HLT54115 Diploma of Nursing: Explain Orem’s self-care Theory

Orem’s self-care theory is characterized by the wholeness of the developed human structures and also the functioning of the body and the mind. It includes interpersonal, physical, social and psychological aspects of a human being with the major assumption being that people should take responsibility and be self-reliant by taking care of themselves and their families. The clinical setting of this theory is that it is incorporated fully into the practices resulting to positive changes on the health of an individual with chronic illness, helping the patients accept the reality and also take responsibility for their health and the related concerns and also allowing the patients to seek the treatment needed to contain the illness (Yamashita, 2014). The main importance of Orem’s self-care theory is that it takes good care of the patients at the right time with the appropriate decision for the patient’s quick recovery so that they decrease the hospital stay.

Self-care theory was based on the fact that all individuals are capable of taking care of themselves, according to Orem, self-care theory consists the actions that people deliberately and freely perform and initiate on their own in maintaining life, well-being, and health. The actions of the nurses were focused on assisting the patients in assuming their responsibility in self-care. Orem then identified a two-step process of nursing aimed at achieving the self-care goal. Step one was prioritizing and identifying the patients’ self-care needs that haven’t been met, known as deficits, and the second step consisted of the methods of helping the clients overcome their self-care deficits or even compensate them (Taylor, 2018). Also, Orem said that the individuals’ knowledge of any potential problems in his health is very necessary and very crucial in promoting self-care behaviors. However, the content and the structure of Orem’s self-care has been refined and developed over the past decades. Orem’s self-care theory evolved from the quest of greater understanding that she had, of nursing nature where she specifies on how the nurses could promote self-care by assessing its demands, deficits, and abilities so as to support the patients in their self-care.

There are various bases as to why I chose this theory. One of them is the fact that, not only does it provide for the patient with chronic illness, to take care of his or herself, it also allows nursing intervention in case there is an imbalance between self-care abilities and self-care needs. It also codifies the processes and the behaviors used by the patients with these illnesses (Wilkinson & Whitehead, 2015). This theory also embraces all the professionals in the health care system as they believe that the professionals understand the processes that are used by the chronic patients in performing self-care where this information can be used to identify the struggles that the patients are going through. This information is also used to come up with tailored interventions that will improve chronic illness patients’ outcomes.

 Another reason is that it provides key concepts that are important to this kind of patients (Timmins & Horan, 2017). One of the concepts is self-care maintenance which enables chronic illness’ patients maintain their physical and emotional stability through self- determination behaviors or recommendations that are agreed upon by the patients and the healthcare provider. The other concept is self-care monitoring which involves the patients monitoring themselves observing whether there are changes in their signs or symptoms. This will allow the patients to rush to the health care providers if they notice any undesirable sign that could get worse if left untreated. The last concept is self-care management which focuses on the response of the patients to the signs. This concept entails the evaluation of the treatment needed and the implementation of that treatment (Riegel et.al, 2012). These concepts give the nurses and the healthcare providers the opportunity to raise awareness about chronic illnesses and informing people about the various symptoms to watch for potentially saving the lives.

Orem’s self-care theory is simple due to many reasons. One of them is that it only takes one individual with a personal experience with any chronic disease that the nurses could use him to raise more awareness as individuals tend to listen to people who have personal experience with the illnesses and take a precaution which increases self-care quality. Also, nurses choose this theory as it has successful outcomes in most cases as it stabilizes the illness, wellbeing, quality of life and health of many patients (Hartweg, 2016). This is due to the increase in the perceived control over chronic illness followed by the decrease the anxiety that is associated with the illness. These patient-centered outcomes and the simplicity on how they are achieved proves to be very important to the theory of self-care as it leads to decrease in cost, hospitalization, and mortality capturing the attention of the nurses and also the health economists.

Self-care theory is focused on the patients’ needs as it gives them understanding and the knowledge needed to evaluate their conditions which enable them to make informed choices on the response to take when it’s needed. By monitoring themselves helps the patients achieve emotional and physical stability. For patients with chronic illness, recognizing any sign or symptom allows the process of decision making to begin trying to figure out the action that is needed (Simmons, 2011). When detected early and their seriousness is well understood by the health providers, action can be taken before it escalates which will save the patients’ lives and resources. Therefore this theory puts the patients’ needs before anything else as it enables them to get the best treatment there is to prevent the situation from escalating and to make sure that it doesn’t return.

This theory is understandable as individuals are well aware of how they should handle and take care of themselves when they are stable without moving into illness care where they know the responses and the type of decisions to make when they notice any undesirable symptom so as to contain it. Chronic diseases are noticeable in their early stages through some signs and symptoms that start to show (Katherine & Taylor, 2013). Through self-care monitoring, an individual is able to notice them where he seeks the relevant treatment needed which enables it to be contained. This indicates that Orem’s self-care theory fits very in the management and containment of chronic diseases through self-monitoring.

References

Hartweg, D. L. (2016). Health promotion self?care within Orem's general theory of nursing. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 15(1), 35-41.

Katherine Renpenning, M., & Taylor, S. G. (2013). Self-care theory in nursing: Selected papers of Dorothea Orem. Springer Publishing Company.

Riegel, B., Jaarsma, T., & Strömberg, A. (2012). A middle-range theory of self-care of chronic illness. Advances in Nursing Science, 35(3), 194-204.

Simmons, L. (2011). Dorthea Orem's self-care theory as related to nursing practice in hemodialysis. Nephrology Nursing Journal, 36(4).

Taylor, S. G., Geden, E., Isaramalai, S. A., & Wongvatunyu, S. (2018). Orem's self-care deficit nursing theory: its philosophic foundation and the state of the science. Nursing Science Quarterly, 13(2), 104-110.

Timmins, F., & Horan, P. (2017). A critical analysis of the potential contribution of Orem's self-care deficit nursing theory to contemporary coronary care nursing practice. European Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing, 6(1), 32-39.

Wilkinson, A., & Whitehead, L. (2015). Evolution of the concept of self-care and implications for nurses: a literature review. International Journal of nursing studies, 46(8), 1143-1147.

Yamashita, M. (2014). The exercise of self-care agency scale. Western Journal of Nursing Research, 20(3), 370-381.