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Question

Difficulty: MediumAssignment, Delegation and Supervision

An interdisciplinary healthcare team is managing client care on an inpatient infectious disease ward. The team includes a registered nurse (RN) and an unlicensed assistive personnel (UAP). Which clinical task is most appropriate for the RN to delegate to the UAP?

  1. Emptying the bedside commode and recording the urine output for a client receiving intravenous antibiotics for cellulitis.Answer
  2. B
    Instructing a client diagnosed with active pulmonary tuberculosis on how to properly secure an N95 respirator mask.
  3. C
    Evaluating the skin integrity and surrounding tissue of a peripheral intravenous insertion site for a client on antiviral therapy.
  4. D
    Collecting the initial set of vital signs for a newly admitted client transferring directly from the emergency department with severe sepsis.

Answer

Emptying the bedside commode and recording the urine output for a client receiving intravenous antibiotics for cellulitis.
The correct answer identifies a routine, standard task (emptying a commode and documenting output) for a stable client. This perfectly aligns with the UAP's scope of practice, which includes basic activities of daily living and data collection, provided no nursing judgment is required.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze each proposed task against the UAP scope of practice and the RN's delegation rules.
Recall that the RN cannot delegate Evaluation, Assessment, or Teaching (the EAT mnemonic).
Safe delegation requires assigning the right task to the right person under the right circumstances.
2
Evaluate the clinical stability of the clients involved in each scenario.
The newly admitted client with sepsis is unstable; the client with cellulitis on routine IV antibiotics is clinically stable.
UAPs should only be assigned tasks for clients with predictable, stable outcomes.
3
Select the task that requires routine, standard, and unchanging procedures without nursing judgment.
Emptying the commode and recording output is selected as the only appropriate task.
This task involves basic data collection and activities of daily living, which do not require nursing judgment, assessment, or teaching.

Key Concept

Delegation to Unlicensed Assistive Personnel (UAP)
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Topics

Assignment, Delegation and Supervision

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