The Importance Of Delegation In Nursing

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There are many members of the inter-professional team, all of which are contributing to the healthcare of acute and critically ill patients. Every member of the team has had education and obtained a license of practice compatible to their level of knowledge (Prater, Fundamentals of Nursing, 2013). As a practical nurse you need to be mindful of your scope of practice in relation to registered nurses, certified nurses’ assistants and other healthcare professionals. With so many different people involved in the immediate care of a patient, there is always the possibility of a mix up. The purpose of this paper is to help differentiate between the roles of the healthcare staff, which will in turn help develop a knowledge base for prioritizing care; …show more content…

Delegation is assigning a task and its responsibility to another who is able to perform it, while with holding the accountability (Silvestri, 2013). To regulate delegation, each state Board of Nursing enforces their Nurse Practice Act. The Nurse Practice Act varies by state, but is a detailed guideline which recognizes the 5 Rights of Delegation to follow when delegating specific tasks. It also defines the nurses’ scope of practice, education/ license requirements, and sets the consequences for noncompliance with the Act, such as license suspension and reinstatement (Rosdahl, 2012). Improper delegation can be harmful, and without these guidelines malpractice/negligence can result. Negligence is the result of a person not acting reasonably. When healthcare professionals’ actions results in negligence it is considered malpractice or professional negligence (Rosdahl, 2012). Nurses are held liable for their actions for instance: not providing safe patient care by delegating untaught procedures to other nurses or failure to question physicians’ orders if they seem wrong and not reporting medication errors are just a few that may lead to

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