Self-Care Deficit Theory

Dorothea E Orem's Self-Care Deficit Nursing Theory

The discipline of nursing uses theory in a variety of health care settings to determine the quality of patients would receive to achieve a desired outcome. In this research paper, I will seek to present significant information about Orem's Self-Care Deficit Nursing Theory and its Application to nursing. The overall purpose of Orem's theory is not just to view the person as a whole, but to utilize nursing knowledge to restore and maintain the patient's optimal health. This research paper will present a basic background of the theorist and the key concepts that Orem used to establish the conceptual framework of Self-Care Deficit Theory.

Dorothea E. Orem, MSNed, DSc. RM was born in 1914 in Baltimore, Maryland. She began her nursing education at Providence Hospital School of Nursing in Washington, DC. After receiving her diploma in the early 1930s, she earned her nursing education in 1945 from the Catholic University of America. According to Hartweg (1991), the original ideas for the model developed while Orem served as a nurse consultant with the Indiana State Board of Health between 1949 and 1957. As she traveled around the state, she became more aware of the ability of nurses to do nursing, but their inability to talk about nursing. After observation and questioning, she summarized her initial ideas about nursing in and Indiana State Board Health report (p.4).