delegation

peds4now, RN · Apr 27, 2007

This is a hard one and something a lot of RNs struggle with I think. Try to forget the previous incident ever happened. It is your job to delegate to her, so you have to do your job. Do not ask her to do things. Say really nicely, but confidently, "Room xxx needs xxx." If she says nothing, you could politely ask her "when will you be able to do that?" or "please chart it when it's done and let me know" IF she actually does it, thank her with genuine joy. Try to be helpful to her without doing her job for her (i.e., team hygiene for hard patients, doing things if it truly is her break time). If she suddenly has to go on break for 45 minutes and can't be found, jot it down on a paper but keep trying-keep records. I would try several times, and speak to more senior nurses (who may be just as frustrated as you) to see how to go about getting a CNA to do her job. Ultimately, if being really nice but authoritative doesn't work, you will have to talk to the charge nurse and then unit administrator. Don't let her give you a guilt trip or pull age on you-it is actually her job and she has chosen to take this job on at the pay she has been offered. Telling her she's great and you couldn't survive without her is true and would help. Pastries or a healthy treat for the floor every once and a while helps. Holiday gifts would help too-but that's further down the line, it won't solve your problems, just will help keep your relationship loving.

These are just my ideas. As an RN you can't just say "that's not my job", cause it actually is your legal responsibility to coordinate care for your patient, but a CNA must do her job also.