Analysing Delegation In Transition To Professional Practice Nursing Essay

Analysing Delegation In Transition To Professional Practice Nursing Essay Newly registered nurses or nurses re-entering the workforce face many challenges. One of these issues is delegation. In this essay you are required to develop an in depth and detailed understanding of delegation and how it apply to you as a newly registered nurse. You will need to critically analyse the literature to: Define delegation and how it applies to the registered nurse in the clinical setting Analyse the role of the registered nurse in relation to the responsibility of delegation Analyse the relationship between accountability and delegation Discuss how delegation is different to patient allocation Analyse how professional competence impacts on delegation with specific reference to clinical effectiveness Discuss the interpersonal relationships of team members when delegating within a team Introduction Being a newly Registered Nurse entails a lot of challenges, how we deal with our clients and effectively communicating what their needs are in a multi-cultural setting gives u s these difficult tasks of rendering proper and appropriate health care. RNs (Registered Nurses) are known to provide care from womb to tomb, without preference to age, gender, race, religion and status. RNs need to understand the importance for them to know by heart, what are the tasks they can delegate to their co-workers because problem could arise if tasks are delegated inappropriately and clients would be the one to suffer the consequences. Delegation of activities will be relied more heavily due to decreasing workforce and increasing workload that’s why nurses should understand fully the different guidelines on how one can appropriately apply delegation in their professional practice. The role of RN in the delegation process takes unprecedented importance. The independent licensee of the RN imposes a legal accountability on the part of the nurse to the patient/recipient of care. This becomes a primary responsibility, with the accountability to other disciplines or the e mployer being secondary. Because the RN is responsible for the practice of other lesser skilled licensed or unlicensed nursing personnel (i.e., Enrolled Nurses and Unlicensed Health Care Worker), it is imperative that registered nurses understand the guidelines and parameters set for delegation and training. All RNs and midwives must be willing to accept accountability and responsibility when undertaking activities within their individual scope of practice after considering: legislation or restriction of practice, professional standards of practice, current evidence for practice, individual knowledge skill and competence and contextual/organizational support for practice [Nursing Board of Victoria (NBV) 2007]. The responsibility of the RN prevails whatever the employment setting or status of employment and that legal accountability cannot be removed or assumed by another individual or by the employer. We can never work alone, thus we are always a part of a multidisciplinary healthca re team and this is where the issues of delegation come into place. I. Definition of delegation and application in clinical setting The Queensland Nursing Council (2005) defined delegation as ‘conferring of authority on a person to a person to perform activities. In the same way, delegation is conferment of authority to an individual who is not authorized to perform a particular task autonomously but can do so under direct or indirect supervision (Nursing & Midwifery Board of South Australia 2005). Direct supervision means that the RN is actually present during performance of the delegated task, observing and guiding the person who is being supervised while indirect supervision is provided when the RN does not directly observe the person performing the delegated task but should be easily contactable by phone or electronic devices when the need arises [Royal College of Nurses, Australia (RCNA) 2005].