The profession of nursing is built on many nursing theories. One of the famous nursing theories is the ‘Orem model of nursing’ which was developed by Dorothea Orem between 1950 and 2001. This theory is also known as ‘Self Care Model of Nursing’ which encourages patients to be as independent as possible. I am hereby summarizing an article by Allison (2008) published in the Self-Care and Dependent-Care Nursing journal. The author of this article, a close friend and student of the famous nursing theorist Dorothea Orem, writes about the nature of this wonderful scholar who is one of the pioneers in the field of nursing knowledge.
The author knew Dorothea from 1961 as a professor in nursing when the revered nursing scholar used to teach seminars on administration of nursing at the Catholic University of America. In the year 1970, the nursing theorist, left her faculty position only to write her first book which conceptualized nursing. Later, a group of nurses were brought together to form the Nursing Development Conference Group (NDCG) whose objective was to develop nursing and formalize nursing knowledge. Dorothea was infact the moderator and the leader of this group.
The group discussed nursing cases and important information was analyzed and shared amongst the members of the group. Dorothea encouraged others to think and put in ideas about nursing knowledge and management. She was a guide to many nurses who would call her at home or on telephone to seek her advice on various nursing matters. She was the epitome of scholar and spent lots of time in reading and studying various works. Her last book came out in 2001, and she continued to write even after that. As a person Dorothea was very kind and gentle and never wasted time in social chit chat.
She was not for negative criticism, but whenever asked for an opinion, she would give an honest one. As Allison (2008) put it, “she was a great lady, a strong friend and an inspiration to many. ” Over her years of hard work, Dorothea has provided the world a framework for nursing management and also a clear and firm foundation on which nursing has developed as a practice discipline and also as a discipline of scientific knowledge. Reference Allison, S. E. (2008). Memorial to Dorothea Orem. Self-Care and Dependent-Care Nursing, 16(2), 3-4. Retrieved on July 11th 2009 from http://www. scdnt. com/download/Vol16_No02_Oct08_Part1%5B1%5DFINAL. pdf