Orem's Self Care Theory (Essay Sample)

Orem’s Self Care Theory
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Introduction
Nursing theories are concepts, models, propositions and definitions arrived after both deductive and inductive reasoning which are developed through assumptions. These theories are applied in assessing patients’ state using the methods provided by the theories to assist in determination of patients’ needs.
Orem’s theory is composed of 3 related parts namely; theory of self-care, self-care deficit, and theory of nursing system.Orem’s self-care theory of nursing generally prescribes that the main function of the nurse is to enhance recovery of patients by assisting them up to a point where they can assist themselves. According to this theory, a healthy person is in a position to take care of them, as such; a sick person should be taken care of. A nurse is therefore, the person to take care of patients so that they can recovery after which they will take care of themselves. Masters (2011) details that Orem’s self-care theory explains the way individuals or societies can attain a healthy state through self-care either by themselves or through the assistance of a nurse. This theory was developed by Dorothea Orem to offer perspective to the idea that patients should participate in their own health care. This not only facilitates their physical recovery but also their physiological and mental recovery which is affected after they become sick (Alligood, 2006).
This theory advocates the following important points and steps;
* Evaluation an determination of the reasons that makes the patient require nursing care
* Developing a nursing system and a plan for how the nursing care shall be administered
* Managing of the nursing care system which comprises of planning, starting and controlling the nursing care duties
Apart from the three steps, the theorist emphasized on the active participation of patients toward their own rehabilitation. Her model is concerned more on the ability of to perform self-care and explained it as "the practice of activities that people start and perform on their own behalf in maintaining life, health, and wellbeing" (Alligood, 2006).
The 2nd section of the theory described as self-care deficit, indicates when nursing is required. Orem advices that nursing is needed when an individual cannot or is limited in the consistent provision of effective personal care. Self-care deficit recognizes five ways of assisting which are;
* Supporting another
* Offering an environment
* Promoting personal development in order to attain future needs
* Teaching another
The third part, theory of nursing systems states how a person’s self-care demands will be met by the nurse, patient or combination of the two. Under this section, Orem identifies the following three classifications;
* Wholly compensatory system
* Partly compensator system
* Supportive educative system
Historical background of Orem’s nursing theory
Orem gained nursing experience early in her career as a staff in several hospitals. It was while working as a director at Detroit hospital that she realized that she had no concept of nursing when she was asked a simple question but could not answer it (McLaughlin-Renpenning & Taylor, 2002). Also, when she was operating at Indiana University where her aim was to upgrade the quality of nursing in general hospitals throughout the state, she realized that nurses had problems with hospital administrators when communicating needs due to other needs related to problems like length of stay, admission scheduling as well as discharges. It was due to this and other concerns that led Orem realized the need come up with a formal unique way to address nursing. In particular, Orem was trying to address specific questions like, "what is nursing? What is the domain and extent of nursing as a field of practice as well as knowledge? and what triggers the need for nursing?”
In 1957, while working as a consultant in the office of Education where her goal involved the improvement of the nursing component of vocational nursing curriculum, she further developed nursing ideas. She recognized that without the understanding of the general nursing subject, it was quite hectic to determine the curriculum. When she later becomes the assistant professor at the catholic University of America in 1959, Orem continued developing her concept of nursing and self-care. Finally in 1970, the Nursing Development Conference Group (NDCG) which was concerned with the development of structured nursing knowledge as a practice field, formalized and valeted Orem’s concepts. Today, this theory is used by health institutions in its nursing department operations.
According to Fawcett (2005), Metaparadigm is the "the global concepts that identify the phenomenon of central interest to a discipline, the global propositions that describe the concepts, and the global propositions that state the relations between or among the concepts" There are four major metaparadigm used in roots of Living Tree; person, environment, health and nursing. These metaparadigm shows a global view of common concepts in the field of nursing. They are globally accepted and show unique boundaries. "Metaparadigm summarize the intellectual and social missions of a discipline and place a boundary on the subject matter of that discipline" (Fawcett, 1996). These paradigms are expounded below as;
Person; this is the individual with whom the nurse interacts with in a therapeutic manner and their relation may comprise more than one individual. The nurse may deal with small groups like family as well as large groups like public health. The person is usually the recipient of the care and could also be referring to as client or patient.
Environment; refers to any place kin which therapeutic occurs. It does not only exclude itself to hospital setting but may include freestanding clinics, homes, schools, corporations as well as nursing homes.
Nursing; the profession of nursing applies assessment, care planning, nursing diagnosis as well as evaluation in caring the patient. Currently, a nurse has more responsibility to a patient other than the physical care in that they should develop a personal relationship between themselves. By incorporating entire aspect of the patient, the nurse establishes a plan of care and actively educates and interacts with the patient.
Health; refers to the optimal degree of an individual relation with his or her environment. In the past, health was considered as a condition in which one has no diseases but use to growth of nursing, the definition has changed. For instance, when an individual with disability has adapted and is functionally normally, that individual is said to be healthy.
Orem’s theory approach to the nursing metaparadigm applies to nursing education
Orem’s theory assists students to comprehend the concept of healthy living by taking care of one before concerning with others. Education institutions require physical as well as vaccine information update before students can commence clinical and teachers encourage students to have adequate rest, eat and drink healthy. The fact that Orem’s theory is derived from a clinical background offers a comprehensive...