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Difficulty: EasyAssignment, Delegation and Supervision

A registered nurse (RN) on a general medical unit is coordinating daily care activities with an unlicensed assistive personnel (UAP). Which of the following tasks is most appropriate for the RN to delegate to the UAP?

  1. Emptying a urinary catheter drainage bag and recording the total output volume for a stable client.Answer
  2. B
    Instructing a client with newly diagnosed heart failure on the importance of a daily weight routine.
  3. C
    Auscultating the lung sounds of a client who was recently admitted with an acute asthma exacerbation.
  4. D
    Evaluating a client's verbalized pain level 30 minutes after the administration of an oral analgesic.

Answer

Emptying a urinary catheter drainage bag and recording the total output volume for a stable client.
The RN can safely delegate routine, standard procedures that have predictable outcomes to the UAP. Emptying a drainage bag and recording output for a stable client is a basic care task that does not require nursing judgment, clinical assessment, or health teaching.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the role and scope of practice of the unlicensed assistive personnel (UAP).
Identify that UAPs can perform routine, standard tasks that do not require clinical judgment, assessment, or teaching.
Understanding scope of practice is essential for safe delegation.
2
Evaluate each provided task against the 'EAT' acronym (Evaluate, Assess, Teach), which are tasks the RN must retain.
Instructing is teaching, auscultating is assessing, and determining pain relief is evaluating.
Applying standard delegation frameworks helps eliminate tasks outside the UAP's scope.
3
Select the task that falls within the UAP's permitted duties.
Emptying a drainage bag and recording the volume is a basic, routine activity of daily living/care.
This task poses minimal risk and requires no independent clinical decision-making.

Key Concept

Delegation to Unlicensed Assistive Personnel (UAP)
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Topics

Assignment, Delegation and Supervision

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