Introduction
Collaborative nursing care and delegation are central to achieving patient safety and optimal healthcare outcomes (Dini et al., 2011). As a nurse, I will appropriately delegate certain duties to other nursing personnel with a view to streamlining the care delivery process. This journal essay discusses ways of achieving the goal of delegation, and Vitas’ patient safety policies.
Delegation of Duties
Appropriate delegation is important in collaborative nursing (Dini et al., 2012). The objectives for this goal include enhancement of efficiency and cooperation among the nursing care personnel (Harris and Roussel, 2010). I will be delegating certain duties, such as aggregation of patient records and routine patient visits as deemed appropriate. To ensure efficiency, I will carefully stipulate the specific tasks delegated and ascertain that the particular nurse(s) to perform the tasks are competent to execute the duties (Anne et al., 2013). This will alleviate confusion and ensure that everything goes as planned. After the duties are performed, I will undertake an evaluation to ascertain that the tasks were done according to the expectations.
Vitas’ Policies of Patient Safety
Vitas Hospice emphasizes patient safety and has effective policies to ensure this (Fernandez et al., 2012). There are deliberate efforts by the management to provide specific guidelines to ensure strict adherence to safety standards. The management evaluates the nursing personnel’s performance based on the patient safety standards and uses the outcomes to design improvement plans (Fernandez et al., 2012). To this end, currently the hospice has an ‘Incident Report’ system in which nursing personnel are required to record and report all incidents related to patient safety, such as falls, injuries, malfunction of or accidents associated with medication equipment, as well as medication errors. The managers evaluate the records and develop improvement plans to prevent future incidents with a view to minimizing risks of harm to the patients.
Conclusion
All in all, delegation is important in delivering quality care to patient, and nurse leaders should ensure that delegation is done competently to enhance efficiency (Anne et al., 2013). Patient safety is essential in delivering quality care, and the said agency has effective measures to minimize risks of harm to patient.
References
Anne, M. B., Ann, R., Jens, P. G., & Lars, W. (2013). Factors Associated with Evidence-
Based Practice among Registered Nurses in Sweden: a National Cross-sectional Study. BMC Health Services Resource, 13: 165.
Dini, L., Sarganas, G., Heintze, C., & Braun, V. (2012). Home Visit Delegation in Primary Care.
Deutsches Arzeteblatt, 109(46): 795-801
Fernandez, R., Braun, K., Ozawa, J., Compton, M., Guzman, C., & Somogy-Zalud, E. (2012). Home –base Palliative Care Services for Underserved Populations. Journal of Palliative Medicine, 13(4): 413-419.
Harris, J. L., & Roussel, L. (2010). Initiating and Sustaining the Clinical Nurse Leader Role: A Practical Guide. Sudbury, Mass: Jones and Bartlett Publishers.
