The five rights of delegation, worked one right at a time
A horizontal channel crossed by five gate bars, with a task token traveling left to right, a second greyed token deflected at gate two into a tray labeled RN KEEPS IT, and gate five drawn taller with a return arc back to the RN node at the start of the channel.
FIVE GATES, RUN IN ORDER
Everyone can recite the five rights. Almost nobody runs them. Recited, they are a list you nod at. Run, they are five gates a proposed delegation either passes or fails, and a failure at any gate stops the delegation cold.
Gate 1 · Right task
- Routine, predictable in outcome, and requiring no nursing judgment while it is performed.
- Hook: if the correct next step changes depending on what is found, it is not a right task.
Gate 2 · Right circumstance
- The patient is stable, the setting is appropriate, the equipment is present, and the supervising nurse is reachable.
- Hook: the same task is delegable on one patient and not on the next. The exam moves the circumstance far more often than it moves the task.
Gate 3 · Right person
- The receiver's role permits this work under the state Nurse Practice Act and facility policy, and this individual has documented competence and has performed it in this setting.
- Hook: role plus demonstrated competence, never role alone.
Gate 4 · Right direction and communication
- Specific, two way, and closed loop: what to do, on whom, by when, what to report back routinely, and what to report immediately.
- Hook: an option containing report anything unusual is vague and loses to one that names the finding and the number at which to report.
Gate 5 · Right supervision and evaluation
- Monitor during, intervene as needed, evaluate the outcome against what you wanted, and give feedback.
- Hook: delegation is not finished when the task is finished.
The gates run in order
You do not compensate for a wrong person with better supervision, and you do not rescue a wrong circumstance with clearer direction. Stop at the first failure and keep the task.
Worked example
The first ambulation after hip arthroplasty fails gate one, because tolerance must be assessed while it happens, and fails gate two, because the circumstance is a first attempt with unknown response. The second walk that same day, on a patient who tolerated the first without incident, can pass all five gates: routine task, stable circumstance, a person who has walked post-operative patients on this unit before, direction that names the distance and the two findings to report immediately, and an RN who checks the result rather than the checkbox.
Margin notethe exam breaks gate 2 and gate 4 most often.
Watch outgate three is a scope claim. Scope of practice is set by your state Nurse Practice Act and by facility policy.
Takeawayrun the gates in order and stop at the first failure.