In health care service institution, there is a lot of work for nurses. In some cases, the work has been overwhelming and nurses have not been able to handle it well. The case of Ms. W, a Family Nursing Practitioner (FNP) is such an example. This paper discusses the role of delegation in making a nurse’s job easier and perfecting the quality of the services offered. To achieve this purpose, we will analyze Ms. W’s case. Delegation is giving someone else a task in your custody, while maintaining the responsibility over it. This means that you are responsible of the overall result of the job.
In any organization, teamwork is essential for success of all the endeavors. A team considers the ability of all its members and it assigns activities to each accordingly. Working as a team therefore, is what Ms. W needs to embrace. In this clinic, we have practitioners of diverse potentialities. For Ms. W, the LVN qualified in conducting client education on labor and delivery, can handle the case of Mrs. R concerning the care she should take in order that the pregnancy remains safe. The nutritionist can step in well for her, at the point where she wants to address the nutritional needs of the patient. The social worker is resourceful in making a communication bridge between the rest and the client. This worker knows the people of this locality well and can deliver perfectly in an assigned task to help this client. This is especially in persuading her to take the instructions of the FNP properly. The worker too can help bridge the communication between the nurse and the patient next time, making it very effective. The assignments given to each regards their competence and qualification (Tomey, 2004).
It is not all times that Ms. W need to delegate. She should only delegate during moments when she is overwhelmed with work on her docket. In this case, she had a lot of paper work to complete. This time is appropriate for her to delegate her duties. She should do this in order to ascertain quality. She does this noting that the whole responsibility rests on her shoulders. She is answerable for the outcome (ANA & NCSBN, 2005). Ms. W also needs to determine that the person she has delegated the responsibility to is giving the correct health care. She should do this by ensuring that the practitioners are qualified in the particular care they are to give to their clients. This is in line with this principle, “The RN delegates only those tasks for which she or he believes the other health care worker has the knowledge and skill to perform, taking into consideration training, cultural competence, experience and facility/agency policies and procedures” (ANA & NCSBN, 2005). In this case, Ms. W. is free to delegate the technical part of the care to the LVN, Nurse with the BSN community health, nutritionist, and the general care to the social worker.
Focusing on the needs of this client, the team that will play a major role to solve her problem is that of five people, the FNP, the nutritionist, LVN, Nurse and the social worker. The plan will involve these aspects which form the criteria used to come up with the plan. “Specialty needs of the patient, physical environment, skill mix competencies required and measurable outcome required” (Salem Hospital, 2006). In that case, the FNP will be the overall supervisor, the nutritionist will take ever some technical care focusing on nutrition, and the LVN will take the role of giving prenatal care to the client. On the other hand, the nurse together with the social worker will take care of the social needs of the patient. The social worker will act perfectly as a bridge between the client and the FNP. In that case, there will be no communication brake as seen when the patient dint take the instructions on taking the drugs prescribed.
At the point when the patient needs more technical support than the nutritionist can offer, the FNP can refer the case to high-risk clinic at the children’s hospital. She can use the opportunity of the presence of the social worker who has the time to follow up the issue. The social worker will ensue that the patient does not get lost when referred to that place.
A nursing supervisor has the full responsibility of the delegated duties. This is professional principle that guides nurses to ensure that they delegate their work responsibly. It will help the nurse to assign duties according to competencies of the team members. They should also make sure that the circumstance under which the delegation is done is favorable to the patients or the clients.
It is important that all nursing supervisors should develop skills associated with the authority of delegation. Having those skills shows the presence of teamwork in the group. The supervisor will draw from the team members the potentials vested in them. In that case, the quality of the service the team provides will improve. The nursing supervisor also will be able to utilize the scarce human resource effectively. This is in the times when there is a lot to do but there are a few nurses on board.
References
American Nurses Association (ANA) and the National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN), (2005). Joint Statement on Delegation. Web.
Salem Hospital, 2006. Staffing Plan for Nursing Services. Web.
Tomey, M. A. (2004). Guide to nursing management and leadership. St. Louis: Mosby, Inc.