During her professional career, Dorothea Orem has strengthened nursing practice through the theoretical approach towards the resolution of healthcare issues. The main goal set by the nurse specialist is to overcome limitations faced by patients and family members, who take care of them after the hospital discharge, during the healing process. The theory is the result of productive work conducted by the professor in the medical facilities, pursuing the main goal- to improve the quality of provided care. The concepts in the model are interrelated in such a way as to provide a different view of a particular situation. Despite its relative simplicity, nurses can easily apply the theory when treating different categories of patients, and it also improves and guides nurse practice through various principles and laws.
Patients should be able to take care of themselves independently and bear responsibility for it. People, in their nature, are distinct. Orem regards nursing as a form action and interaction between individuals. Self-care, if it is successful, becomes a critical element of primary care and prevention of diseases. People’s awareness of health issues will ensure adequate self-care behavior and positive outcome. Dependent care and self-care behaviors usually develop in a socio-cultural context.
Orem’s theory consists of the three parts: the theory of nursing system, the theory of self-care deficit, and the theory of self-care. The first part is the theory of self-care that focuses on the process of independent care, activities, and practice, in which individuals are engaged to maintain life and health. Humans should be able to take care of themselves to accelerate healing. Orem associates universal self-care with life processes, integrity, and functioning while developmental self-care- with developmental processes (Alligood, 2014). Everything depends on conditions and events that occur in people’s lives.
The second part is the theory of self-care deficit. It highlights the importance to engage nurses in caregiving process, when it is necessary. Orem emphasizes the need of nursing in cases, when adults cannot provide effective self-care or face some limitations. Therefore, the theorist recommends committing actions to help, guide, teach, and support people, create a favorable environment to foster personal development to satisfy basic needs.
The third part is the theory of nursing systems. Here, Orem describes how nurses and patients themselves will meet self-care needs. In order to reach the favorable outcome, the nursing system should comprise of supportive-educative system and wholly/partly compensatory systems (Smith & Parker, 2014). The members of healthcare community and industry develop specialized technologies to meet patients’ needs. The first category of technology is the interpersonal or social; the communication depends on health status and age. The second is the regulatory technology that maintains and promotes processes during the lifetime.
The theory directly relates to my current nursing practice as it includes the interaction with patients taking into account health conditions, environmental factors that may positively and negatively affect their well-being, and nursing. Nursing plays an integral part in this process. Person is a recipient of care. People’s integrated functioning includes social, interpersonal, psychological, and physical aspects. Individuals have a great potential for the development, self-knowledge, and learning. The way they meet their self-care needs is not instinctual; they form their behavior as a result of learning. People engage in deliberate/beneficial actions and interpret experiences. If a patient cannot learn how to take care of himself/herself, professionals should provide care. Factors affecting learning process include human emotional state, society, culture, and mental capacity.
Environment consists of environmental elements and factors. Conditions include psychosocial and physical surroundings. The developmental environment includes the personal development through behavior adjustment and motivation to reach the set goals. In conclusion, a person forms behavior, introduces changes in values, attitudes, and promotes creativity to make his/her life more productive and saturated (Scott & McSherry, 2008). Environment plays a crucial role in forming the ability to provide self-care in people.
Health is another important metaparadigm. Dorothea Orem supports the definition of health stated by the WHO. The organization regards it as the state of social, mental, and physical well-being. It is not only about the absence of infirmity and illnesses. The abovementioned aspects of health are inseparable in human health (Alligood, 2014). Health includes not only the maintenance and promotion of health, but also the treatment of diseases and prevention of complications.
Nursing is the last metaparadigm discussed by Orem. In the modern society, adults bear responsibility for own actions, health, and well-being of their dependents, and start heavily relying on themselves in own lives. Aged, sick, and helpless people should get relevant assistance to regain responsibility within own capacities. Therefore, the society recognizes self-help and the provision of aid to others as desirable and valuable activities. Nursing promotes both values, and, communities regard it as necessary service.
Orem’s theory is important, and, therefore, there are great expectations in the nursing practice and research. They include the establishment of interdisciplinary teams, the provision of training and support to those, who will deliver health services to needy people, and the promotion of close cooperation between decision-makers and researchers (Johnson & Webber, 2015). The competent authorities, who provide funding, play a crucial role in supporting and guiding Orem’s theory in practice. Researchers and healthcare organizations will also incorporate the application of theory, research, and the provision of services and use all the potential that these aspects provide.
To conclude, Orem’s nursing theory consists of nursing system, self-care, and self-care deficit. Self-care reflects health maintenance and promotion. The current study provides a compressive basis for effective and favorable nursing practice. Self-care deficit theory developed by Dorothea Orem highlights the importance of self-care, when family members and doctors/nurses cannot provide them with constant care. The main idea is to explain the need of nursing for every person regardless of his/her health conditions.