Delegation decision making: development of a teaching strategy.

The ability of registered nurses to delegate nursing care to lesser-skilled nurses has become an important component of nursing practice. However, neither education programs nor clinical experience has prepared staff nurses to function in the delegation-decision role. A tool developed to meet this need is the Nursing Assessment Decision Grid. With its use, registered nurses learn to analyze the nursing tasks and patient problems inherent in patient vignettes and then gauge which level of nurse can safely carry out the patient care required.