Delegation question

DLRN · Jul 26, 2005

What would you delegate to LPN or UAP:
a. transport active TB person to radiology
b. feed recent CVA person who is on thickened diet (risk for aspiration I guess)??

Had the same question today also,I put the one with the cva,aspiration,you wouldnt give to a uap and I was thinking it doesnt matter if the nurse wore a resp mask,the pt wouldnt be transported to radiology with active TB,would he?I'm not sure,that test killed me,I had alot of a nurse is teaching a class in infection control etc..

KaliNurse · Jul 26, 2005

What would you delegate to LPN or UAP:
a. transport active TB person to radiology
b. feed recent CVA person who is on thickened diet (risk for aspiration I guess)??

I beleive the UAP can safely transport a patient with active TB to radiology. The patient with active TB has to wear a mask when leaving the room for transport. That is the only thing that needs to be done. There are no other precautions necessary as far as I'm concerned. The LPN can do the feeding of the CVA patient. You are correct, I agree....risk for aspiration would be the determining factor there! Good luck! :)

mye614 · Jul 26, 2005

I beleive the UAP can safely transport a patient with active TB to radiology. The patient with active TB has to wear a mask when leaving the room for transport. That is the only thing that needs to be done. There are no other precautions necessary as far as I'm concerned. The LPN can do the feeding of the CVA patient. You are correct, I agree....risk for aspiration would be the determining factor there! Good luck! :)

I would assign the UAP to transport this pat with active TB to radiology provided the patient is wearing a mask (airborne precaution). With the CVA pt, it would be more safer to assign this to the LPN because the LPN is licensed and trained to intervene incase of aspiration during feeding.

Purlple · Jul 26, 2005

It makes me feel better others think alike.

napoca · Jul 27, 2005

I would assign the UAP to transport this pat with active TB to radiology provided the patient is wearing a mask (airborne precaution). With the CVA pt, it would be more safer to assign this to the LPN because the LPN is licensed and trained to intervene incase of aspiration during feeding.

Whai is CVA ? Is it nurse assistent ?

GigLs2u · Jul 27, 2005

i worked inpatient neurology for more years than i care to remember. licensed and non-licensed staff could do both of the things listed below.

licensed and non-licensed staff were taught what they needed to know before doing either. for example, how much "thick-it" to mix with food and how much food to put on spoon.this was before the term "delegated tasks" became prominant in statues related to nursing practice.

the patient suspected of tb wore a special mask and was transported to radiology. these mask have limited time of effectiveness. at the hospital i worked a licensed nurse, usually the primary care nurse, went down with these patients in case there were complications. more recently, i saw portable machines brought into a patient's room who was bed bound. the machine was left in the ante room after utilization for decontamination.

to me, this is prioritization and nursing assessment.

active tb indicates afb smears are positive with m. tuberculosis bacilli. the radiographic imagine will hopefully show cavitation in the chest. the sputum is the primary specimen used to determine effectiveness of treatment.

the recent cva, cerebral vascular accident, leads me to believe this patient needs the r.n. the most for assessment regarding neurologic impact on patient's ability to consume food including how thick it needs to be, quantity of food bolus can tolerate, ability to use an extremity to participate in feeding self and establishing a plan of care which includes lpn and uap once the patient has stabilized.

my answer is delegate to lpn or uap the transport active tb person to radiology.

what would you delegate to lpn or uap:
a. transport active tb person to radiology
b. feed recent cva person who is on thickened diet (risk for aspiration i guess)??

DLRN · Jul 27, 2005

Whai is CVA ? Is it nurse assistent ?

A cva is a stroke

Purlple · Jul 28, 2005

i worked inpatient neurology for more years ...
my answer is delegate to lpn or uap the transport active tb person to radiology.

the nclex may not tie up with your experience well or so i was taught in nclex prep class. you need to think of it as an "ideal situation". the question is ... only lpn or only uap (no rns) because this is a delegation type qs. it does not have another choice. another way of saying, you need to delegate each to either lpn or uap.

napoca · Jul 28, 2005

A cva is a stroke

Sorry, I know what is CVA, I have misspelled, I wanted to ask what is UAP?! I guess is something like nurse assistant (unlicensed...

GigLs2u · Jul 28, 2005

The way the original posting was listed I took the OP to mean it was an either/or answer. I didn't realize that the NCLEX has matching now. It has been a long time.

A recent CVA patient's consuming food should be under the assessment of an RN. For this reason, I excluded it as my original either/or answer. If it is an ideal situtation where this has already occurred then the LVN would be assigned the CVA patient because she has the technical experience to feed patients with difficulty swallowing and has to perform to a higher standard than a UAP.

The UAP assignment would remain unchanged.

The NCLEX may not tie up with your experience well or so I was taught in NCLEX prep class. You need to think of it as an "IDEAL situation". The question is ... only LPN or only UAP (no RNs) because this is a delegation type qs. It does not have another choice. Another way of saying, you need to delegate each to either LPN or UAP.

Home Health Columnist / Guide · Jul 28, 2005

UAP = unlicensed assistive personal

May be staff who received on the job training or certifed nursing assistant

Duties vary form institution to institution and state to state.