Application of the Orem’s Self-Care Theory in Contemporary Clinical Practice

Running header: APPLICATION OF THE OREM’S SELF-CARE THEORY
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Application of the Orem’s Self-Care Theory in Contemporary clinical practice
Student’s Name
University

APPLICATION OF THE OREM’S SELF-CARE THEORY 2
Application of the Orem’s Self-Care Theory in Contemporary clinical practice
Introduction
Nursing is a field that has undergone changes in history of the profession. The field can
be traced back to the earlier times when nuns were charged with the responsivity of caring for
the sick. The need to have professionals trained as nurses led to the evolution of the field to what
is called nursing whose role is central to survival of any healthcare system. Nursing in the
modern world appear in every department within a nursing facility since they carry out the role
of care giving. They are changed with the responsibility of administering care to patients and
ensuring that they achieve the best of care to pull through life situations (Martinsen, 2011).
Nurses like any other professional are guided by a code of practice that is theoretically defined
on how they approach patient related issues. Scholars like Dorothy Orem developed theories to
guide these practitioners on the approaches that they can use to handle patient situations while
administering care. The theories propose purposeful, systematic and rigorous ways through
application of scientific inquiry to arrive at solutions that meet the needs of the patient. Colley
(2003) suggests that the theories guide nurses on how to approach incidences in their practice by
using a standard practice for handling patient problems. This essay analyses the work of
Dorothea Orem in presenting the self-care deficit nursing theory.
Why I have chosen the theorist
The reason why I chose the theory is because of the works of Dorothy Orem in the field
of nursing. The theory developed through nursing research in nursing and the need to develop
answers to why people needed the field of nursing. The field of nursing in 1930s was an ill-
defined profession that lacked value within the healthcare sector. The need to improve nursing
and make people understand that it plays a role in the field of health and caring of people

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(McEwen & Wills, 2014). Her works in the field of nursing led to several honors that she
received from the American Society of nursing. Further, she went ahead to form the
International Orem Society for Nursing Science and Scholarship as a way of preserving and
facilitating the understanding and use of Orem’s Self-care deficit nursing theory.
Alligood & Tomey (2011) argue that the role that Dorothy played in the field of nursing
was not merely developing a theory but rather a process of reviving the practice and making the
field to be recognized as playing a role in the healthcare sector. She was dedicated to her work
and continued working even after retiring. She was devoted and had a passion in the field of
nursing where she wanted everybody to view nursing as a profession with values and ways of
doing work that are similar to the way other professions work. Nurses were seen as low profile
people whose role in the hospital was doing the other work.
According to Green (2013) the theory proposed by Dorothy is one of the grand theories
of nursing that has helped build the field. The theory is complex in scope since it focusses on
addressing the broad areas within the discipline. It was developed thoughtfully through appraisal
of existing ideas and incorporation of some other theories to form solid explanations of the field
healthcare. The theory was formed from complex concepts that are abstract and global thus
allowing its application in a nursing environment (Fawcett & DeSanto-Madeya, 2013).
Dorothy’s theory is a grand approach to nursing through appraisal of existing ideas to develop
diverse ways of viewing the nursing phenomena and proposing strategies that can be applied to
make the field better.
In nursing, a theory has to incorporate the four concepts of the environment, the
individual, the practitioner and the health system to be accepted as a nursing theory. The four
concepts give the relevance of the profession in the four areas by proposing strategies that can be

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applied to make the profession better (Chinn & Kramer, 2010). The four major areas form the
role that the nurse plays in addressing the issues that affect them. The patient has to be
approached as a whole, thus seeking to address all areas of life that affect him/her. Then there is
the patient’s’ health and wellbeing which determines the ability to heal. The environment
describes other factors that influence the health of the individual while nursing responsibilities
form the strategies that the nurse applies in addressing patient’s needs.
Discussion of theory
The self-care theory was conceived to teach nurses to assist patients by improving their
ability to perform acts of self-care. From the theory, self-care entails activities that the
practitioner performs to restore wellbeing and personal health changed by disease or infirmity
(Arora, 2015). Such activities are part of the daily life of individuals and being sick renders them
unable to perform such tasks since they are unable to work on their own. From Dorothy’s
perspective, self-care is a human need that nurses should assist patient’s to achieve through
providing health-related outcomes that allow them to recover and maintain heath.
Major concepts
Nursing- Dorothy argued that nursing is an art where the health practitioner offers
specialized assistance to people with certain disabilities to enable them meet their needs and at
the same time participating in medical care (George, 2011).
Humans- the theory views humans as men, women and children who form material
objects of nursing and those who prove direct care.
Environment- these are biological, chemical or physical components in an individual’s
life that affect the operation of the individual.