A nurse is delegating routine tasks for a stable postoperative patient. Which statement indicates understanding of delegation principles?

• A. The UAP may perform routine tasks such as bathing and transferring; the LPN may perform selected stable patient care activities and medications that do not require initial assessment, while the RN maintains assessment and critical decision-making.
• B. The RN can delegate all tasks to unregulated assistive personnel.
• C. The LPN should perform initial assessments.
• D. UAP should administer medications.

Answer: (C)

The key idea here is how delegation boundaries are set among the RN, LPN, and UAP to keep patient safety while using staff appropriately. The RN is responsible for the initial and ongoing nursing assessment and for critical decisions about care. UAPs handle routine activities that don’t require clinical judgment, such as bathing and transferring. LPNs can carry out selected stable patient care activities and administer certain medications that don’t require an initial assessment, but they don’t replace the RN’s role in assessing the patient.

For a stable postoperative patient, the best arrangement is for the RN to perform the initial assessment and ongoing evaluation, with the UAP handling routine tasks like bathing and transferring, and the LPN taking on stable, routine care activities and medications that don’t require a fresh assessment. The statement that assigns initial assessments to the LPN does not align with these delegation principles because initial assessment is a task that requires nursing judgment and is within the RN’s scope.

In short, delegation relies on matching tasks to training while preserving the RN’s responsibility for assessment and decision-making, with UAPs handling routine tasks and LPNs managing stable tasks and non-assessment-dependent meds under appropriate supervision.