Delegation: the five rights on one page
A single task token travelling left to right through five gate plates, diverting downward to a box marked the RN keeps it at any failed gate.
The five rights
- Right task. The task is delegable and sits within the delegatee's role and demonstrated competence.
- Right circumstance. The client is stable and predictable, and the setting supports the task.
- Right person. This specific person has performed this specific task for this kind of client.
- Right direction and communication. Clear, specific instruction with the expected result and what to report back.
- Right supervision and evaluation. Monitoring during, intervention if needed, and feedback afterward.
What is never delegated
Assessment, nursing judgment, teaching, and evaluation of outcomes stay with the registered nurse, as does the care of any client who is unstable or unpredictable. Delegating a task does not transfer the accountability for the nursing judgment behind it. You can hand over the doing. You cannot hand over the deciding.
Memory hookTASK · TIME · TALENT · TELL · TRACK
- TASK — right task
- TIME — right circumstance
- TALENT — right person
- TELL — right direction and communication
- TRACK — right supervision and evaluation
Your state Nurse Practice Act defines who may accept what. It is state-specific and it controls.
Margin noteyou can hand over the task and still own the outcome.
Watch outAn unstable client is a failed right circumstance no matter how routine the task looks. Vital signs on a deteriorating client are not a routine task.
TakeawayA task is delegable only when all five rights are satisfied, and accountability for the nursing judgment never transfers with it. → BOOK 01 · P20 · → BOOK 03 · P9