-care deficit of the patient (Black, 2014). Self-care deficits exist when the patient has limitations and the self-care requirement is greater than he patient’s capacity (Manzini & Simonetti, 2009).