Nursing Theory and Nursing

¶ … Dorothea Orem Nursing Theory A theory is related concepts, and propositions used to guide a professional practice. Moreover, nursing theory serves as the interrelated concepts, predictive in nature, statement explanatory that assists in understanding the nursing phenomenon, which helps to explain and predict the nursing outcomes. Nursing theory is an organized body of knowledge used to explain the phenomena and supporting the nursing practice. Moreover, the nursing theory is defined as a set of definitions, concepts, assumptions, and relationships or propositions that are derived from the nursing model.

However, the nursing theories consist of grand and middle-ranged theory. The middle ranged theory is the testable theory, limited in scope, limited in a variable, and used for the clinical research. More importantly, nursing theory serves as the body of knowledge that assists in carrying out the nursing research. The objective of this study is to use the Dorothea Orem theory to develop the health policy advocacy.

This study believes that Dorothea Orem theory will help people achieving a higher level of well-being as well as encouraging healthcare professionals delivering quality health to assist patients improving their well-being. The study identifies the self-care theory as an essential nursing theory. Typically, Orem was the first theorist who pioneered the self-care in 1956. Before the formulation of the self -cared theory, nurses roles were basically on patients social dependence. However, starting from 1956, the nursing professionals started integrating the self-care in the nursing practice.

In the 1980s, the self-care theory had been articulated in the nursing practice. (Maria, 2014). Thus, Orem self-care requisites are influenced by health care system, development state, gender and age. The self-care requisites assert that a therapeutic can help an individual to satisfy a therapeutic demand within the healthcare environment. 2. Importance of Nursing Theory The major importance of nursing theory is related to the health promotion. The major role of nurses is to prevent the outbreak of disease and change the patients' attitude towards positive behaviors.

Moreover, nurses' role is to identify symptoms as well as undertaking patients care. In this wise, nursing theory serves as a platform that assists nurses in identifying symptoms and method to strengthen nursing professional practice. The nursing theory also helps nurses to make a professional sound clinical judgment that will enhance their professional practice. ( Roussel, 2013). The nursing theory also serves as common terminologies that help nurses communicating with one another with regards to the professional practice.

In the actual fact, nursing theories are categorized in the inductive and deductive reasoning that assist in enhancing patient care. In a contemporary health environment, nursing theory guides nurses in carrying out their professional practice and helps professional nurses to identify and understand the patients' symptoms as well as undertaking the patient's care. Nursing theory is essential to the nursing profession because it guides the professional conducts of nurses since the roles of nurse are to change patient's behaviors positively towards better health behaviors.

(Maria, 2014 ).Thus, nursing theories are effective tools that guide nurses' professional conducts, which assists nurses to implement ethical professionalism in dealing with patients. In this wise, nursing theory helps nurses to understand the method in identifying patients' symptoms and the strategy to undertake care based on their professional understanding. Since nursing is professionally built on theory, nursing theories help to strengthen nursing practice as well assisting in organizing, analyzing and interpreting patients data.

Moreover, professional nurses use the nursing theories to make a sound judgment with regards to the clinical decision that enhances the overall nursing practice. Thus, the nursing theory should be included in the master's program because it serves as a major way for the planning of the masters' program curriculum and clinical training that masters' students receive. For example, the nursing theory assists the colleges and universities providing the nursing program to design curricula to enhance the skills and concepts that nurses need for their professional practice.

In the masters' program, the nursing theories allow students to understand that self-care is central and critical to the nursing profession. Aliakbari, et al. (2015) argue that nursing theories influence emotional reactions of learners and assist in developing their problem-solving skills. Essentially, theories assist in predicting, controlling, and explaining the phenomena. In this sense, nursing learning theories prepare the ground for learning the concepts and applications. Thus, theories can help students doing master's program to organize, acquire, and deploy knowledge and skills.

Thus, the professional roles of the masters' students after graduation is to manage the healthcare organizations, implement employee training, and health promotion program. Thus, theories help nurses to design, and implement the health promotions because health communication is an essential tool that enhances patients' education towards positive healthy behaviors. Overview of the nursing theories shows that they help in communication terminologies and concepts as well measuring quality in the healthcare professions.

In this wise, nursing theories provide the platform that professional nurses employ in communicating with regards to patient symptoms and care. Nursing theories also serve as a solid foundation for the diagnosis of patients and patients interventions. Moreover, nursing theories are the frameworks that solidify the professional team members because the theories provide them the valuable inputs to offer quality treatment and patients' safety.

A way of separating the nursing profession from other healthcare professions using the nursing theory is to create an environment where the nursing profession will be implemented. While the goal of all healthcare professionals is to facilitate the safety of patients as well as enhancing quality health care delivery, and despite the common ground between the nursing profession and other health care professions, the theories can differentiate professionalism of nursing practice from other health care professions.

Roussel, (2013) argues that the theory will separate the nursing profession from other healthcare professions based on the nursing clinical skills, job descriptions, competencies, educational curriculum of the nursing education. The major concern regarding the use of the nursing theory within the nursing profession is that there have been different nursing theories available, and none of these theories is universal enough to satisfy all the nursing practices. 3. Summary of Dorothea Orem Theory Dorothea Orem formulated the theory of self-care, self-care agency and therapeutic self-care.

Orem theory of self-care was formulated in her book titled "Nursing: Concepts of Practice" (Maria, 2014 p 495). which was first published in 1971, and edited in 1980, and 1995. However, the latest edition was published in 2001. Orem theory of self-care reveals that individuals perform and initiate their well-being and health maintenance themselves. (Wong, et al. 2015). However, self-care agency is the ability of a human to engage in self-care conditioned by life experience, age developmental state and available resources.

Moreover, therapeutic self-care is the totality of self-care that is performed within some duration to enhance a set action and operations. Orem also illustrates the self-care deficit model that shows the common sense approach to the nursing self-care development. The theory provides the framework to the field of nursing practice and knowledge forming the framework for the nursing practice. Orem argues that nursing profession encompasses of health, environment and person. A patient is a person under a care of a nurse with developmental needs and capable of delivering a self-care.

The environment in which the care to be provided consists of physical, biological, and social context where human beings exist. The health should consist of the mental and bodily functioning of a human. Moreover, nursing is to provide the therapeutic care through supportive education. In this sense, the environment must be warm and conducive to enhance patients recovery. Moreover, the ventilation and warmth should be provided where the patients' care is being carried out to facilitate patients' healthcare delivery.

However, the theory reveals that it is the nursing professionals who have the ability to manage or alter the environment where natural health will be carried out. 4.Application of Orem theory to Professional Nursing Practice The Orem theory is effective in formulating a healthcare policy because the theory assists in providing a communicating platform to people through self-care education about the method people can employ in taking care of themselves.

The theory can also assist healthcare providers formulating policy to enhance the skills of the nursing professionals in delivering quality healthcare for patients who do not have the ability to carry out a self-care. The self-care agency is the ability to nurture person to regulate their human development and functioning. By formulating policy through health communication, nursing professionals will be able to assist patients in caring for themselves. Maria (2014) believes that Orem theory is effective in enhancing care for the elderly people suffering from Peritoneal Dialysis.

In the United States, there has been a call for the improvement in the care for patients as well as increasing people life expectancy. However, a greater number of elderly people are suffering from renal disease making in need of renal replacement therapy. "Dorothea Orem's Theory of Self-Care is an appropriate model to guide healthcare providers addressing the unique capabilities of this generation. The utilization and promotion of peritoneal dialysis as a therapy option offers.