Editing Medical-Surgical Nursing – RN Practice Questions (section)

==Question 8==
A registered nurse is making assignments on a medical-surgical unit. Which tasks may the nurse appropriately delegate to unlicensed assistive personnel? '''Select all that apply.'''
# Obtaining vital signs on a stable patient two days after a cholecystectomy.
# Assisting a stable postoperative patient to ambulate in the hallway.
# Performing the admission assessment on a newly arrived patient.
# Recording intake and output for a patient with heart failure.
# Reinforcing preoperative teaching about incentive spirometry for the first time.

'''Answer:''' Options 1, 2, and 4.

''Rationale:'' Unlicensed assistive personnel may perform standardized, predictable tasks for stable patients that do not require nursing judgment, including vital signs, assisted ambulation, and intake and output measurement. Option 3 is not delegable, because the initial admission assessment requires the registered nurse's judgment and cannot be transferred. Option 5 is not delegable, because initial patient teaching is a registered nurse responsibility; unlicensed personnel may not teach, and even reinforcement of teaching belongs to licensed staff.