Dorothea Orem and her Self-Care Model of Nursing Theory

Born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1914, Dorothea Orem went on to become a much-revered nursing leader in the United States, innovating, developing and teaching her self-care model up until her death in 2007. Her self-care model is in great use today and is the subject of this paper. Orem received her nursing diploma in 1939 (from Providence Hospital) and in 1945 she received her M.S. In nursing education from Catholic University of America (Sitzman, et al., 2010, p. 93). During her career, Orem worked as a staff nurse, a private duty nurse, a faculty member in a nursing college, a consultant and an administrator, Sitzman explains on page 93.

Orem's Self-Care Model

"Communication is the key to positive health results, particularly for patients with low literacy skills, yet few studies have examined patients' ability to converse about healthy information taught to...
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