Rights Of Delegation In Nursing

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Nursing Care and Delegation Nursing care is one of the most essential parts of the current health care system. Nursing requires day to day interaction with the patient and be able to provide the appropriate care. For one to be able to provide nursing care, it requires a huge set of skills. Delegation is one of the complex nursing skills, which requires not only sophisticated clinical judgment, but also accountability for patient care. Case scenario Ms. Swanson a 58 year old female patient admitted two days ago for a hysterectomy. Her postoperative course has been uncomplicated and the surgeon wants the patients to ambulate three times per day. The registered nurse (RN) has assessed the patient and has determined that an assistant could…show more content…
According to the National Council of State Boards of Nursing and American nurses association (n.d) there are five rights in delegation, the right task, right circumstance, right person, right direction and communication, as well as right supervision and evaluation (p.2). Based on the rights of delegation, the nurse can delegate the nursing assistant personnel (NAP) to ambulate the patient. The RN can also ask the NAP to help the patient with hygiene care and take frequent vital signs as needed. According to Kelly (2012), “NAP may perform simple nursing interventions related to patient hygiene, nutrition, elimination, or activities of daily living, but the RN remains responsible for the patient outcome (p.371).” The licensed practical nurse LPN can also help but it would be more appropriate for the nurse utilize LPN wisely, because LPN can do more than NAP. It is mentioned in this case that the patient had surgery, so the RN would be doing the initial postoperative teaching first and…show more content…
There are some barriers to successful delegation, for example, poor partnership, unhealthy attitude and lack of a sense of team. These barriers will not only hurt the RN in providing good care to the patient, but also lead to poor patient outcomes. It is necessary for the RN to build healthy relationship with their NAP and LPN. Nursing is a team approach, so the RN should respect their assisting personal and utilize them effectively in their scope of practice. “The quality of delegation practices influences patient safety. When delegation is unsuccessful and conflict between RNs and NAP prevails, there is an added workload on RNs. When NAP refuse to accept delegated tasks, the added work assumed by RNs is substantial and some tasks may be left undone” (Potter, P., Deshields, T., & Kuhrik, M., 2010,

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