Responsibilities of the nursing assistant

The responsibilities of a nursing assistant can vary depending on the setting and state where they work, but all nursing assistants operate within defined parameters or range of tasks they are legally permitted to perform.

In Oregon, the nursing assistant has a list of authorized duties that can be found in the Oregon Administrative Rules, Chapter 851, Division 63.

All the tasks performed by a nursing assistant will focus on helping nurses perform basic nursing skills that help clients meet their physical and emotional needs.

Meeting physical needs involves assisting clients with tasks related to hygiene, safety, food and water, comfort, exercise, and elimination.

Meeting emotional needs will involve connecting to the client, often by simply being willing to listen attentively when they need someone to talk to.

Finally, one of the most important duties of the nursing assistant is to act as a liaison between a client and the nursing team by observing and reporting to the nurse when they notice any changes in a client’s physical or mental status.

Now the standards and authorized duties for a nursing assistant is defined by their state and training, so it’s important to become familiar with these and work within your state’s rules.

For example, nursing assistants are not permitted to supervise other nursing assistants. Only licensed nurses may supervise nursing assistants.

Now, you can mentor and coach another nursing assistant.You can even assist in the orientation of a new nursing assistant to your facility but a licensed nurse will need to validate their competency and sign-off on their overall orientation.

Additionally, nursing assistants are not permitted to make diagnoses or prescribe medications or treatment, which are responsibilities of the health care provider.

In order to be a great nursing assistant, you must also possess certain personal characteristics, workplace skills, and physical capabilities.

You need to be courteous and respectful of others, in order to work well with your coworkers on the health care team and client who may be ill or disabled.You must also have strong written and verbal communication skills in order to relay important information to the nursing team, and you must be able to exercise good judgement and exhibit excellent problem-solving ability in order to deal with potentially stressful situations that may arise when caring for clients.

You will also need to be able to move well and lift heavy loads, maybe even upwards of 50 pounds, when repositioning or turning clients.Now, in order to make sure the nursing team operates smoothly and efficiently, nurses can delegate tasks to nursing assistants, meaning they can give responsibility to nursing assistants to perform tasks on their behalf.

Generally, the tasks nurses delegate to nursing assistants involve routine client care, but tasks may include data collection or documentation.

However, any tasks that involve clinical judgement or decision making, such as performing assessments, developing care plans, evaluating progress, or teaching cannot be delegated to a nursing assistant.

There are a set of guidelines called the five rights of delegation, designed to help nurses make the appropriate decisions regarding task delegation.

The five rights are: the right task, the right circumstance, the right person, the right direction, and the right supervision.

With the right task, the nurse must ensure the task can be delegated and is in the nursing assistant’s authorized duties and allowed through facility policy.

With the right circumstance, the nurse must consider the client's condition and whether or not they are stable enough for the task to be delegated to a nursing assistant.

With the right person, the nurse must ensure the nursing assistant is trained and experienced enough to safely complete the task.

With the right direction, the nurse must ensure they clearly explain to the nursing assistant how to perform the delegated task.

With the right supervision, the nurse must ensure they are able to supervise the nursing assistant and be prepared to answer any questions the nursing assistant may have.

Now, just as nurses must keep the five rights of delegation in mind to ensure appropriate task delegation, you, as a nursing assistant, are responsible for identifying whether or not tasks delegated to you are within your authorized duties and capabilities, as well as deciding whether to accept or refuse the delegated tasks.

Generally, if a task is within your authorized duties and capabilities, and you feel confident you can perform the task safely, you should do it.

There are some valid reasons, though, for refusing a delegated task, including: the task is beyond your authorized duties, the task could harm the client, the task is illegal or unethical, the task is not something you have been trained to do, the task’s directions are not clear, the task cannot be done because of inadequate equipment, or the nurse is not able to supervise you.

If you choose to refuse a delegated task, it is up to you to communicate your refusal to the nurse who delegated the task to you, along with your reasons for refusing the task.

This way, the task may be delegated to someone else so as not to compromise the care of the client. All right, as a quick recap… nursing assistants help nurses with performing basic nursing skills that meet the physical and emotional needs of clients and to act as a liaison.

These tasks should fall under their authorized duties which depends on the state they work in and their training. Nurses can delegate tasks to nursing assistants but they should follow the five rights of delegation and respect the nursing assistant’s authorized duties.

to the nurse who delegated the task to you, along with your reasons, for refusing, the task this way, the task may be delegated to someone else.

So as not to compromise the care, if the client. Alright?

As a quick recap nursing, assistants help nurse just with performing basic nursing skills that meet the physical and emotional needs of clients and to act as a liaison These tasks should fall under their scope of practice, which depends on the state they work in and they're training.

Sometimes the scope of practice can be expanded to cover more advanced tasks. Nurses can delegate tasks to nursing assistants, but they should follow the Five Rights of Delegation and respect the, nursing assistants scope of practice.