l). With this assignment, the receiving nurse has to have the skills and confidence with their skills to perform that delegated task within the practice act, policy and procedures, and knowledge base. The definition of the assignment is "giving someone else a task within his/her own practice and is based on job descriptions and policies" (NCSBN. 1995. p.l). With this knowledge, trust and confidence, each team member will help with the assignments and delegation of staff members to help understand why there cannot be a simple list of what can be delegated to staff with certain skill levels" (Wedyt, 05). .
In my personal work, we have an Admissions Nurse that has knowledge of each staff member and the skills list that they are able to do confidently, safely, and efficiently with the different types of patients. We have LPN's that strictly do medication set up, blood glucose and insulin administration, with minimal assessments needed. We have a couple of LPN's that are higher functioning with assessment skills, wound care, calling Doctor's with reports, and able to confidently take more complex patients. This is important when assigning staff members to new patient, in having a good experience for the patient, family and team members. It provides quality of care and good references for later business.
Knowing the skill level of each team member helps increase the confidence with coworkers and helps with the success of delegating. If an RN does not have confidence in his or her coworkers, he or she will not delegate tasks. This can be a problem for two reasons; the first is that the RN will not delegate tasks that could and should have been assigned, and second the being, tasks assigned to a UAP may be inappropriate. With the RN having knowledge, confidence and appropriate job descriptions with the skill's list of the team member, this can go against practice acts for the person. Job descriptions that are vague can make the accountability and delegation process a challenge for the RN.
