Running head: DELEGATION

Delegation: Not Easy

Arnulfo Velasquez
California State University, Stanislaus

DELEGATION

Delegation: Not Easy

Every single profession has their own individual challenges, but all professions have the
common challenge of delegation. It can be difficult acting as either the delegator or the person
receiving the delegation. Nursing is a profession where delegation happens on a regular basis,
but it might not always be done appropriately. There is a proper way of delegating certain tasks
and it is a shame that many people in the nursing world struggle to do this correctly. Being
involved in this field of work I have experienced firsthand how delegating a task can go terribly
wrong.
There is unquestionably an art to delegating tasks, and knowing the definition of
delegation would be helpful in mastering the art of performing it perfectly. The word delegation
is defined by the American Nursing Association as The transfer of responsibility for the
performance of an activity from on individual to another while retaining accountability of the
outcome(Goodwin, 2014). The last six words of this definition are the most important, so
whenever delegating any tasks it must be known if the person being delegated to is qualified and
competent to perform the duty. A way to make sure it is being done correctly is to follow the five
rights. They are right task, right circumstance, right person, right communication, and right
supervision (American Nursing Association). Taking each one of these into consideration will
ease the process of delegating tasks more effectively in the working world.
During my clinical rotations in the nursing program I have seen that nurses typically do a
fabulous job delegating, but I have also experienced a poorly executed delegation. In my second
semester of nursing school, and first semester in the hospital setting, the nurse I was working
with delegated a task to me. The nurse asked me if I could explain a procedure to the patient and
their family. As a nursing student I did not want to look incompetent and decided to say yes even

DELEGATION

though I knew I was not fully prepared for this task. This entire time I thought the nurse would
come with me into the room to help me explain, but then the nurse stated, Okay go ahead and
explain it to them, I need to catch up on some charting. This truly shocked me, but again I did
not want to say I could not do it. During the attempt to explain the procedure I felt as though I
was doing a much better job than I thought I would, but then came the questions. Not knowing
the answers I stopped the family and told them I would go get the actual nurse. Embarrassed, I
walked over to the nurses station and called the nurse for help. I blamed myself for not being as
prepared as I should have been for a long time, but now looking back the nurse had a huge fault
in what happened. The nurse did not delegate the task correctly.
There are five rights to delegating a task and the nurse failed to follow four of these. The
one right the nurse did correctly was the right communication. The nurse did give clear
directions with enough information and I understood everything that was said. Where the nurse
went wrong was choosing the wrong person for the job and not supervising adequately. A new
student nurse should not have been asked to do that task especially under the circumstances that
the student is in his first clinical rotation of his life. This was a recipe for a disastrous outcome
from the start.
There are many things that could have been done differently by the nurse and I to
improve the outcome of the situation during my second semester of school. Starting off with
myself, I should have admitted that I did not feel comfortable doing this by myself. I should have
asked her to come with me, and if she was too busy I should have waited for her to be done with
her charting. I could have also asked if another nurse or my instructor could have come with me,
so they could have helped when I was in need. The nurse should not have expected that a second
semester nursing student could have achieved that task correctly. The nurse should have

DELEGATION

supervised more appropriately by being in the room, so she could interject when needed and
known that the right information was being given. Any of these actions could have resulted in a
better outcome of the delegated task.
Luckily this failed delegation only resulted in a loss of a confidence from a nursing
student and an irritated patient and family. Delegations that are not done correctly can result in
terrible things such as worsening illness and even death. This is why having the ability to
delegate tasks properly is such an important tool to have in every aspect of life but especially in
the workforce.

References

DELEGATION

American Nurses Association. (1995). Joint statement on delegation. Retrieved from

https://www.ncsbn.org/Delegation_joint_statement_NCSBN-ANA.pdf
Goodwin, L. (2014). Patient care models, and delegation [Powerpoint slides]. Retrieved from
https://sites.google.com/site/nurs3320csustan/week-6