Prioritisation and delegation

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SUGGESTED TEMPLATE: NRSG355 WRITTEN ASSESSMENT
Q1: Prioritisation and delegation (module one)
After returning to the ward after tea break, my staff members have
informed me about six patient problems in the ward. I need to manage some of
the patients myself and delegation some of the actions to my staffs members.
The staff members available to provide me support includes an enrolled nurse
(EN) incompetent in cannulation, an AIN (Assistant in Nursing), the work clerk
and an RN acting as NUM (Nurse Unit Manager). Based on use of my critical
thinking and judgment, take to be done first in order of priority and the task that
needs to be delegated to others is explained below in tabular form:
Issue Priority Action and rationale
An elderly patient post
operation collapses on
the flood and is
unconscious
1st priority Action: I will take the
responsibility to
delegate this task to
the EN as according to
scope of practice of
EN , they can conduct
assessment of patient
and reviewing their
vital signs. I will also
take the AIN with me to
provide assistance
during assessment of
patient.
Rationale:
Immediately going to

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this patient is
important because she
is an elderly patient
with facial surgery and
it is possible that her
unconsciousness might
be an indication of
post-surgical
complications. Hence,
assessment of the
patient is necessary to
understand the cause
of unconsciousness and
decide whether
emergency MET calls
should be initiated for
patient or not. Vincent
et al. (2018) suggest
that to detect
deteriorations sooner,
post-operative patient
should be regularly
monitored. Assessment
of the elderly patient
may help to identify
risk of respiratory
compromise or effect of

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post-operative drugs on
consciousness of
patient.
Mr. Esposito is to leave
the ward now for his
cardiac catherisation and
he has not received his
pre operative
medications
2nd priority area As the EN is not
competent in
cannulation, I will
provide post-operative
medication to patient.
This is because
medication
administration is the
core responsibility of
registered nurse
The main rationale for
responding to Mr.
Espisito first is that if
his pre operative
medications are not
given on time, then it
may delay his cardiac
catherisation process.
Providing his
medication on time is
vital for safe on cardiac
catherization process
as the medication may
have an impact on the

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outcome of the
catherization process
(Sousa-Uva et al.,
2017).
Mr. Smith’s visitor has
fainted
3rd priority area Action:
This responsibility will
be given to EN as they
competent in assessing
vital signs (Nursing and
Midwifery Board of
Australia, 2016). This
may help to identify
the cause of fainting.
Rationale:
The main rationale for
using attending to the
visitor is that Mr. Smith
may be anxious about
the event and taking
his visitor to an
appropriate place for
assessment is
important. This will also
help to assess if she
has sustained any
injuries.
Mr. Chew’s infusion has 4th priority area Action: