Dorothea Orem’s Theory of Self-Care Deficit

In her early experiences, she worked in operating room nursing, private duty nursing, pediatric and adult medical and surgical units, evening supervisor in the emergency room, and biological science technician. Other than that, from 1940 to 1949, Orem has taken the position as director in both nursing school and the department of nursing at Providence Hospital in Detroit.

From 1949 to1957, Orem had worked for the Division of Hospital and Institutional Services of the Indiana State Board of Health to upgrade the quality of nursing in general hospitals throughout the state. While working, she had noted that nurses had difficulty articulating needs to hospital administrators in the face of demands made upon them regarding such issues as length of stay, scheduling admissions and discharges, etc. (McLaughlin-Renpenning and Taylor, 2002). Thus, she started to develop her definition of nursing practices. After reflecting upon her own nursing experiences, Orem says “an understanding that the reason why individuals could benefit from nursing was the existence of…self care limitations” (Orem, 1978, cited in Fawcett, 2005, p.230).Dorothea Orem’s Theory of Self-Care Deficit

Orem then moved to Washington D.C. in 1957 and become a consultant in the Office of Education. She was working to improve the nursing component of a vocational nursing curriculum. After that, she realized that the curriculum couldn’t be determined until there was an understanding of the subject matter of nursing in general.