Question

Case Study

You are working the night shift on a medical unit and have been assigned charge nurse responsibilities. You are working with four RNs, one LPN, and two UAPs. A client becomes pulseless and is not breathing, and the nurse assigned to the client’s care calls a code. The nurse is occupied at this client’s bedside for 1.5 hours until the resuscitation effort is completed, and the client is transferred to the intensive care unit. This nurse also has four other assigned clients. In addition to the nurse assigned to care for the client requiring resuscitation, two of the other nurses working on your unit are assisting in the code.

Review the case study and write an essay (suggested length of 2–3 pages) in which you do the following:

Discuss what tasks could you delegate to the UAPs?

The LPN working on the unit is a new graduate and has been employed for only 4 weeks. How would you collaborate with this nurse when delegating tasks for completion?

Discuss how you will maintain the safety of the other clients on your unit while three nurses are occupied with the client requiring resuscitation?

Explain how might effective delegation to other team members contribute to care of the clients on the unit?

Answer 1

ANSWER: UAP- Unlicensed assistive personnel ( do different types of tasks which are necessary to provide a safe and effective care. For instance, Standard precautions that do not require skills to perform a sterile technique). RN- Registered Nurse ( are not limited to working in hospital settings. Their responsibilities greatly varies depending on the work in the healthcare setting. RNs might administer drugs, consult with other healthcare providers, monitor patients, educate individuals and family, and be responsible for managing medical records). LPN- Licensed practical nursing (works one on one with patients to keep them comfortable and collect information for registered nurse and physicians. They also perform certain duties like admission of new patients, history collection, educating patient and family members, vital signs monitoring and recording, administration of medications, wound care and dressing). Everyone is responsible for the well-being of patients. While the nurse is ultimately accountable for the overall care provided to a patient, the delegatee shares the responsibility for the patient and is fully responsible for the delegated activity, skill and procedures. The UAP function under the nurse or by providing patient care activities as delegated by the RN. In this case of emergency, the charge nurse assign the UAP to help the RN in monitoring the vitalsigns, cleaning of patient and help the nurse to assist in continuing the care under the supervision of RN. DELEGATING TASK FOR LPN: When delegating task to a newly graduated LPN, the nurse should assist while giving care to an emergency patient. In this case, the RN should assist the LPN in giving care to the patient. When assigning a task to LPN, the charge nurse should explain the responsibilities of monitoring vital signs and should assist in recording and administration of medications under the supervision. HOW TO MAINTAIN SAFETY OF OTHER CLIENTS: At the time of resusication and further care, effective care is needed to maintain the well-being of the patient. The charge nurse should assign a RN and LAP in assisting the physician and by monitoring the vital signs. The charge nurse assign the other nurses to clients by providing privacy, monitoring of vital signs and by providing a safety environment. UAP give standard care by administering medications, monitoring of vitalsigns and IV fluids, maintaining intake out output chart under the supervision of other RN or charge nurse. EFFECTIVE DELEGATION: Delegation is an important management for team leader activity. Effective delegation is an important leadership skill to balance workloads and provides staff management oppourtunities. The nurse delegating the task must be responsible for the task and the outcomes. In view to provide a effective care, the charge nurse should follow the rights of delegation on task, circumstances, person, communication and evaluation. In addition to this, the nurse is responsible to follow up and receive the report on the outcomes. The nurse is responsible to ensure standards of care and safety to other patients in case of emergencies. Effective supervision skills and commmunication by the nurse provides a safety environment to other clients.