Examples Of Delegation In Nursing

I agree with you Walter. Nursing is a teamwork. In an acute hospital setting, an RN is assigned a set of patient to deliver care that means RN has full responsibility about these patients. In this case, RN who is the primary care nurse can complete her task by herself or delegate some of the task to the nursing assistant according to their scope of practice. The abilities to delegate, and supervise other healthcare workers is not an easy job. Delegation is one of the most complex nursing skill. It takes clinical judgment and practice. RNs are required to assess and evaluate the needs of the patient and then utilize the appropriate caregivers in order to achieve desired patient outcomes. For an example a post-op elderly patient is receiving IV antibiotic and PRN IV pain medicine. In addition, she can take a PRN pain medicine by mouth for break through pain. The

RN can ask the CNA to take the patient’s vital signs and document, but cannot ask to assess the patient for her high blood pressure. Communication is another important point of delegation. If the CNA notice that patient’s blood pressure is high and fail to communicate to the RN, the result could be detrimental for the patient. Another example is that RN told the CNA to check a patient’s blood pressure but did not explain why or when she should check the blood pressure. The RN need to give 9 AM blood pressure medicine and waiting for the CNA to let her know the blood pressure. After 30 minutes, the RN asked the CNA if she took the patient’s blood pressure. The CNA said no, because the RN did not tell her that she need the blood pressure now, so she can give the 9 am medicine. The five rights of delegation that are the right task, the right circumstances, the right person, the right direction/communication and the right supervision should be used by registered nurse to achieve an optimum care