Editing RN Scope of Practice (section)

== Assessment and care planning authority ==

The initial and comprehensive assessment is an RN function and cannot be delegated. This includes the admission assessment, any assessment of an unstable or unpredictable client, and the interpretation of data that requires nursing judgment. Licensed practical or vocational nurses (LPN/LVN) in most jurisdictions may gather focused data, monitor previously assessed clients, and report findings, but they do not perform the initial comprehensive assessment or analyze data to establish the plan of care.

Likewise, the RN owns the plan of care. Formulating nursing diagnoses, setting outcomes, prioritizing problems, revising the plan in response to a change in condition, and performing the final evaluation of care are non-delegable RN activities (NCSBN and ANA, 2019). Other team members contribute data and implement portions of the plan.

Priority-setting frameworks tested at the RN level include airway, breathing, circulation; Maslow's hierarchy, in which physiologic needs generally precede psychosocial needs; the concept of the least stable or most acute client first; and acute or unexpected findings taking precedence over chronic or expected ones.