Delegation is a very important skill for the Registered Nurse (RN) to utilize in the day-to-day care of patients. The RN is responsible for and oversees the administration and the completion of the delegated tasks. There are many things to take into consideration for the RN before delegating work to a Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) or a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA), such as: The five rights of delegation, the four steps of delegation, as well as the education level, licensure, and the scope of practice of the LPN and CNA.
An RN must perform the duties of the nursing process, such as those duties regarding assessment, planning of care, patient teaching, and evaluation of patients. In order for the …show more content…
The NCSBN lists them as: Assess and plan; communicate; surveillance and supervision; evaluation and feedback. (Joint Statement on Delegation). Before the RN delegates a task he/she must assess the needs of their patient, and then the planning of the care that must be provided. The RN must then communicate to the qualified assistive personnel what tasks they are delegating to them, and the RN must supervise to ensure the task delegated has been completed properly. Then the RN must evaluate if the task delegated to care for the patient sufficed, or a different action is to be performed with regards to any alterations, if needed, to the plan of …show more content…
The guidelines outlining those duties of the LPN and/or the CNA each, are very clearly spelled out nationwide in State statutes, policies of the employing agency, and State health care practice guidelines.
With this intention, the scope of practice of the LPN and the CNA must be adhered to. The following are some examples of the duties that are allowed to be delegated to the LPN: Monitoring client findings; reinforcement of client teaching from a standard care plan; tracheostomy and suctioning care; checking nasogastric tubing patency; administration of enteral feedings; insertion of a urinary catheter; medication administration (with the exclusion of intravenous medication administration in various States). (Somer