an assignment refers to the routine care or activities that a nursing professional performs. Delegation refers to the act of transferring the responsibility of performing the task from one nursing professional to another. The Texas Board of Nursing states that nurses must comply with the Standards of Nursing Practice when delegation occurs. This means when delegating or being delegated to, the nurse must ensure it is within both parties scope of practice. According to the National Council of State Boards of Nursing (2016), "Regardless of how the state/jurisdiction defines delegation as compared to assignment, appropriate delegation allows for the transition of responsibility in a safe and consistent manner. The licensed nurse transfers the performance of an activity, skill, or procedure to a delegate. However, the practice pervasive functions of clinical reasoning, nursing judgment, or critical decision making cannot be delegated." Therefore, the nurse does not lose responsibility for the task and the patient receiving the intervention just because the nurse delegated the task. Barrow and Sharma (2020) state that nurses can use the five rights of delegation to make a safe decision while delegating a task. The five rights are the right task, the right circumstance, the right person, the risk supervision, and the right direction.
References
Barrow, J.M., & Sharma, S. (2020). Five Rights of Nursing Delegation. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK519519/ (Links to an external site.)
National Council of State Boards of Nursing. (2016). National Guidelines for Nursing Delegation. Journal of Nursing Regulation, 7(1),5‐14. Retrieved from https://www.ncsbn.org/NCSBN_Delegation_Guidelines.pdf