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Erin Chun

Erin Chun
Delegation
KCC NURS 362

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Erin Chun
Prior to nursing school, my definition of delegation was simple. It meant
assigning a specific task, within their scope of practice, to another member of their team.
From this project, I learned delegation carries more weight than my simple definition.
The National Council of State Boards of Nursing in the United States has stated the five
rights of delegation: right task, right circumstance, right person, right communication,
and right supervision (Potter, 2010). Delegation is the transfer of responsibility from
one individual to another while remaining fully accountable for the result (Anthony,
2010). For example, if a registered nurse assigns a nursing personnel to do an accucheck
on a specific patient at a certain time, not only is the nursing personnel responsible to
complete this task in a timely manner, the nurse also has to follow up with the assigned
task.
From reading Mindful Communication: A novel approach to improving
delegation and increasing patient safety, I furthered my knowledge in the meaning of
delegation and the many factors that to contribute to providing safe and efficient care. It
is not a secret that the hospitals can be chaotic and that a code blue can occur at any
moment. As health care professionals, we need to learn how to work under stress and as
an effective team. Clear and calm communication between the RN and UAP are very
important in providing safe patient care. The ingredients needed for the right
communication is determined by two characteristics: information decay and information
saliency. With the high acuity, census, and movement within the hospital, information
may lose its value and become irrelevant. When new information does not get updated
or reviewed, errors may occur. The second characteristic of communication is the
salience of the information. The information you communicate to another person may

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not be clear or sound urgent. Since we are around many diverse cultures, educational,
and experiential background, we as health care workers must be professional and clearly
communicate at all times. The right communication must include sharing the
information in a way that the salience of it is known to both the nurse and the unlicensed
personnel at the time the activity is delegated (Anthony, 2010).
Another concept I learned is mindfulness.

Just the other day, Professor

Agustin provided a quick exercise on mindfulness. We were given a pear and with our
five senses, we studied the pear, allowing our full and complete attention to only the pear.
If our mind wandered, we were redirected back to our pear. Mindfulness is a state in
which there is keen awareness of the situation; it is being in the moment, and a way of
directing or focusing attention of everyday tasks to the present moment (Anthony,
2010). What does this have to do with delegation?

Mindful communication is

recognizing the facts and how they are related to the patient situation. Nurses are
continually aware of the current situation and are prepared for all scenarios. They
approach a scenario in a specific form and are able to explore all views relevant to their
patient
Lastly, delegation is based on trust and respect, however, I feel some of the
registered nurses sometimes abuse their power of delegation. In delegation practices
between registered nurses and nursing assistive personnel, role conflict shared between
RNs and NAP concerning certain tasks was a common theme for both groups. The most
important message I learned from this study was we all must work as a team (Potter,
2010).

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Erin Chun

Work Cited

Anthony, M., & Vidal, K. (2010). Mindful communication: a novel approach to

improving delegation and increasing patient safety. Online Journal Of Issues In Nursing ,
15(2),2. doi: 10.3912/OJIN.Vol15No2MAN02.
Potter, P., Deshields, T., & Kuhrik, M. (2010). Delegation practices
between registered nurses and nursing assistive personnel. Journal Of
Nursing Management, 18(2), 157-165. doi:10.1111/j.13652834.2010.01062.x