0:00 Did you know that there are five rights to
delegating tasks as a nurse to another profession?
Hey guys, it's Tammy with nurse minder.
And today's video was inspired by a comment on one of the videos I had already created.
Now, I tried to find who asked this question, but there's so many comments, I'd lost it
in all of that.
Nonetheless, today, we're taking care of the five elements of delegating, if you're working
as a nurse.
My name is Tammy, this is Nurseminder, subscribe, hit that bell button so you get notified when
the next video is released.
Can you tell I am out of practice.
I haven't done a video for three months for this channel.
And I'm so sorry, but I am back now.
So we're gonna get heavy into the content.
So we're gonna be talking about what delegation is, what that might look like for you and
some of the questions you need to ask yourself.
So first, what is delegation.
In essence, when nurses are delegating, what they're doing is they're assigning tasks and
activities to another healthcare professional, who's unregulated or unlicensed to do that
job, while still maintaining personally responsibility for the outcome of that task.
Now, one thing we can never delegate is something that would require a nursing judgment.
So for example, you've done a patient assessment, and you're analyzing the data from the blood
pressure, the low oxygen from the high heart rate, you cannot delegate that nursing judgment
to somebody else.
Now, a quick disclaimer, as we get into this video, I provide information that is educational
in nature, you will need to check with your individual province provincial or state boards
or wherever you're watching me from I do have international audience to understand what
delegation is for you and your roles within it.
So what's an example of something you cannot delegate?
Well, that would be the assessment and evaluation of nursing intervention.
So you need to give pain medication, you cannot ask an unregulated profession to go into your
pain assessment, and then then report to you, you need to do your assessment.
Similarly, you can't ask them to go and evaluate a patient post intervention.
That's a nursing assessment and a nursing judgment.
And so an example of something that you could delegate to it to another health care team
member would be the mobilization of your patient, bathing, getting their food ready, those kinds
of things.
Now to help you know what you can delegate, there's a few questions you need to ask yourself
first, number one, is this within their scope of practice to do do they have the skill set
the knowledge set the equipment, and awareness of how that equipment works?
In order to carry out this task?
Number two, is the legal aspect is this legally something I can delegate?
Now, there are just some things you cannot delegate.
So there's kind of a four rule.
Either you do it, you delegate it, delay it, or dump it, do it means it is essential for
you to do this, you cannot give this to anybody else.
And an example would be the charting on your patient care.
You can't assess a patient with and then ask somebody else to do your charting.
That would be something you have to do.
It's expected of you to do what to do it, delegate it, delay it or dump it, we're not
going to get into the last two are focusing on the do it or the delegate it for this video.
Now, it's important to remember as the delegator who's asking the delegate T to do something,
you as a delegator still maintain accountability, for the completion of this task, Nursing Association
has come up with five key components to delegating.
So what are those five writes, The first thing is, is that the right task is the circumstance
in which this task was being completed, appropriate.
For example, someone's crashing versus a patient who is recovering, the conditions are different.
So it's the right task, the right circumstances in which this patient can safely carry out
the task?
Is that the right person that you're delegating this task to?
Meaning do they have the knowledge, skills and scope to complete this task?
Are you able to provide the right supervision, I don't know why I have a line here, the right
supervision for and then, of course, right communication and direction around this task
to make sure that they can be successful in completing it for you.
So let's look at this with an example.
You're in the middle of a busy shift, and you look down at your to do list and you have
medications to give dressings to change, you need a patient that has to have his bath,
you need to go and change linens on a patient who's just vomited, and the list goes on.
And you're thinking I can't do it all.
How am I going to delegate this and make sure all the patients receive the care that they
need?
So the first thing is to look at the right task.
Which of these things can I delegate and to help you with that you're
4:28 going to want to consider the legalities of
the job, but also the scope of practice of the person you're delegating to, and the policies
and procedures in your facility.
So generally speaking, registered nurses are involved with assessment, planning and evaluation
of care.
So those things cannot be delegated.
So we have medication admin, we have wound dressings we had a patient bath and linen
to be changed after patient vomited.
Linen to be changed.
Sounds like something that doesn't require nursing assess meant planning and evaluation.
And the bath doesn't sound like that either.
But the medication admin absolutely requires a nursing assessment, plan and evaluation.
And the wound dressing absolute requires nursing assessment, planning and intervention.
So it sounds like we're down to two potential tasks.
So then we get into delegation number two, which is the right circumstances.
So we're down to two tasks, bathing the patient and changing the linens on a patient who has
vomited.
Now, as a nurse, you want to make sure you have eyes on these patients to understand
that first, that they're safe, and that they are not high risk for decompensation.
Because if that's the case, it may not be the right circumstance to delegate these tasks.
So let's just say you've gone in, you've looked at your patient, the patient who needs the
bath, is now moaning in pain.
We're not going to delegate this bath anymore, because we need to assess what's going on
and why they're in so much pain and probably intervened with that first, the patient who
vomited in the bed is sitting there laughing and apologizing for what they did.
And they seem to be a no distress.
This sounds like it might be an appropriate circumstance to delegate the task of a linen
change.
So to help you understand the right circumstances, there's a few questions you can ask yourself.
Number one, have I seen the patient do I understand the context of what they're going through
right now.
Number two, is their appropriate equipment and training and skill set knowledge set for
the person I'm delegating to, to take over this task.
And number three, is the situation favorable for them to be successful.
Again, if the patient who needed a bath is now in pain, we don't want them taking them
to the shower while they're in pain, we want to manage that pain first.
So nurse needs to be aware of their patient status before delegating.
So now we get down to step number three, which is understanding who's the right person to
delegate this task to?
This is going to require that you have an awareness around their scope of practice,
and their experiential knowledge and skill set.
So here's four questions you can ask the person you want to delegate to to make sure it's
the right person that you can use.
Number one, hey, I want you to do this Linden change in the room?
Have you done this?
Before?
It's raw, we want to assess if they have previous experience, have you received a training to
do this.
So in terms of training, we're thinking of back safety, we may have to move the patient
from bed to chair.
So we're looking at patient handling and back safety.
And then of course, the appropriate disposal of the soiled linens, those kinds of things.
So what training have they received around the tasks that you'd like them to do?
Question three, have you ever performed this task with a patient before, if it's their
first time, you may need to provide more supervision than less.
And if they've never done this before, they may require someone to go with them a little
bit more direction or supervision.
And of course, the last question is, have you ever done this without supervision, this
helps you to understand where your delegate t is in this process that you're asking them
to help you with.
And never assume that people know this.
Let me tell you guys, I went through my entire four years of nursing, and I never had a patient
assigned to me who was a total care.
And so when I got into my first job, I was like, I don't know how to dress this patient.
I felt like I was incompetent.
So never assume that the people you're working with have already done the task you're asking
them to do, they were into the right supervision.
Now, this is number four, we've gone through the right task, the right circumstances and
the right person.
So now we're into the right supervision.
So if they require supervision, if they prior feedback, you are that person.
Now the best thing here is to have that person follow up with you and let them know the job
is complete, so that you can go back in and just a quick evaluation.
And number five is the right direction and communication around the task.
I can't stress this one enough.
I think this should be number one.
But here we are at number five.
So with this one, we're not assuming anything.
I think what those questions I provided you for step number three will help you determine
what you need to do for this step.
How much information do they need?
Are they new to the floor?
Have they been here before?
Are they a floater?
Are they a permanent?
Those kind of pieces of information, knowing that will help you ascertain if they need
more support?
Like do you know where the patient lift is?
Have you used it before?
Have you used this one before?
instructions on what to do specifically, I would like for you to go in there, you need
to change the patient linens, the patient's already cleaned.
But if they're dirty, come back and report to me because I'll need to reassess them.
Give them the container in which they can be successful.
9:25 So applying the five steps of delegation helps
you to ensure that your patients care is optimal and safe.
Alright, let's do a quick summary of what delegation looks like for you.
First of all, have you seen your patient?
Because if you haven't, you're not delegating anything until you look at that patient.
So has there been an assessment done by a registered nurse on this patient?
Is the task that you want to delegate within the scope of practice for you to delegate,
you know, know your own scope as well?
Do you have the policies and procedures in place to delegate this task?
Is the person you're delegating competent to do this task?
And number five is the task in that recommended sphere that you can delegate it safely and
they can complete it so and so if there's no to any of those you don't delegate, you
do remember the doing, or delegate are the two things we're focusing on today.
Is this a doing thing that I must do?
It's my responsibility.
And it's an essential that I do it because it's related to assessment, planning evaluation,
or there's nobody competent to hand this off to with the skill set knowledge and experience,
then you know, you have to do it.
If you answer yes to all those, then we get into those delegations of the five right so
is that the right the right task, the right circumstances, delegating it to the right
person, with the right supervision and direction and communication.
So set yourself up for success.
Know what's within your scope to delegate what the organization is allowing you to delegate
and be sure you understand the people you're working with.
And communicate, communicate, communicate if you are ever unsure.
Just ask.
It is safer to ask the question than it is to ask for forgiveness.
Typically, I would say asking for forgiveness is a great rule of thumb, but in healthcare,
we want to be asking for support first, so that we're making sure our patients are safe.
Don't forget to comment below let me know how this has helped you.
Which right is the most is hardest one I'd like to know which right is the hardest one
for you to implement.
Where you feel like there's a bigger struggle where you kind of get stuck on this one.
Let me know in the comments below.
I do respond as you know because this video was inspired by one of my followers.
Thanks again guys and make it a great day.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai