Running head: DELEGATION OF ROUTINE VITAL SIGNS

Delegation of Routine Vital Signs

JoAnne Saba
California State University, Stanislaus

DELEGATION OF ROUTINE VITAL SIGNS

Delegation of Routine Vital Signs

According the American Nurses' Association (as cited in Curtis & Nicholl, 2004),
delegation is defined as "transferring responsibility for the performance of an activity...while
retaining accountability for the outcome." With the increasing case loads of nurses today,
delegating is an important skill to master. However, it is often difficult for nurses to do due to
doubt in delegatees' ability and a belief that accomplishing all tasks themselves proves them to
be hard working (Curtis & Nicholl, 2004). Registered nurses' have the option of delegating to
other registered nurses, licensed vocational nurses/licensed practical nurses, and assistive
personnel as long as the task falls within the scope of practice of that colleague (Knippa et al.,
2011). A nurse has successfully used delegation when the five rights of delegation have been
met; these include, the right task, the right circumstance, the right person, the right
direction/communication, and the right supervision/evaluation (Knippa et al., 2011). This paper
will discuss the five rights of delegation in relation to a time a registered nurse delegated her
routine vital sign assessments to me.
First Hand Experience
In my first clinical rotation, the nurse who I was assisting for the day was falling behind
in her work when it became time for her patients' routine vital sign assessments. It was a
orthopedic medical-surgical floor and, she had many low acuity patients to care for. We had
already completed care for my patient so I offered to do vital signs for her other patients. She
quickly listed the patient rooms and beds of the vital signs that she needed, thanked me, and went
to complete passing medication. I worked through the list of patients and reported back to the
nurse. She seemed relieved the task was completed and showed her gratitude with a smile and a
thank you.

DELEGATION OF ROUTINE VITAL SIGNS

Evaluation of the Five Rights of Delegation

Right Task
There are limitations as to what tasks can be delegated. Any task requiring skill, nursing
knowledge/judgment, patient teaching, or evaluation must be completed by the registered nurse
and cannot be delegated others (Lewis, Dirksen, Heitkemper, Bucher, & Camera, 2011). This
task was appropriately delegated because, as a nursing student, I possess enough knowledge and
judgment skills to be able to do basic assessments and know when values are critical enough to
report to the nurse.
Right Circumstance
The right circumstance requires the consideration of the appropriate time for intervention,
the patient's condition, and the setting (Stonehouse, 2015). All patients were due for routine
assessment by hospital policy. In addition, this patient load included all low acuity patients who
were stable, alert, and awake. This made them well enough to receive the intervention. Lastly,
though a few had visitors, they still welcomed me to come and complete their assessment.
Right Person
The main question to consider when choosing who to delegate a task to is if it is within
the scope of practice of the delegatee (Goodwin, 2015). I was taught in the previous semester
how to manually take vital signs, in addition to being oriented to the hospital's equipment earlier
that semester. Though skill set is limited in second semester, vital signs are included in the
standards for second semester students at the California State University, Stanislaus School of
Nursing.
Right Communication/Direction
Proper communication has occurred if the delegatee receives thorough instructions and

DELEGATION OF ROUTINE VITAL SIGNS

reports results back to the delegator (Stonehouse, 2015). Communication, in this situation, was
neither good nor bad. The nurse assumed that I knew what I was doing as it was the second vital
sign pass for the day. The only instructions provided were which patients to do vital signs on
and, though, she did not explain how to do them, it was not necessary. Following the completion
of my task, I promptly reported back to her and provided her with the collection of values that I
had received.
Right Supervision/Evaluation
The right supervision and evaluation includes following up with the delegatee, as well as,
evaluating his or her performance (Goodwin, 2015; Stonehouse, 2015). This includes the
delegator checking in as the task is being done and offering feedback so that the delegatee may
continue developing his or her skills. For this task, the nurse did not check on me while I was
doing the vital signs. However, when I presented that I had completed what she needed her
thank you and look of relief provided that I had done well.
Conclusion
This was not a perfect example of delegation, nevertheless, three of the five rights of
delegation were completed properly. The nurse did not provide a lot of instructions but what
was provided was adequate based on my previous knowledge. There was also no supervision
during the task, but it was simple enough where heavy supervision was not required. Based off
of the nurse's gratitude toward me, the outcomes were great. She was able to get more done by
delegating this task and I was able to strengthen patient interaction skills. As the student in this
situations, I handled my part of the delegation well. I accomplished my task and reported back
to my nurse. As the nurse, I would have ensured that the delegatee knew how to use the
equipment and checked in with them while they were still completing the task.

DELEGATION OF ROUTINE VITAL SIGNS

References
Curtis, E., & Nicholl, H. (2004). Delegation: a key function of nursing. (cover story). Nursing
Management - UK, 11(4), 26-31. Retrieved from
http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=52001394-3061-469e-a8c779443078c26c%40sessionmgr4002&vid=1&hid=4206
Goodwin, L. (2015). Patient care models, difficult patients, delegation. [Powerpoint Slides].
Retrieved from https://sites.google.com/site/nurs3320csustan/week-6
Knippa, A., Sommer, S., Ball, B., Churchill, L., Elkins, C., Janowski, M., . . . Stacy, B. (2011).
Nursing leadership and management review module (5.0th ed., pp. 13-14). Stilwell, KS.:
Assessment Technologies Institute.
Lewis, S., Dirksen, S., Heitkemper, M., Bucher, L., & Camera, I. (2011). Medical-surgical
nursing:Assessment and management of clinical problems (8th ed.,Vol, 1, pp.15). St.
Louis, MO.: Elsevier Mosby.
Stonehouse, D. (2015). The art and science of delegation. British Journal Of Healthcare
Assistances, 9(3), 150-153. Retrieved from
http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=4548c36a-68ff-4b3c-91926fc484e2339e%40sessionmgr4005&vid=0&hid=4206