Essay Sample on Dorothea Orem - Self Care Theory

Introduction

The appearance of Orem’s self-care nursing theory was in the year 1971(Wong et al., 2015). It happened after the completion of Dorothea Orem’s nursing and at that moment she was working as a curriculum consultant. Orem believed that individuals have a self-care ability and the nursing sector needs to emphasize influencing that ability. The theory explains the role of nursing in filling the gaps that the victims cannot take care of themselves (Younas, 2017). Orem had a belief that individuals can take care of themselves and it’s only after failing that the nurses can be applicable. Orem’s theory of key tenet is that nursing is not a proactive action but a reactive one instead.

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Self-Care is the practice of activities by a person for their benefit whose purpose is to seek maintenance of life, well-being, and health. The acquiring of the aptitude is through learning and also certain factors like age, culture, and life experiences. To accomplish them the therapeutic self-care needs are paramount. However, if the individual capacity is less than the requirement, there is an emergence of a self-care-deficit. The nursing operation that Orem proposes is a strategy that aims in determining the deficits in the self-care and the nurse’s role in the provision of the appropriate requirements that fulfill the self-care. This paper will entail the theorist view regarding nursing and individual care and the nursing diagnosis according to NANDA (North American Nursing Diagnosis Association).

Theorist View on Individual Care

The theorist view on individual care is that a person must take the initiative of involving in activities that help in the maintenance of good health and well-being. However, in case they fail that is when a nurse becomes of the essence. Orem further encourages people to participate in exercises and eat a balanced diet as it is one way of taking care of themselves. The theory also has three self-care requisites that they encourage people to use that will guide them in taking care of themselves. They are health deviation, developmental, and universal (Wong et al., 2015). The universal requisites entail taking sufficient food, air, and water and balancing between rest, activity, and interacting with people. The developmental one entails adjusting to new changes be it the body or job. The health one includes educating oneself on the results and effects of pathological conditions. Orem suggests that patients can recover faster when they take care of themselves. Orem’s view on nursing care is that they assist the patients when they start to experience the self-care-deficient. It is because ion some cases a person may just lack knowledge regarding the health challenge and offering knowledge helps a lot.

Demonstration of the Theory in a Nursing Practice

The theory is very essential and effective in nursing practice. The theory helped in the shaping of the approaches that the nurses have regarding patient care. First and foremost, it assists nursed in determining the patient care aspects that they need to put more emphasis on in a given circumstance (Taylor et al., 2011). Also, it emphasizes on the significance of the patients maintaining autonomy than the self-care operations. Moreover, it has helped the nurses intervene to assist the patients in maintaining autonomy. On the other hand, the self-care theory is proposed as a model in the nursing practice. The main aim of the conceptual model is guiding the practice and evaluating the useful nesses of the model in the practice section. The theory has two steps that help in achieving the self-care goal. The first one entails prioritizing and identifying the patient’s self-care deficits. The other one consists of the selection of strategies that will assist in compensating for the unmet needs. Through the self-care model, there was the development of a guide in the health assessment. Also, there was the implementation of the SCDT. The theory, therefore, explains the terminology of the SCDT and its applications as well. For instance, some people applied it to obstetrical patients.

Nursing Diagnosis

A nursing diagnosis is a section of the nursing operation where a person or society responds to the potential and actual health challenges. The main purpose of nursing diagnosis is that it creates a basis for selecting the nursing interventions to accomplish the outcomes that the caregiver responsible. According to NANDA, the nursing diagnosis entails three sections: the diagnostic label, response’s cause, and symptoms and signs that support the diagnosis (Queirós, 2014). The related component identification is from the assessment of the patient’s data and it’s in association with the response of the patient to a health challenge and can alter by applying a nursing intervention. The NANDA way of writing the nursing diagnosis is the risk of a certain disease that is seen by certain risk factors. The risk factors are immunosuppression and vaccination.

Complete Nursing Diagnosis

The inability of maintaining ideal nutrition due to the inadequacy in the intake and knowledge. It relates to the theory because in this case, it is evident that a patient was practicing self-care (Simmons, 2009). However, due to the self-care deficient that is a result of lack of enough food and knowledge and becomes challenging. In this case, a nurse has to intervene by stating the significance of eating a balanced diet and also make a list of the affordable foods that are rich in the nutrients that the patient is in need.

References

Queirós, P. J. P., Vidinha, T. S., & Almeida Filho, A. J. (2014). Self-care: Orems theoretical contribution to the nursing discipline and profession. Revista de Enfermagem [Internet], 4(3), 157-63. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Paulo_Queiros2/publication/269398253_Self-care_Orems_theoretical_contribution_to_the_Nursing_discipline_and_profession/links/54896c230cf268d28f09aa44/Self-care-Orem-s-theoretical-contribution-to-the-Nursing-discipline-and-profession.pdf

Simmons, L. (2009). Dorthea Orem's self care theory as related to nursing practice in hemodialysis. Nephrology Nursing Journal, 36(4). http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&profile=ehost&scope=site&authtype=crawler&jrnl=1526744X&AN=43811133&h=Pe40ITrKgQYdS38XFCsR4kYSaxxSe4n9mE5FYkER%2B0tHLcKOXuGjUazZ47kYDwFVyFAmBwqXW62yD5sThQa1hw%3D%3D&crl=c

Taylor, S. G., Katherine Renpenning, M., & Renpenning, K. M. (2011). Self-care science, nursing theory, and evidence-based practice. Springer Publishing Company. https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=UMu17-QqknQC&oi=fnd&pg=PR1&dq=Taylor,+S.+G.,+Katherine+Renpenning,+M.,+%26+Renpenning,+K.+M.+(2011).+Self-care+science,+nursing+theory+and+evidence-based+practice.+Springer+Publishing+Company.&ots=j7V-QHpZjF&sig=f2po8FQOT7oanv2LN-6VwBJOAEY

Wong, C. L., Ip, W. Y., Choi, K. C., & Lam, L. W. (2015). Examining selfcare behaviors and their associated factors among adolescent girls with dysmenorrhea: An application of Orem's selfcare deficit nursing theory. Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 47(3), 219-227. https://sigmapubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/jnu.12134

Younas, A. (2017). A foundational analysis of dorothea orem’s self-care theory and evaluation of its significance for nursing practice and research. Creative nursing, 23(1), 13-23. https://connect.springerpub.com/content/sgrcn/23/1/13