The focus of Orem's model of nursing is to enhance the patient's ability for self-care and extend this ability to care for their dependents. A person's self-care deficits are a result of their environment. Three systems exist within the professional nursing model: the compensatory system, in which the nurse provides total care; the partial compensatory system, in which the nurse and the patients share responsibilities for care; and the educative-development system, in which the patient has the primary responsibility for personal health, with the nurse acting as a consultant. The basic premise of Orem's model is that individuals can take responsibility for their health and the health of others, and in a general sense, individuals have the capacity to care for themselves and their dependents.
Orem's self-care deficit theory of nursing is composed of three related theories: 1. Theory of self-care, describing how people care for themselves. The practice of activities that individual initiates and performs on their own behalf in maintaining life, health and well being. 2. Theory of self-care deficit, which describes why people can be helped through nursing. Every mature person has the ability to meet self care needs, but when a person experiences the inability to do so due to limitations, they are facing self-care deficit. A person benefit from nursing intervention when health situation inhibits their ability to perform wellness. Nursing action focuses on identification of limitation deficit and implementing appropriate intervention to meet the needs of person. 3. Theory of nursing systems describing and explaining relationships that must be initiated and maintained for nursing to be produced. Self-care is what a person does to establish and maintain their health, personal development and well-being. Theory of nursing systems is the ability of the nurse to aid the person in meeting current and potential self-care demands. The three