Models or theories focused on Nursing Goals

Sample Answer

Orem's Self-Care Deficit Nursing Theory 🩺

Orem's theory posits that nursing is required when an individual is unable to meet their own self-care requisites. It has three interrelated parts:

Theory of Self-Care: This concept describes the actions an individual must take to maintain their health and well-being. These are called self-care requisites and are categorized as universal (e.g., air, water), developmental (e.g., adjusting to new life stages), and health deviation (e.g., managing a chronic illness).

Theory of Self-Care Deficit: This is the core of the model. It explains that a nursing need arises when a person's self-care agency (their ability to perform self-care) is insufficient to meet their self-care requisites. The deficit is the gap between what the person can do and what they need to do.

Theory of Nursing Systems: This part outlines the different roles the nurse plays to address the self-care deficit. The nurse can provide care through three systems:

Wholly Compensatory: The nurse provides all the care for the patient (e.g., a patient in a coma).

Partially Compensatory: The nurse and the patient work together to provide care (e.g., a patient recovering from surgery who needs help with ambulation and dressing changes).

Supportive-Educative: The nurse provides support and education to help the patient develop their own self-care abilities (e.g., teaching a new diabetic patient how to manage their blood sugar).

Application in Practice

As a nurse, I would use Orem's theory to guide my assessment and care planning for a patient with a self-care deficit.

1. Assessment: My initial assessment would go beyond just the patient's immediate medical condition. I would identify their universal self-care requisites (e.g., is their nutrition and hydration adequate?), their developmental requisites (e.g., how is their illness affecting their role as a parent?), and their health deviation requisites (e.g., what knowledge do they have about their new medication?). Most importantly, I would assess their self-care agency—their knowledge, skills, and motivation to perform self-care.