Delegation of Responsibilities in Nursing - Assignment Example

Name : xxxxxxxxxxx Institution : xxxxxxxxxxx Title : Delegation of responsibilities in nursing Tutor : xxxxxxxxxxx Course : xxxxxxxxxxx @2010 Introduction Delegation in nursing occurs when a certain personnel decides to entrust or assign responsibilities to somebody else. This is mostly done to the subordinate staffs or any other worker who can be trusted. The study is on a scenario about a newly graduated nurse (RN) who has been assigned to work with an unlicensed health care worker (UHCW) in a surgical ward. The role and responsibilities of each worker will be considered as well as that the registered nurse delegates to the UHCW and various factors of delegation like the reason for delegating responsibilities, how to delegate and supervise the delegated workers and characteristics of effective delegation (Ellis & Hartley, 2009). Reasons for delegation Delegation of responsibilities in nursing is a legal and management concept, combination of working skills and decision making. The National Council of Nursing has assigned a newly graduated registered nurse (RN) together with an unlicensed health care worker (UHCW) to assist in various responsibilities. The major reason behind this is because the surgical ward was very busy hence the need to combine efforts. Although there are some responsibilities which are assigned to the UHCW by the National Council of Nursing, there are others which are assigned to the RN although he is free to delegate them to the assistance nurse (Huber, 2006). Nursing is a very sensitive area especially in a busy surgical ward thus the services of the medical personnel are expected to be thorough and available at any time. The registered nurse cannot make it to be available to offer his needed services all the time but has to have someone to be helping him when he is not available. This means that there times he would be forced to delegate his responsibilities to the subordinate worker. The health facility of concern is a busy surgical ward whereby for example in a single morning the personnel are allocated six patients to attend to. They are expected to observe each individual signs and assess those with vital ones as well as personal hygiene care and fill the details in the observation charts. The registered nurse decides to assign some of the duties to the assistance so as to be certain of effective results. The practice also works to allow the unlicensed assistive personnel an opportunity to work in the health facility and make use of the acquired skills as well as gaining experience thus by the time he or she is licensed he will be able to take responsibilities of all the duties assigned for a certain health center. The health complications are increasing with the growing population hence the need for more and well qualified health personnel. This is possible if the potential workers are granted opportunities to practice their skills at all levels and begin working under supervision of the skilled workers. This should be applied in the institutions with good organization because the assistance workers should not be left to carry out the delegated responsibilities by their own but should closely be guided by those leading them to avoid making mistakes (Ellis & Hartley, 2009). The patients who have undergone some surgeries like those in discussion need some special attention and a close observation at individual levels. The registered nurse assigns the responsibilities which he feels that are minor and not too demanding to the assistance. Both nurses will have an opportunity to learn some working skills, as the assistance acquires the skills of practicing his nursing knowledge as well as those of leadership the registered one will learn the necessary skills of human resource management. He is also able to develop some confidence in his ability of nursing and managing the subordinate workers. This also helps to improve the process of decision making at all levels by increasing the pool of knowledge (Ellis & Hartley, 2009) Delegation and supervision of unlicensed health care workers The delegation process has never been absolute since the delegator is always the one accountable for the outcome of the duties that he delegates. He has the greatest responsibilities as a supervisor of the duties he has assigned others and ensuring that they are done as per the expectations. In this scenario the registered nurse has dependent, independent, and interdependent functions assigned to him in the health facility while the unregistered is acting as per the directions of the registered nurse. For example when six patients are allocated to the registered nurse one morning, he directs the unregistered one to assess their vital signs while completing their hygiene care and note the results somewhere for the RN to enter them in the observation chart. The RN entrusts his assistance the responsibilities that he feels he can accomplish. The decision of delegating is done with the aim of achieving the most effective results at the final goal of any organization. A good delegation process requires proper planning thoughts and managerial skills. The delegator comes up with the duty that he feels can be delegated to assistance and defining the success that the duty should achieve, this should be compared to the abilities and qualifications of the available delegatee. He then comes up with the best delegation strategy which favors both the delegator and the delegatee and still maintains the effectiveness of delegation. It should motivate the worker to perform his duties and improve the communication standards (Ellis & Hartley 2009). According to Huber (2006), good managerial skills ensure that the most effective delegation process is considered. Excellent human resource managerial skills are required for the delegator to be able to relate with the worker whom he is delegating responsibilities to hence assurance of effective outcome. The skills also enable the delegator to be able to supervise the work of the delegatee and motivate him to achieve the best and as per the expectations. Although the delegatee who is assigned has all the qualification of the job at hand and is assigned by the National Council of Nursing, his performance is not to satisfaction. He is directed to assess the vital signs of six patients who are allocated to them and note down the results for the delegator to enter in the observation chart but when the surgeon came around asking for the vital observations of the patient who had reduced urinary output and a high diastolic pressure for more than twelve hours the registered nurse had nothing to give (Finkleman, 2002). The UHCW had not assessed the patient and the registered nurse was not concern either. This means that the registered nurse was a poor human resource manager as well as supervisor at work. He is supposed to have closely examined the work of the UHCW not only to ensure that he does it but does it perfectly. To supervise the work of the aider the registered nurse should consider not only the indirect supervision that he uses but also the direct one in which he makes a follow up to ensure that the work is done and in a satisfying manner or personal which involves working with the delegatee. Through the application of these two types of supervision he should have known that the responsibility he had assigned to his assistance had not been attended. The characteristics of effective delegation Although delegation has positive effects in the performance of an organization and development of the concern personnel if not careful it can cause problems to the organization. Any effective delegation is essential for effective succession. The delegator should ensure that delegation process is done properly as well as the delegatee who should have all the freedoms to manage upwards or make decision concerning improvements of the delegation process. One of the skills of managing upwards that the delegatee should look into is managing the perception of the duties assigned to him and the acceptance to complete the task. A successful delegation should consist of some essential steps (Ellis & Hartley, 2009). The delegator together with the delegatee should identify and agree on a desired outcome and set it to work towards its achievement. This should go hand in hand with guidelines and standards of a successful job. The delegator should help the delegatee to locate the resources they should use in the course of their operation. It is the duty of the delegator to ensure that the delegatee gets the best rewards for the services they offer so as to motivate them to offer the best, for example, they should be given good salary or wages or sometimes acknowledged with good remarks after doing perfect job. Sometimes the delegatee should be left to work on his own but not until the delegator is certain that he are responsible. This may result to a mistake like the one in the scenario above. The delegator should take the initiative of supervising the work of the delegatee to ensure that it is perfectly done. Hansten & Kenyon (1999) argue that good managerial skills should be maintained for an effective delegation, this helps to enhance proper human resource management. Good communication channel should be considered so that the delegatee will know who to consult incase of any problem. Involving a delegatee in other issues concerning the operations of an organization like decision making creates some sense of belonging. This can also improve the process of making decision because they will have a chance of sharing their views. The delegatee of the surgical ward is assigned the duties of observing the inpatients and recording the observations of the vital signs for the attention of the surgeons hence he has a lot of information either from the patients or through personal observation concerning the services offered in the wards. According to Finkleman (2002), a good delegation allows the concern to acquire some knowledge. The delegatee should be able to experiment his skills and gain more knowledge from interacting with the delegator and the delegator should improve his managerial skills especially those of human resource management by acting as the leader of the delegatee and making decisions on behalf of the entire organization. The role and responsibilities of the UHCW in the given clinical scenario The Unlicensed Health Care Worker is assigned by the National Council of State Board of Nursing to work together with the newly graduated registered nurse. He is expected to assist the registered nurse and work at his direction. The council is however concern about rights as a human being and a licensed worker that it dictates some rules to the registered nurse concerning the treatments that the assistance should be accorded. All the assignments should be in line with the skills that he has or the nursing field only. The delegatee is still under training thus all the duties allocated should contribute to his learning and not assigned to challenge him. The UHCW together with the registered nurse are assigned to work in a busy ward where they are allocated some inpatients to nurse (Heidenthal & Marthaler, 2004). Although the registered nurse chooses the responsibilities to delegate to the UHCW, he is assigned the duties of observing and recording the vital signs of the patients in the work and forwards the report to the RN who then enters them in the observation chart. This information is used by the surgeon to assess the progress of the recovery process of the patients and determine the best action to take. For example, when the surgeon comes into the ward, he asks for the record of the vital signs of a patient who had been experiencing decreased urinary output and a high diastolic pressure over the past twelve hours so as to assess his progress. He is expected to observe conditions and their changes in the inpatient, whether negative or positive and forward the report to the relevant individuals. The ward he is assigned in is very sensitive and requires keen observations from the professionals. Some of the patients who undergo surgeries do not respond positively or as expected and unless the concern personnel are keen they may end up in health complications. The delegatee should always ensure that his eye is on what is happening in the ward (Hansten & Kenyon 1999). Heidenthal & Marthaler (2004) note that the UHCW helps to make evaluation of what happens in the ward as well as making decisions concerning the wards and the services offered there after carefully assessing them and the information of the patients. He comes up with a list of needs in the wards and the problems that he feels needs to be addressed, especially concerning the hostility of the patients. The delegatee assists in identifying the priorities. There are some patients whose conditions calls for quicker attentions than the others and others need special care. This can only be identified by observing these patients carefully and judging their conditions. If the patient needs attention beyond his control he is supposed to raise alarm to the concern people. He is also supposed to provide direct care to the patients in the ward and respond to their wants until their health is stable. Conclusion Delegation in nursing is necessary although it requires one to be more careful for effective outcome. The delegatee is intended to assist the delegator in achieving goals and objectives of the entire organization by ensuring that the registered nurse completes all his duties on time. This means that there has to be a good agreement signed between the delegator and the delegatee reinforced by good management skills and supervision of the delegator to ensure that the assigned duties are perfectly done since he is accountable of the outcome. Bibliography Ellis J. & Hartley C., 2009, Nursing in Today’s World, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, New York. Hansten R., & Kenyon V., 1999, Home care nursing delegation skills: a handbook for practice, Bartlett Learning, London. Finkleman, A., 2002, Leadership and Management in Nursing, Pearson Education, Sydney. Heidenthal P. K., & Marthaler, M. T., 2004, Delegation of nursing care.Thomson/Delmar Learning, Michigan. Huber, D. 2006, Leadership and nursing care management, Elsevier Health Sciences, Sheffield. Read More