A newly graduated nurse has been assigned to a team consisting of her and one assistive personnel staff member. When delegating skills the nurse needs to do which of the following? Select all that apply

Question

A. Assign only bed-making skills and feeding tasks.
B. Assess the knowledge of assistive personnel.
C. Remind the staff member that she is working under the license of the RN.
D. Allow the staff member to perform only skills that the RN is able to teach assistive personnel to perform.
E. Assign only feeding tasks.
F. Assess skill levels of assistive personnel.

Answer 1

B, F
Delegation of patient care improves efficiency. Even though a nurse is capable of providing basic care to patients, nurses need to coordinate care to a group of patients while conducting assessments, using critical thinking to solve problems, and rendering ordered registered nurse therapies. Assistive personnel perform their duties based on hospital protocols, procedures, and their scope of practice. Although nurses demonstrate leadership via mentoring, assistive personnel are not authorized to perform tasks outside of their scope of practice and certification.