Delegation In Nursing: Strategies To Overcome The Problem

1. Choose one of the issues raised by the graduate nurses described in the transcript (Your choice is either scope of practice or delegation). Justify your choice by using 10 peer-reviewed literature.
2. Explain how, if the issue is left unresolved, it could cause conflict in the workplace and impact on positive nursing teamwork.
3. Discuss 3 realistic leadership strategies that a beginning registered nurse could use to resolve the identified conflict and enable team cohesion.

The Importance of Delegation in Nursing

Professional capacity refers to the ability of an individual to carry out his responsibility that can help him in achieving his professional goal. It can help an individual to be successful in his career which can help him in realizing his objective in life (Barrow & McMillan, 2018). An individual should use strategies that can help him in learning and develop the areas of weakness that can help him in having a successful life. This report throws light on the issue of delegation in nursing and the impact that it can have on the career of a health care professional. It discusses 3 realistic strategies that can help Daria in overcoming problem relating to delegation.

The issue that has been chosen is delegation and the difficulty that Daria is facing in the life owing to her inability of delegating the tasks properly. It is important as it can help an individual in handling various duties that one has to perform in the profession of nursing (Nursingmidwiferyboard.gov.au., 2018). Daria faces problem pertaining to delegation as she feels that the subordinates will feel that Daria does not want to perform a particular task and put it on the shoulder of other people. A confusion that rises is that often an individual do not know who is the correct person to whom the task can be delegated that creates problems. Being unaware of the skill set and knowledge of the peers and subordinates can cause an individual to face barriers in relation to delegation.

 Nurses have various duties and they have a large number of patients under their care (Kim & Gu, 2015). The patient care is a time-consuming task and delegation can act as a vital tool that can help the nurses in spending time in a productive manner. This issue was chosen as delegation is an important professional skill that can help an individual in succeeding in the nursing profession. Delegation can help an individual in saving considerable amount of time and it can help an individual in performing one’s own duties. It can help an individual in focussing on the challenges. Delegation has been chosen as this process can help other individuals in the aspect of learning skills that can prove to be fruitful for their professional development (Cagginello et al., 2014). Delegation is a necessary skill in relation to nursing practice and the shortage of nursing staff has made delegation important in the present age. A nurse has different kind of health care resources and the delegation of the appropriate tasks to the assistive caregivers can prove to be cost-effective in ensuring high quality of health care (De Vliegher et al., 2016).

Barriers to Delegation in Nursing and Related Issues

The coping abilities of the nurses become strained in the event of the workload being consistently heavy. In the event of the nurse not being able to delegate tasks properly, it can have catastrophic impact on the health of a patient. Daria not being able to delegate tasks properly can result into consumer ill-health and it can even cause death of the patient. It can also result in suspension from the nursing duty of Daria along with practice sanctions. The inadequate delegation of Daria can result in unfavourable the unfavourable client outcome and it can severely damage the reputation of a heath care institution. Daria will become distressed in the occasion of formal complaints being made about her and her career will be jeopardised (Saqer & AbuAlRub, 2018).  Delegation can be said to be a sign of leadership and not weakness. Daria will not be able to rise ahead in her career and she would be stuck in the low level management position. The unwillingness to delegate shows arrogance and control issues on the part of Daria that will have repurcussions on the overall performance of a team. It will make the person less successful and make him less effective within the professional domain. Delegation can help in improving the performance of the team and it will be able to help Daria into evolving as a better manager (Kim & Choi, 2015).  

The inability to delegate can cause Daria to make errors and it will have bad consequence for the patient. Delegation can help in improving the efficiency of the nurses and it can help in ensuring the fact that the patients get best possible care. Delegation can help in improving the efficiency of the nurse. With the help of effective delegation certain tasks can be transferred to other people who have better capacities for performing a particular task (Siegel et al., 2018). Not being able to delegate can discourage the team members of Daria and it can greatly harm their professional development. Delegation can help the team members in taking personal interest pertaining to their development and it can pave the path for the success of her team. Daria would not be able to get valuable feedback in the event of being incapable to delegate. She would be deprived of proper support within the professional environment (Schoorman, Mayer & Davis, 2016).

There are certain strategies that can be taken recourse to by a registered nurse that can help him in learning the art of delegation. A person should develop priority system pertaining to the task that can be an effective strategy in relation to delegation. An individual who is delegating can create four categories on the basis of the effort and the skill that a particular task would require. The person who is delegating can keep the tasks that require the greatest amount of skill and those that are lower-skilled can be given to other people (Graham, Harvey & Puri, 2015). The establishing of the firm priority system can help an individual in understanding the nature of the tasks and it can help in the process of effective delegation.

Strategies for Overcoming the Problem of Delegation in Nursing

Daria can provide the context or the reason why someone else is being given the responsibility that can be a realistic strategy in relation to delegation. The people should be communicated why they are being chosen specifically and how they can grow professionally with the help of the delegated task (Chang, Solomon & Westerfield, 2016).  A registered nurse has to learn the subtleties of the teammates. He should know the strengths along with weakness of the team members and allocate work on this basis.

Feedback loops can act as a realistic strategy in relation to delegation. Feedback is an important part in relation to the process of delegation. In the event of the workers performing well at a particular task they should be publicly thanked. Genuine praise should be offered to them that can act as an effective strategy in relation to delegation. Constructive criticism should be provided to the employees who perform well at a particular task (Cagginello et al., 2014). The workers should be invited for sharing their thoughts regarding the effectiveness of delegator. It can help in determining whether the delegator is providing the right amount of information and whether the right tasks are being assigned to right people. One has to realize that the process of delegation would never be perfect but one can learn from the experiences and make adjustment so that one can improve.

Conclusion

Handling various responsibilities is an important aspect of nursing. A delegator has to know regarding the skill set along with knowledge of peers that can prove to be of great help when he is delegating the tasks. The registered nurses have many patients under them and hence it becomes crucial for them to learn about delegation. A nurse not being capable of delegating tasks properly can lead to grave consequences. It can pave the path for ill-health of the patient and the patient can even die. The nurse can also be suspended from the duty and he may have to face practical sanctions. The delegator can make use of priority system that can act as a useful strategy in relation to delegation.

References:

Barrow, J. M., & McMillan, J. (2018). Nursing, Five Rights of Delegation.

Cagginello, J., Blackborow, M., Porter, J., Disney, J., Andresen, K., & Tuck, C. (2014). Nursing Delegation to Unlicensed Assistive Personnel in the School Setting. Position Statement. Revised. National Association of School Nurses (NASN).

Chang, T. Y., Solomon, D. H., & Westerfield, M. M. (2016). Looking for someone to blame: Delegation, cognitive dissonance, and the disposition effect. The Journal of Finance, 71(1), 267-302.

De Vliegher, K., Declercq, A., Aertgeerts, B., & Moons, P. (2016). Health care assistants in home nursing: The Holy Grail or the emperor’s new clothes? A qualitative study. Home Health Care Management & Practice, 28(1), 51-56.

Graham, J. R., Harvey, C. R., & Puri, M. (2015). Capital allocation and delegation of decision-making authority within firms. Journal of Financial Economics, 115(3), 449-470.

Kim, E. J., & Gu, M. O. (2015). Recognition for nursing competency importance, nursing competency level, and their influencing factors of nurses in the long-term care hospitals. Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial Cooperation Society, 16(3), 1989-2001.

Kim, J., & Choi, S. O. (2015). Recognition for the Delegation of Nursing Jobs in Korea. Indian Journal of Science and Technology, 8(18).

Nursingmidwiferyboard.gov.au. (2018). Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia - Home. Retrieved from https://www.nursingmidwiferyboard.gov.au/

Saqer, T. J., & AbuAlRub, R. F. (2018). Missed nursing care and its relationship with confidence in delegation among hospital nurses. Journal of clinical nursing.

Schoorman, F. D., Mayer, R. C., & Davis, J. H. (2016). Perspective: Empowerment in veterinary clinics: the role of trust in delegation. Journal of Trust Research, 6(1), 91-95.

Siegel, E. O., Bettega, K., Bakerjian, D., & Sikma, S. (2018). Leadership in Nursing Homes: Directors of Nursing Aligning Practice With Regulations. Journal of gerontological nursing, 44(6), 10-14.