THEORIST

BIOGRAPHY

Dorothea Elizabeth Orem was born in Baltimore, Maryland on June 15,1914 and passed away on June 22, 2007, in Savannah, Georgia. She was a prominent nursing theorist of the 20th century and the creator of the Self-Care Deficit Nursing Theory otherwise known as Orem Model of Nursing. She was a part of the team of nurses who developed the first framework for nursing diagnosis, the Patterns of Unitary Man (Humans), and presented it to the North American Nursing Diagnosis Association in 1982.

FAMILY BACKGROUND

Orem's parents are Benjamin Orem and Adelaide Orem. She is the youngest of the two daughters.

EARLY LIFE

The youngest of two daughters, Dorothea Elizabeth Orem was born on July 15, 1914, in Baltimore, Maryland. Her father, Benjamin Orem, worked as a bricklayer while her mother, Adelaide Orem, was a housewife. She thought about going into dietetics, but nursing prevailed. Dorothea enrolled in the Providence Hospital School of Nursing in Washington, D.C. after graduating from Seton High School in 1931, where two of her aunts worked. 

Later on, Dorothea remarked that her experience in the operating room had given her the ability to see nursing from all perspectives in terms of management and organization. After spending seven years working in Washington, her sister Monica also went into medicine. She enlisted in the Medical Mission Sisters and spent more than 20 years serving in India as Sister Adelaide, managing the finances of a hospital and instructing science in its nursing program.

EDUCATION AND CAREER

In 1934, Dorothea received her nursing diploma from the Providence Hospital of Nursing in Washington, D.C. After that, she graduated from Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing Education in 1939. Her early nursing career was spent at Providence Hospital in Washington, D.C., and St. John's Hospital in Lowell, Massachusetts, working in a variety of clinical specialties. During 1934 to 1939, Orem worked as a biological technician; an adult medical-surgical and pediatric staff nurse; an overnight supervisor in the emergency room, and worked in the operating room. In addition, she also performed private duty nursing in residences and hospitals. 

Dorothea taught biology and nursing at Detroit, Michigan's Providence Hospital School of Nursing from 1939 to 1941. Moreover, she focused her career in teaching, administration, and research after receiving a Master of Science in Nursing Education from the Catholic University of America in 1945. And from 1945 until 1949, she served as the Providence School of Nursing's director in Detroit, Michigan. In 1949 to 1957, to raise the standard of nursing in hospitals across the state, not only she worked for the Indiana State Board of Health in the Division of Hospital and Institutional Services but she also started to formulate her nursing theory and her concept of nursing practice. 

Furthermore, Orem returned to the Catholic University of America in 1959; she taught there as an assistant professor until 1964; an associate professor from 1964 to 1970, she was also the School of Nursing's interim dean in 1965 and 1966.

WORKS AND CONTRIBUTION

In 1959, Orem assisted in publishing the “Guidelines for Developing Curricula for the Education of Practical Nurses”. And Orem published Nursing Concepts of Practice in 1971, in which she describes the Self-care Deficit Theory of Nursing, her nursing theory. The popularity of this work and the theory it advances made Orem a preeminent thinker of nursing practice and education. In addition, she presided over the Nursing Development Conference Group, whose work was compiled into the book Concept Formalization in Nursing in 1973.

Furthermore, during the 1970s to 1980s, Dorothea lectured at various conferences and seminars all around the world and wrote numerous additional articles. To encourage investigation into and further advancement of Orem's nursing theories, the International Orem Society was established. In 1980, the second edition of Nursing: Concepts of Practice was released. Despite taking a retirement in 1984, Orem continued to work on the third edition of her book, which was released in 1985. After that the fourth edition of her book was finished in 1991. Then she carried on developing the conceptual framework for the Self-Care Deficit Nursing Theory. Finally, in January 2001, Orem kept working on developing theories. She finished the sixth edition of Nursing: Concepts of Practice, which was published by Mosby.

APPOINTMENTS

Important nursing posts were held by Dorothea Orem, including the directorship of the nursing department and nursing school at Providence Hospital in Detroit from 1940 to 1949. Also, she instructed biological sciences and nursing there from 1939 to 1941. Additionally, Orem held the positions of assistant professor from 1959 to 1964; an associate professor from 1964 to 1970, and she was also dean of the school of nursing from 1965 to 1966 at the Catholic University of America. Furthermore, in 1982, she was part of a team of nurses who introduced Patterns of Unitary Man (Humans), the first conceptual framework for nursing diagnosis, to the North American Nursing Diagnosis Association.

AWARDS AND HONORS

Dorothea Orem was given many awards during her career. In 1980, Dorothea was awarded the Catholic University of America Alumni Achievement Award for Nursing Theory. Then, in 1991 The National League for Nursing gave her the Linda Richards Award. Also, she received an Honorary Fellow from the American Academy of Nursing in 1992. Apart from this, Orem also earned honorary degrees from Georgetown University, Incarnate Word College, Illinois Wesleyan University, and the University of Missouri-Columbia in recognition of her services to nursing. Moreover, she was honored by the National League for Nursing and the Sigma Theta Tau Nursing Honor Society and was elected into the American Academy of Nursing.

DEATH

On June 22, 2007, Dorothea Orem passed away in Savannah, Georgia, aged 92. Where she had lived for the previous 25 years working as a consultant and author.