Deligation on RN Tasks

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Can you deligate the following tasks:

Use of a Bladder Scanner

Dopper for pulses

Specimen Collection

Thanks so much

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Um this is just a guess because many tasks are deligated but "legally" not suppose to be. However, i am pretty sure that you can deligate a bladder scan no risk to patient and no training needed. doppler for pulses i personally would not deligate this task. you are using the doppler for a specific reason - unpalpable pulses, sign of inadequate tissue perfussion/blood flow, postop etc. specimen collection i would say can not be deligated but it could depend on the type of specimen and method of use. also deligating tasks are sometimes diffrent depending on where you work and some are never deligated to anyone but you. hope this helps

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Thanks for your help. I can not find the answers to these questions in our books.

Thanks Again.

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Specializes in nursing home, home health, hospital.

As long as the specimen collection is of a substance that the tech or lpn has been trained to work with it's ok. For instance, a tech can collect urine and fecal samples nearly everywhere and in the facility that I work in they are also trained to do lab draws. But I wouldn't trust them to do any kind of actual swabs those can just get messed up too easily some nurses are even tuely compitent about such things even though they have to do it. I'm absolutely amazed by the number of nurses out there that don't know how to properly culture a wound... At any rate as far as delegating tasks to a LPN/LVN it's my understanding that a lot of it falls into the facilities policies however I do know that only an RN can obtain blood gases. No i personally wouldn't have a problem with either of them assisting me and doing any of the above. Like if I knew that i had to swab a wound i wouldn't have a problem letting the tech remove the dressing before I got in there as long as it wasn't the first time the wound or incision would be without a dressing. I always like to be in there for the first time a dressing is removed it's just a personal thing for me. But in the interest of saving time I'd delegate smaller though equally helpful tasks to someone else some of the time.

Hope this helps,

Andrea

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Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.

just about any task can be delegated. the trick is who are you delegating it to. here are the general rules and guidelines of delegation:

  • primary concern is to make sure that the patient is safe
  • you must know the job descriptions and abilities of the healthcare personnel and subordinates who you supervise
  • you must know facility policies and procedures
  • you must know your nurse practice act
  • you must delegate tasks to those who you know are capable of performing what you are assigning them to do
  • you base tasks that you delegate to others on your knowledge of the state nurse practice act, facility policies and facility job descriptions.
  • give directions for the task that are clear in order to avoid misunderstandings
  • give a deadline when you expect the task to be completed
  • ask the person to repeat back instructions to verify they have the directions correct if you suspect they do not understand what you are asking them to do
  • follow-up to make sure the task was completed correctly and by the deadline in order to evaluate the performance of the task (this is your supervision function)
  • provide praise when tasks are done well and within deadlines; provide feedback and criticism when necessary
  • assign same tasks to the same individuals if possible
  • remember that as the rn you are ultimately accountable, so if you fail to follow or do any of the above in a responsible way, you've failed in delegating a task correctly.

can you delegate the following tasks:

  • use of a bladder scanner - no, this piece of equipment usually involves specialized training
  • doppler for pulses - yes if the person has been shown how the doppler works
  • specimen collection - it depends on what kind of specimen: urine (yes, but perhaps not from a foley), stool (yes), sputum (yes, but perhaps not from a trach), blood (perhaps not if it involves venipuncture)

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Specializes in Med Surg, ER, OR.

Always check your P&P and if there are questions, ask your staff developer. :)

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We reviewed task delegation this past semester and used the following texts:

ATI Fundamentals of Nursing

Fundamentals of Nursing (Taylor)

Fundamentals for Success (published by Saunders, I think).

I hope those provide some good resources.

Based on Daytonite's answer and my understanding of the Nurse Practice Act in Mass., I would say the answers to your questions are:

1. Bladder scan (routine)--yes

2. Doppler--maybe...I agree with StepByStep. Its difficult to determine based on the limited info given on the pt.

3. Specimen collection--yes for urine and feces, wound & blood, no

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