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.

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.

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.

Awards

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.