Nursing Leadership
Part 1
As a nurse manager in a local hospital setting, I will first start by making Laura accept the new changes. From my perspective, Laura does not have acceptance of the new situation. Therefore, accepting and embracing the new changes will be important. These changes will include variations in payment and diversion in the duties. I will encourage Laura to adapt to the changes by gradually interacting with the staff members. On the part of the staff nurses, I would encourage them to understand that adapting to new changes especially when one had been working for a long time.
Part 2
Professional nurses have certain responsibilities when delegating tasks to the licensed practical nurses (LPNs) and unlicensed assistive personnel (UAP). Firstly, the professional nurses determine the scope of the nursing practice. The professional nurses supervise and determine the proper use of any of the UAP involved in the care of patients (Motacki & Burke, 2011, p. 18). The nurses supervise and define the utilization, training and education of the UAP.
Before the delegation of the tasks, there has to been consideration of certain factors. These factors include accountability, confidentiality and effective communication. There is a difference between assignment and delegation of duties. Assignment of tasks refers to the allocation of patient care interventions that are within the provider’s field of practice. On the other hand, delegation of tasks refers to the transfer of duties for the performance of activities across individuals while retaining the accountability of the outcomes.
The nurse manager’s legal responsibility in supervising UAPs involves determination of potential for harm, complexity of the task, amount of problem innovation and solving required, unpredictability of the outcome and level of patient interaction.
References
Motacki, K., & Burke, K. (2011). Nursing delegation and management of patient care. St. Louis, MO: Mosby/Elsevier.
