Self-Care Deficit Theory, Essay Example

Dorothea E. Orem developed the Self-Care Deficit Theory, which is also known as the Orem theory (Hood, 2014). This theory indicates that individuals need to be responsible for their own care in order to recover properly, but when this is not possible, the nurse is needed to take action to help fill these gaps. Ultimately, Orem points out that it is beneficial for nurses to gain an understanding of their patients in order to provide them with the best possible care. Doing so will allow the nurse to support the independence and growth of the patient in a manner that will allow them to support themselves throughout the healing process.

This theorem applies to care as an OR nurse because many patients rely heavily on the care provided to them by the hospital staff. While it is necessary for the medical team to provide these individuals with assistance, the recovery process is always quicker for individuals that are strong-minded. Patients that do not fit into this category often rely on the nursing staff for moral support during their recovery. It would therefore be valuable for nurses to provide this support by providing their patients with methods that they could use to support their own recovery. While some needs must be provided by the nurse, the medical staff could teach recovering individuals how to promote their own ability to be alone or engage in social behavior when needed, how to protect against hazards, and to determine the proper balance between activity and rest. In this manner, the nurse will continue to provide support to patients, but these individuals will feel like they have a greater extent of control over the recovery process which will help them recover more quickly.

To ensure that this is possible for all patients, nurses should take care to categorize each patient on the self-deficit scale as: total compensation, partial compensation, or educative/supportive. Individual programs should then be designed for patients based on an understanding of this categorization in addition to their specific care needs.

References

Hood HJ. (2014). Leddy & Pepper’s conceptual bases of professional nursing (8th ed).   Philadelphia, PA: LWW.