Dorthea Orem opined that people have an inherent ability to take care of themselves and therefore, nurses ought to focus on affecting that ability (Simmons, 2009). Based on that premise, Dorthea Orem came up with the self-care deficit theory that nurses can use to create nursing systems that incorporate intrinsically oriented self-care activities (Schmidt, n.d.). Some of the self-oriented actions entail action sequences of self-control like thoughts and feelings that in turn regulate the internal and externals orientations. Nurse systems entail the plan that can either be wholly or partly compensative, and supportive to the patients. The systems ought to be self-regulating, and this allows for change to accommodate the needs of the patients. Nurses can assess a patient to establish whether actions are externally or internally driven and help them adjust accordingly to meet their self-care demand. Since people gain self-care attitude and behaviors from the social-cultural environment, acquisition of knowledge by the initialization of the nurses is paramount in behavior change.
For instance, one can apply Orem’s theory to help a patient who does not check blood sugar or take insulin injection as scheduled. The nurse needs to inform the patient on the universal self-care requisites such as the prevention of hazards to human life, the functioning of the body and human well-being. In this case, the nurse needs to inform the patient about the risks of not injecting insulin on time and how that impairs the functioning of the body. Self-care deficits result from the inability to meet self-care requisites, and the nurse needs to intervene. The nurse informs the patient first to accept the condition, and how to monitor the level of consciousness towards taking insulin. For instance, the therapist can help the patient create routine checkup of the levels of sugar, and uptake of insulin backed by reminders. With time, the patient would develop self-consciousness towards the same.
References
Schmidt, N. A. (n.d.). Guided Imagery as Internally Oriented Self-care: A Nursing Case. Pdf file.
Simmons, L. (2009). Dorthea Orem’s Self-Care Theory as Related To Nursing Practice in Hemodialysis. Nephrology Nursing Journal July-August 2009 Vol. 36, No. 4. Pdf file.
