DELEGATION

Delegation: An Essential Component of Nursing School Curricula

Caitlin A. Martinez
California State University, Stanislaus

DELEGATION

Delegation: An Essential Component of Nursing School Curricula

In one 12-hour shift nurses are responsible for a plethora of tasks that must be
accomplished for each of their patients. Although nurses, would feel more comfortable
completing every task themselves, it is not possible, causing them to rely heavily on unlicensed
nursing assistive personnel (NAP). The role of NAP is to work collaboratively under the direct
supervision of a registered nurse (RN) and to perform repetitive, low-risk tasks (Potter,
Desshields, & Kuhrik, 2010). As leaders in positions of management, nurses have the ability to
delegate tasks to NAP allowing them do their work more efficiently; however, if delegation is
performed incorrectly, patient care may be compromised (Potter, Deshields, & Kuhrik, 2010).
Furthermore, even when tasks are delegated to NAP, RNs retain full accountability for the
outcome of the task (Goodwin, 2014).
Newly qualified nurses are often afraid to delegate tasks to healthcare assistants and feel
that they have a lack of training on how to delegate effectively (Keogh, 2014). The first year
after licensure is typically the toughest, which is why there is a need for delegation to be a part
of every pre-registration degree course (Keogh, 2014). As a nursing student it is important to
learn about delegation and start feeling comfortable delegating tasks in the clinical setting.
Reflecting on the appropriateness and effectiveness of delegation allows nursing students to learn
from poor experiences and to incorporate exceptional exemplars into their own nursing practice.
Looking back on my first job as a sales associate at American Eagle Outfitters (AEO), my
manager delegated a task to me that I had never done before. Retail stores have what they call
floorsets, where they remerchandise the walls in the store with new product to give the store a
fresh look each season. These floorsets require staff to remove everything from the walls,
including the hardware (shelves, brackets, end-caps, etc.), and re-build the wall. I had only

DELEGATION

been working at AEO for approximately two weeks before this floorset. My manager briefly
explained what to do and paired me up with another sales associate, Amanda, who had been
working at AEO for several years, to work on a wall together. I felt lost and had no idea what
each piece of hardware was called or where to find the hardware in the stockroom. When
Amanda asked me to get u-cups and t-brackets, I didnt know what those were. She tried to
verbally explain what they looked like and where they could be found. When I went into the
stockroom I had to ask where to find the hardware because I could not find them myself. The
whole day went like this; I constantly had to ask other employees or my manager for help
because I wasnt trained to do a floorset and didnt have enough knowledge to do the basic steps.
When delegating a task it is very important that the delegator implements the delegation
safely and effectively (National Council of State Boards of Nursing [NCSBN], 1997). Staff
nurses should use the fundamental principles, known as the Five Rights of Delegation, to help
them with their decision-making process when delegating a task. The five rights are as follows:
the right task, the right circumstances, the right person, the right direction or communication, and
the right supervision or evaluation (NCSBN, 1997).
Most of these rights were not met when my manager delegated the floorset task to me.
Floorsets are within the job description of a sales associate, so this task was appropriate for me to
be doing; however, my manger did not match the complexity of the task to my competency
(NCSBN, 1997). It was not the right circumstance for me to be participating in a floorset without
the proper training and appropriate monitoring (NCSBN, 1997). In addition, I was not the most
qualified employee to be working on a wall during floorset (NCSBN, 1997). There were many
other more experienced employees scheduled that night that could have done this more complex
task. I think that looking back on it, my manager should have had me start off with an easier task;

DELEGATION

I could have folded and hung clothing, put sensors on new clothing, or remerchandised a small
table of clothing. As for communication, only the bare minimum was given and I was pawned off
to my coworker, Amanda, leaving her to explain the task in detail as we worked. Amanda should
not have been the one to educate and supervise me. Lastly, supervision and evaluation of my
performance was inadequate because my manager never checked on me to see how I was
working even though she was pleased with the end result (NCSBN, 1997). The task did get
completed, but without the help of Amanda it may not have. My manager was busy working on a
different wall in the building instead of overseeing all of the employees, assisting where needed,
and checking on how everyone was doing.
If this were to be done differently, I would have been trained prior to the floorset and
given a small task to complete myself. My manager would have checked in with me frequently
to see how I was doing. If I was able to efficiently complete small tasks, I could move on to
larger, more complex tasks. I think that I did what I could to get the job done; I asked a lot of
questions and asked for help when I needed it, which helped the situation. However, the task
took much longer than necessary and could have been done more efficiently with the proper
training and delegation.
Overall, nursing students can learn a lot from their experiences with delegating or being a
delegatee. The more that nursing students are exposed to delegation and have experience with
delegating tasks, the more comfortable they will feel in their first year of their RN practice.
These experiences allow nursing students to grow from their mistakes and develop their own
individual leadership and management skills, which are essential to being a safe, competent
nurse.

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5
References

Goodwin, L. (2014). Patient care models, and delegation [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from
https://docs.google.com/viewer?
a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbWFpbnxudXJzMzMyMGNzdXN0YW58Z3g
6MmM1MjVmMjM1YTRlYmExNQ
Keogh, Kat. (2014). Lecturer says delegation should be a part of pre-registration courses.
Nursing Standard, 29 (1).
National Council of State Boards of Nursing. (1997). The five rights of delegation. Retrieved
from https://www.ncsbn.org/fiverights.pdf.
Potter, P., Deshields, T., & Kuhrik, M. (2014). Delegation practices between registered nurses
and nursing assistive personnel. Journal of Nursing Management, 18 (2), 157-165.