Overview
Dorothea Orem is an icon of the nursing profession. She devoted her life to service and came up with useful nursing criteria in all fields. Orem developed the self-care deficit theory between 1959 and 2001 before passing on in 2007. The doctrine holds that nurses should assist patients in taking care of themselves to improve their wellbeing and effectiveness. It depicts that each individual should perform self-health care, defined as activities that individuals initiate on their behalf that maintain health, prosperity, and life. It also entails three interrelated theories: self-care deficit theory, self-care method, and nursing theory. Major concepts found in opinion include nursing, humans, environment, health, self-care, and self-care agency.
Efficacy in nursing practice
Orem’s self-care theory has a pivotal role in nursing practice. The principals therein have found use in all fields of patient care. For instance, the method has a well-stated diagnosis guide that helps nurses identify deficient patients. These signs and symptoms that depict self-care deficit include poor hygiene, poor dressing, poor feeding, mobility troubles, depression, and problems using the toilet. The cause for the symptoms was also well defined by Orem. She went on to describe scenarios that needed the nurse’s attention. Intervention methods got clearly outlined, including; guiding patients, doing things for them, supporting them, teaching, and providing the right environment to allow personal development. With this information, nurses can diagnose and intervene in self-care deficit problems. The knowledge has been used successfully on different patients and syndromes.
The conceptual model
To fully understand the concept of the theory is necessary to examine the terms used.
Self-care agency – is the patient’s ability to practice self-care as affected by environment or health issues.
Self-care – is the activities undertaken by an individual to maintain good health, such as eating and showering.
Self-care demand- the activities that meet particular deficits identified in a patient.
Self-care deficit- determines when nursing is needed. Usually, when a person is limited or unable to provide continuous ample self-care.
The theory got centered on the idea that all patients would like to take care of themselves and recover more quickly by so doing. The processes in the concept begin with the assessment of the patient. There is a diagnosis of self-care deficit to determine why nursing is needed highlighting self-care agency. A nursing system gets designed with a plan for care delivery. Data gets collected in six areas that affect care demand. They include personal health status, physician perspective on the patient’s health, patient’s perspective on their health, health goals, requirements for self-care, and capacity to perform self-care. The plan may be partly or wholly compensatory or involve supportive-educative tactics. The nurses intervene in self-care matters to reach health goals and allow the patient to adapt. Etiological diagnosis practices guide the activities of the nurse toward the patient.