Nursing Delegation Paper

The Nurse Practice Act of Maryland defines “Delegation” as “The act of authorizing an unlicensed individual, a certified nursing assistant (CNA), licensed practical nurse (LPN) or a medication technician to perform acts of registered nursing or licensed practical nursing (Code of Maryland Regulations 10.27.11.02)”. As a registered nurse there are many instances that delegation to an unlicensed individual will be essential in order to provide optimal care to the patient and learning how to be successful in delegation is perhaps one of the hardest things to learn. To ensure that the delegation process is done as safely and smoothly as possible, there are five (5) rights of delegation that should be followed.

The American Nurse Association defines delegation as “the transfer of responsibility for the performance of an activity from one individual to another while retaining accountability for the outcome” (Cherry, 2011). Delegation is an essential tool used by the registered nurse to routinely distribute responsibility and allow them to effectively complete more tasks during their daily routine. With this shared responsibility comes accountability for the registered nurse to know how, when and to whom he or she must appropriately distribute these tasks. To safely delegate patient care, the registered nurse must follow his or her own state

The National Council of State Boards in Nursing defines delegation as “transferring to a competent individual the authority to perform a selected nursing task in a selected situation” (National Council of State Boards of Nursing, Resources section, 4). When delegating, the registered nurse (RN) assigns nursing tasks to unlicensed assistive personnel (UAP) while still remaining accountable for the patient and the task that was assigned. Delegating is a management strategy that is used to provide more efficient care to patients. Authorizing other individuals to take on nursing responsibilities allows the nurse to complete other tasks that need tended to. However, delegation is done at the nurses’

Nurses play many roles in the healthcare field, can have many duties to fulfill under their licensure. It is important for a nurse of any degree, or licenses to know all of the duties that can be performed under their scope of practice. Olin (2012) states, “Scopes of practice are the same for every nurse at a basic level and very different by specialty.” Therefore, it is important to understand the scope of practice, that the nurse is licensed for. A nurse has many roles under the scope of practice that the nurse is licensed under. There are times when a nurse is asked to perform a task that isn’t under the nurse’s scope of practice and guidelines, and it is very important not to fulfill the task at hand if it

This article discusses about the process of nursing delegation. For the process of nursing delegation, it must have strong communication, empowered staff, and organizational support. The guidelines identify 5 rights of delegation, which include right task, right circumstances, right person, right direction & communication, and right supervision & evaluation. When a delegator, such as a nurse, delegates, they will remain responsible for the tasks that were delegated. Delegation of an action/task is done based on the patient’s safety and their quality of care. Following the process enables a nurse to appropriately delegate to benefit the care of the patient.

One common mistakes exhibited by professionals in the field is delegation of duties by persons. Nurses should be wary of delegating duties to health care assistant because nurses should be aware of the abilities of the person with whom he or she is delegating duties. This is to minimize any chance of poor service delivery. Poor patient attendance by a person tasked with the duty at the time of delivery will extend the liability to the nurse delegating duties.

It is up to the nurse/delegator to determine the delegatee’s knowledge, skills, abilities, and any training that will ensure that the task will be handled appropriately and safely. If it is necessary the nurse/delegator must provide instruction and direction to the delegatee. The nurse/delegator or another qualified nurse must be available to supervise the delegate and delegated task. The level of supervision needed will be determined by the training, capability, and willingness of the delegate to perform the task. A delegate may not delegate to another person or expand the delegated task without the permission of the nurse/delegator. Once the delegated task is completed the nurse must evaluate the delegated task, patient’s health status, determination if the goals are being met and if the delegation of the task may be continued (UT Admin Code R156-31b. Nurse Practice Act Rule, 2013). In section R156-31b-704 the rules for the recognized scope of practice of an RN are outlined. It states that the RN, RN managers, and RN administrators should practice

143). Delegation allows for the efficient use of resources to their fullest potential and helps the nurse to provide safe, efficient patient care (Kaemested & Bragodottir, 2012, p. 10). When delegating nursing tasks to UAP, the nurse must ensure the delegation is done appropriately. This means ensuring the task being delegated is the right task for the UAP, the task is being delegated at the right time, for the right person, the nurse has given the right directions to the UAP, and provided the right supervision (Porter-O'Grady & Malloch, 2013, p. 432).

The secret to effective delegation is both as simple and as complex as the words the National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN) uses to define delegation: "Delegation is transferring to a competent individual the authority to perform selected tasks in a selected situation. The nurse retains the accountability for delegation." (Case, 2010).

Thesis Statement Even though delegation is one of the most difficult tasks that registered nurses face in the practice of nursing, registered nurses need to learn how to best delegate to be successful in their roles as leaders. Delegation increases the quality of care, staff productivity, job satisfaction, and can help developing the nurses' leadership skills by gradually maturing their decision-making processes (Curtis & Nicholl, 2004, p. 27) Topic The ability to delegate tasks to others is an essential skill for the registered nurse (Sacommano & Pinto-Zipp 2011, p. 523). Excellent delegation skills are crucial since they increase the quality of care and the ability to work with others effectively and efficiently.

I notice being a nurse is sometimes challenging, the profession calls for a continuous, precise judgment on which patient to see first to save a life. Other key areas that need mastering in the job include acknowledging when there is a need for delegation

Nursing is an extraordinary field to be a part of; it is a selfless act where you get to meet so many different types of people, whether they are coworkers or patients. This field requires a person to work diligently on their own, in a teamwork environment, and even as a leader. LVN's work under the Nurse Practice Act, which structures the role they take part in nursing; this allows them to take on the role of delegation. Delegation means to assign someone with a duty that they are capable and have the knowledge to perform. When delegating to others, one must know that they are still responsible for that task, and have to make sure that it is completed.

Delegate primary care, minor treatment, prescription of medication and minor surgeries to nurse practitioners and physician assistance.

The definition of delegation, according to the medical-dictionary.com, is delegation of Administrative authority responsibility transfer to a person of lower license from the person of higher license, while remaining responsible for the actions of the outcome. The RN must have trust and confidence in the team members they are delegating to be able to delegate effectively and with minimal stress for themselves (Harris, 2007).

A nursing assignment is one of the most essential decisions a charge nurse or nurse managers have to make on a daily basis. It allows nursing managers to assign patients to a nurse based on education and level of experience. Assignments are most often mistaken as a delegation. However, they are not the same. Nursing assignment is basically made with regard to patient medical need, and acuity level. Delegation, on the other hand, is when simple nursing tasks such as feeding, bathing, etc. are assigned to other nursing personnel to complete. According to Catalano, “Delegation is recognized as designating ancillary personnel for the responsibility of carrying out a specific group of nursing tasks in the care of certain clients. Whereas “assignment is designating tasks for ancillary personnel that falls under their own level of practice according to facility policies, position descriptions, and, if applicable, state practice act (Catalano 2014). Nursing assignments involve critical thinking skills because accuracy is important to optimize care. It is important for charge nurses to ensure proper and appropriate assignment because lapse can lead to poor quality of care, disappointing outcomes of care, jeopardized patient safety, and could even cause legal consequences. Thus, as a charge nurse, it is important to incorporate critical thinking, clinical reasoning and judgment when assigning patient care.