Acute Care Nurse Practitioner's Application of Orem's Self-Care Theory

Acute care nurse practitioner (ACNP)
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Acute care nurse practitioner (ACNP)
In most cases, an acute nurse practitioner provides services to patients with short-term illnesses. The diseases are often derivatives of viral and bacterial infections. Coherently, there is the misinformed perception that acute nurse practitioners do not need to consider concepts related to self-care. However, acute nurse practitioners need to ensure that their patients remain in the best health condition after leaving hospitals or any other premise of self-care. Notably, an acute healthcare practitioner is a nurse and should embrace all the characteristics associated with valuable and effective nurses, including the provision of self-care. Accordingly, acute nurse practitioners should apply Orem’s theory. According to Dr. Whitman of The Sentinel Watch, “Orem’s theory was revolutionary for its time and raised the idea that nurses should provide holistic care and not just treat injuries” (The Sentinel Watch, 2020). The term “holistic” infers that nurses should ensure that patients continue with medication and embrace behaviors that promote his/her recovery after he/she is discharged from the hospital. Withal, Orem’s theory is instrumental in ensuring that acute nurse practitioners empower patients to engage in self-care.
The dimension of Orem’s concept related to empowerment is called the theory of self-care. The self-care theory concentrates on enabling patients to engage in their activities without the assistance of others, especially healthcare providers. The self-care goals are numerous, but the most common include enabling patients to engage in cleanliness, taking medication, eating, and working without assistance. In most cases, acute diseases do not render the patients needing assistance to conduct basic activities. However, there...