Essay On Dorothea Orem's Contribution To Nursing World

1264 Words3 Pages

What did Orem contribute to the nursing world? A novice’s perspective
Introduction
Dorothea E. Orem (1914-2007), a nursing theorist best-known for her influential work on self-care theory, has had a profound, ongoing impact on nursing practice, education and research (Hartweg 1991, p. 36-42; Alligood & Marriner-Tomey 2006, p. 256). Through her work, Orem defines nursing from several aspects, presenting a conceptualized nursing framework. Beyond that, her self-care deficits model is favoured by clinicians, and serves as guidelines for nursing practice as well as for in-depth research (Hinchliff & Schober 1995, p. 184). This paper focuses on discussing Orem’s contributions in the advancement of nursing theory and practice, and identifying some of its limitations in the context of contemporary nursing care.
Define “nursing”
Orem defines “nursing” through structured nursing knowledge. In the 1950s, Orem originated the idea of “self-care” from reflecting of her work experience on searching for the meaning of nursing, and over the next four decades, she continued to develop this ground …show more content…

The practical knowledge that nurses employ to help individuals who cannot perform self-care to sustain their daily activities stems from science. Self-care is engaged in results seeking behaviour to regulate human function such as knowing body fluid balance to meet self-care requirement (Denyes 2001). Moreover, Orem (1980, p.14) urges that nurses must keep exercising and growing scientific based knowledge for practice. Orem (1980, p.6) believes that nursing is a human service, an action that is needed to overcome human limitations. The philosophy underlying the nursing actions is humanism. Based on these values, her self-care framework have been established to explore the philosophy of nursing (art), what is nursing, why people need nursing and what goals nursing wants to achieve

Open Document