Dorothea Elizabeth Orem (June 15, 1914 – June 22, 2007), born in Baltimore, Maryland, was a nursing theorist and creator of the self-care deficit nursing theory, also known as the Orem model of nursing.

Education

Orem received a nursing diploma from Providence Hospital School of Nursing in Washington, D.C. She also attended Catholic University of America, earning a Bachelor of Science in Nursing Education in 1939 and a Master of Science in Nursing Education in 1945.

Orem has been awarded honorary doctoral degrees from Georgetown University, Incarnate Word College and Illinois Wesleyan University.^[1]

Self-care deficit nursing theory

Orem's nursing theory states self-care as a human need, and nurses design interventions to provide or manage self-care actions for persons to recover or maintain health.^[2]

Nursing diagnosis

Orem was a member of the group of nurse theorists who presented Patterns of Unitary Man (Humans), the initial framework for nursing diagnosis, to the North American Nursing Diagnosis Association in 1982.^[3]

Awards

• 1980: Alumni Achievement Award for Nursing Theory, Catholic University of America^[1]

Death

At the age of 92, Orem died on June 22, 2007, in Savannah, Georgia, where she had spent the last 25 years of her life as a consultant and author.^[4]

References

External links

• Orem Society