critique
Cosmic unity
Orem states \"Nurses and nursing students who are confronted with the tasks of reviewing, studying, mastering or taking positions about extant general models or theories of nursing should look for and identify the view(s) of human beings being expressed or implicit in them\" What does this mean?
According to Smith & Parker (2015), Dorothea Orem encourages the question of the general theory of nursing as not only the What and Why, but also the Who
And How. The theory provides specificities of nurse and patient roles.
Orem believed there was a fine line between the patient doing for themselves and the nurse doing for the patient. She believed if nurses were not able describe nursing then they clearly were not able to perform nursing. The theory was based on the fact that the nurse should be involved with patient care only when the patient was unable to provide continuous self-care due to conditions of personal health (Smith, et al., 2015). Her theory of Self-Care Deficit (TSCD) explains why people need nursing and what is required of the nurse to enable the patient to provide care to self.
Select one theory from the chapters from your text and identify the view(s) of human beings defined by the theorist as expressed or implied. Briefly describe the theory and theorist. Does this theory resonate with you? If not, why? and...
Does the theorist take a general or nurse-specific approach? or both?
Self-Care Deficit (Dependent-Care Deficit) expresses the value of the relationship between two additional concepts including self-care agency and therapeutic self-care demand. In other words, when a person is unable to care for self then they are unable to meet all self-care requirements. Orem explains deficits as complete or partial. A complete deficit is the inability to engage in self-care or dependent care.
In my experience working on a postpartum/neonatal unit, I am able to incorporate Orem’s theory into situations that arise consistently on my unit. A complete deficit depicts an infant that develops respiratory distress and must be transferred from its’ mothers room to the nursery for continuous monitoring. A partial self-care deficit reflects a cesarean section postoperative postpartum mother requiring nursing staff to provide care that normally would not be provided had patient had a traditional vaginal delivery. The dependent-care deficit is a model of relationship between the dependent-care demands and the abilities of the dependent-care agent to meet the self-care deficit of the socially dependent individual which is the self-care agent (Smith et al., 2015).
Compare and contrast your personal selected theoretical view to the view of humankind expressed by Orem. Which expressed view do you feel can best support the development of nursing science? and Why?
I am a supporter of Dorothea Orem’s theory based on the fact that I find it critical that individuals are self-reliant and strive to be as independent as possible…as health allows. I have experienced patients on both ends of the spectrum and found the patients who are dependent on the nurse when they were clearly able to care for themselves. This was an opportune time to teach the patient how to perform tasks independently. There are the occasional times when patients feel as though they should be “waited on” because they are paying to stay at the hospital and feel they are entitled to be served regardless of their ability. These times call for gentle reminders that independence is encouraged and part of the healing and therapeutic process for best patient outcome.
Reference
Smith M. C., & Parker, M. E. (Eds.). (2015). Nursing theories and nursing practice (4th ed.).
Philadelphia, PA: F. A. Davis Company
