A Look Into Registered Nurse Delegation and its Importance
Registered nurses have responsibility for many patients in their care. In a nursing unit, the registered nurses take care of the patients. Countless times there are many patients who need extensive and delicate care at the same time, so how can one individual take care of everything? The answer is that they can't, and RNs need their teams to accomplish all the care, administrative, communication, and educational tasks, and they need the best team to do it.
As humans, delegating is one of the most complicated leadership qualities, because it involves not only telling others what they are going to do, but letting go of responsibility, even for a short time, and they have to trust that
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According to the ANA's (American Nursing Association) Principle for Delegation for registered nurses, nursing delegation is the assignment of the act of patient care activities and/or tasks to nursing personnel who are present to assist, without the registered nurse losing responsibility for the assignment, i.e., retaining full responsibility for the patient at all times. This is why the document also describes that tasks requiring nursing judgments should not be …show more content…
- When the RNs cannot supervise the delegated task.
- When there are no clear rules, steps, or sufficient protocols for this task, i.e., it is not clear what needs to be done and the RN must make the decisions as a nurse in this regard.
- When a patient's life is put at risk in any way, for example when the patient needs specific care that only an RN can provide.
- When there are not enough nursing professionals in the team to delegate.
It is important to take into account all these aspects and delegate only when there are no associated risks and cases, to be able to delegate without problems that put at risk the integrity of the healthcare facility, the patient, and the RNs in charge.
However, it is also important to know that when there are tasks to delegate and the staff is trained to do so, it is the responsibility of the RNs to delegate the tasks and supervise them promptly.
Who is Responsible for Nursing Care and Treatments?
Registered nurses should know that they are responsible for creating a plan of care specific to each patient's needs. Nursing care and treatment is a formal process that involves the following components:
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