Orem

Orem, Dorothea E.

Etymology: 1914-2007

author of the Self-Care Nursing Model, a nursing theory introduced in 1959. The Orem theory describes the role of the nurse in helping a person experiencing inabilities in self-care. The goal of the Orem system is to meet the patient's self-care demands until the family and/or patient is capable of providing care. The process is divided into three categories: universal, which consists of self-care to meet physiologic and psychosocial needs; developmental, the self-care required when one goes through developmental stages; and health deviation, the self-care required when one has a deviation from a healthy status. Assessment is made of therapeutic self-care demand, the self-care agency, and self-care deficits in the areas of knowledge, skills, motivation, and orientation. There are three systems for meeting the patient's self-care deficits. They are wholly compensatory, in which the patient has no active role; partly compensatory, in which the patient and nurse have active roles; and educative development, in which patients can meet their need for self-care with some assistance from the nurse.