Case Scenario:
A Nurse Manager hires a Registered Nurse to work part-time evenings and every other weekend on a 42-bed medical/surgical unit. The RN has been out of school for two years and this is her first job as a staff nurse in a hospital setting; before this she worked in a physician’s office. Shortly after completing orientation the nurse was assigned as the “Charge Nurse” for the next several weekends. After the Charge Nurse’s first weekend, the Nurse Manager receives the following complaints.
From licensed staff:
“It seems like she just picked out rooms to make assignments. She didn’t listen to report first or check the charge nurse report sheet. She seemed more concerned about her own patients and getting her medications out on time.”
From unlicensed staff:
“She asked me to do things I have never done before! When she told me to hang the tube feeding, I said I can’t do that and she said JUST DO AS YOU ARE TOLD.”
From the Charge Nurse:
“I don’t understand what the concern is? The tube feeding is just putting fluid into a bag. In the doctor’s office, the assistants do all kinds of stuff, and besides I had my own patients…what is the big deal?”
Discussion Items:
1.List two (2) principles of delegation that were violated in this situation? Support your response with rationales detailing how these principles were breached. (Refer to p. 134-137 of your course text.)
2.How could the unlicensed staff person have advocated for herself?
3.If you were working with this charge nurse, what would you have done?
4.See the Joint statement on Delegation posted in this module for the principles of delegation.