Dorothea Orem's Theory Of Self-Care Deficit Theory

Register to read the introduction… Dorothea Orem’s theory of self-care deficit model is something that all nurses do without even realizing it. In Dorothea Orem’s model, she states that when a patient renders an insult, there is a self-care deficit, which makes nursing interventions necessary (Cherry & Jacob, 2011, p. 98). When a patient comes into the ER with a newly diagnosed illness, they are often unsure of what to do, or how to proceed from there. Without even thinking about doing it, nurses automatically help patients overcome these new obstacles in life. For example, a patient that has had a recent hip replacement must learn how to care for their new hip. A nurse caring for this patient will help that patient understand their new limited mobility and how to return to their pre hospital lifestyle the best they can. Another great example of this model is a diabetic patient. In order to live a normal life with diabetes, a patient must be instructed how to take their diabetic medication, what kind of diet to eat, and the signs and symptoms of high or low blood sugar. Without the nurse’s help and specific interventions for the patient, the patient may not be able to return to their normal level of functioning. A nurses goal for a patient is to always return them to their previous level of functioning and if that isn’t able to happen, to get them to their optimum level of self-functioning (Cherry & Jacob, 2011, p. 98). Nursing interventions and helping patients recover from illness is what nursing is all about. Orem’s nursing theory model is the model that many nurses strive to achieve during their nursing …show more content…
Florence Nightingale established infection control and a way of maintaining patients records (Cherry & Jacob, 2011, p. 10). By far the most important aspect of nursing that Florence Nightingale contributed to is infection control. Infection control was unheard of before Florence Nightingale. Her help during the Crimean War helped establish aseptic techniques for nursing and stressed the importance of infection control in helping patients to heal, instead of dying from their illnesses. Even today infection control is a corner stone of nursing practices. The first thing nurses learn in nursing school is proper hand washing techniques and how to avoid spreading germs to patients. Florence Nightingale’s contributions to the nursing made nursing the profession it is