- NCSBN Delegation | ANA: Developing Delegation Skills
- You will be responsible for delegating tasks to others; nursing assistants, other nurses, and so forth
- Not all tasks are appropriate to delegate
- You can only delegate tasks for which you are responsible for
- Even after you have delegated a task, you are still ultimately responsible for it. The person delegated to also assumes some responsibility, but it ultimately goes back to you.
- Make sure the person you’re delegating tasks to has had the appropriate training, skills, and experience before having them complete tasks independently and unsupervised
- Right task (for example, removing a foley)
- Right circumstances (is the patient stable? Is it a routine removal?)
- Right person (is it the correct person to delegate this task to?)
- Right direction or communication (are you communicating expectations clearly?)
- Right supervision or feedback (do you need to supervise directly, or someone else? Is this
someone else qualified to do so? Do they know what complications to report to you?)
- The nurse practice act, your state’s limitations, and your facility’s policies and procedures all can dictate which tasks you can delegate and who you can delegate to
- Communication is vital: use the 5 rights of delegation
- Follow up to make sure the task was completed appropriately
- Evaluate effectiveness of staff members’ time management skills
