Question

Delegation

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Tom Joserine, a nurse manager of a 36-bed orthopedic unit, has decided that he is too busy to complete all the work that needs to be done. Nurse Joserine has recently read an article on delegation and has decided that delegating tasks to others is an excellent way to accomplish the mound of work that he has to complete. He believes that there are two tasks that take most of his time, disciplinary problems and quality improvement activities. Nurse Joserine calls the nursing coordinator, Janet Jeleen, into the office and informs her that she will now be responsible for all evaluations and handling of incident reports. Nurse Jeleen tells him that she will need some guidance on this new activity. Nurse Joserine informs her that the hospital has managerial classes in which she can enroll to help her with this new duty.

Nurse Joserine also calls Jo Ellen Mae, a clinical nurse specialist for the orthopedic unit, and informs her that she will now be responsible and accountable for the quality improvement activities on the unit. Monthly reports are due on the 10th of each month. He informs Nurse Mae that if she has any questions, she can call the head of the quality improvement committee. When Nurse Joserine leaves the hospital that day, he feels good that he has decreased his workload and happy that he found the article on delegation.

1. Did Nurse Joserine delegate tasks appropriately? Why or why not?
2. Who will be held accountable for the outcomes of the roles/tasks that Nurse Joserine has delegated?

Answer 1

The nurse coordinator are generally involved in patient care by coordinating the necessary staff. The delegation of task of evaluation and incident report to this professional without any previous experience or knowledge is a risk if designated to do it . Moreover the nurse coordinator is informed to attend the managerial classes ,so it clearly indicates that this staff needs to learn the skills first and then allocated work by the nurse manager.

Quality improvement though can be assigned to the clinical nurse specialist ,the nurse manager should be responsible to clarify any doubts and supervise the staff so that errors can be avoided

The nurse manager allocation or delegation of the task to the staff is not much appropriate.