Management of Care
What can an RN delegate to assistive personnel?
Question
A registered nurse is working with assistive personnel (AP) on a medical unit. Which task can the nurse delegate to the AP?
Show the answer and rationale
Correct answer: D
A. Incorrect. Teaching takes nursing judgment about what the client understands and what to go over again, so it stays with the nurse.
B. Incorrect. The admission assessment is the basis of the care plan. The national delegation guidelines say clinical reasoning, nursing judgment and critical decision making cannot be delegated.
C. Incorrect. Judging a client's response to a medicine is evaluation, and evaluation takes nursing judgment.
D. Correct. Vital signs on a stable client are a routine task an AP can do. The guidelines base the decision on the client's condition, the AP's competence and the supervision needed, and the nurse still interprets the results. State law and employer policy set the exact limits.
Sources: NCSBN and ANA: National Guidelines for Nursing Delegation (2019); NCSBN: 2026 NCLEX-RN Test Plan (PDF)
More Management of Care questions
Practice only. These questions are written by RemoteNurse and are not taken from the NCLEX or any other question bank. RemoteNurse is not affiliated with or endorsed by NCSBN, and practice here does not predict an exam result. Each rationale links the source it rests on.