Delegation in Nursing: Delegation Is Generally About

Delegation in Nursing: Delegation is generally about communication and accountability though it's one of the most complex processes in the nursing field. Delegation in nursing was introduced and discussed by Florence Nightingale in the 1800s and has continued to evolve or develop since then. Despite its complexity, delegation is important in the nursing profession because of cost containment, the problem of shortage in nursing, increases in levels of patient acuity, the growth of the elderly and more chronic population, and technological advancements in healthcare.

In order for an individual in this field to fully develop the skill of delegation, he/she needs knowledge of his/her own attitudes and beliefs as well as reflection as a critical thinking skill. There are five rights of delegation in nursing i.e. The right task, right circumstances, right person, right direction or communication, and right supervision or evaluation.

These rights can be utilized as mental checklist to help nursing practitioners from multiple roles to explain the crucial components of the decision-making process ("The Five Rights of Delegation," n.d.). The use of these rights as mental checklist is attributed to the fact that nursing service administrators and staff nurses are accountable in ensuring that the delegation process is executed effectively and safely in a manner that generates positive health outcomes.

The need for delegation in the nursing field is attributed to the fact that these professionals cannot perform every task for every patient. However, the delegation process is guided by some principles that help nurses to enhance the efficiency of their practice and avoid any legal implications. These principles include the fact that the process must always be in the best interest of the patient, ensuring the support employee must be adequately trained to carry out the task, and document written evidence of competence assessment.

These principles are critical to the success and effectiveness of the delegation process. Based on the five rights of delegation, there are specific tasks that are suitable for delegation in the nursing professional setting. The general appropriate tasks for consideration in delegation decision-making are those that frequently reoccur in day-to-day care of a patient or group of patients, those that do not need support worker to exercise nursing judgment, and those that do not require multifaceted application of the nursing process.

The other tasks are those whose outcomes are predictable and the probable risk is minimal and those that use a standard and unchanging process. My experience in delegating is that it's a complex process that requires critical considerations before engaging in. The complexity of the process is attributed to the fact that any bit of ineffectiveness could contribute to legal implications. One of the major challenges I experienced in the process of delegating is ensuring that the delegated tasks met all the principles and considerations of the process.

This proved to be a major challenge because some of the tasks could only meet one or two aspects of the criterion. In essence, it was relatively difficult to identify a task that met these principles or considerations. As a result, I discovered that delegation is a multi-faceted activity that requires an understanding of potential legal.