The Concept of Nursing Delegation - Research Paper Example

Considering the delivery of healthcare to patients, registered nurses are the most accountable for their delivery of care and the consequent outcomes on the patients. Delegation becomes necessary to obtain protected outcomes which become possible if the registered nurses can delegate their roles to unlicensed assistant personnel who are capable of providing healthcare directly to the patients. In the process, the registered nurses can retain their accountability as well. However, although the needs and benefits of the delegation are studied and known to certain extents, their implementation in actual healthcare is still found to be limited (Anthony and Vidal, 2010).

Delegation of responsibility can be achieved safely if the tasks are performed with proper planning and dedication. If the delegation proves to be a failure, then the registered nurses get accountable for any negative outcome on the patient. Thus communication and providing the right direction are highly essential while delegating responsibilities in nursing. Moreover, such information needs to be updated followed by continuous evaluation in order to reduce the complexities in the nursing work environments. Another significant factor is the relationship between the registered nurses and the personnel to whom the tasks are delegated. Harmonization, teamwork and mutual aid are extremely essential in order to provide safe delivery of healthcare to the patients (Anthony and Vidal, 2010).

The use of nursing delegation has become more prominent and necessary in the present-day healthcare system. Generally, the tasks that are delegated to the unlicensed assistant personnel are less risky in nature. Thus, considering a team of working, the registered nurse works as a leader of the team and manages the personnel working under her coordinating the tasks and delegating suitably tasks. However, the registered nurse has to constantly supervise the tasks even after delegation to achieve improved patient outcomes, as she remains responsible for such outcomes and patient satisfaction. The process and skills of delegation not being easy are in need of proper training and facilities in order to be successful on patient safety (Ruff, 2011).

Martha E. Rogers, who was an American nurse, had served her life on nursing and wrote many papers where she focused on improving the work of nursing in better work environments to improve the lives of patients. She, through her writings and journals, presented a nurse as a unitary human being. Resonancy, helicy and integrality are the three concepts that she focused on explain the relation and communication of human beings with their environments. Thus the working environment was considered as highly important for nursing, by Rogers. Her theory was named the Science of Unitary Human Beings (SUHB) which was primarily developed to motivate the existing theories of nursing (Meleis, 2011). Nursing was thus given particular attention by Martha Rogers in regard to the role that nurses have to play in the healthcare environment and the responsibilities that they have to focus on for patient safety and satisfaction. This is important in developing the right path for nursing delegation as well in healthcare.

Conclusion:

It can be concluded from the above study that the concept of nursing delegation has been in existence for a long time. However, the need and importance of delegation have been realized more in present-day healthcare with the healthcare systems and working environments for nurses becoming more and more complex. The nurses having a large number of responsibilities together in providing patient safety and satisfaction, it often becomes difficult for them to handle all tasks together. This leads to the need for delegation to unlicensed assistant personnel who have been found to be able to offer direct health care to the patients.