Five Rights of Delegation and Scope of Practice

Delegation transfers the performance of a defined activity to another person who has the knowledge, skills, and judgment to perform it safely. It does not transfer the delegator’s overall accountability for the client outcome. The nurse who delegates still decides whether the activity is appropriate, gives the direction, and evaluates what happened. The first question is not, “Who is available?” It is, “Can this activity be separated from nursing assessment and judgment without creating risk?” A routine task may be appropriate for delegation in one client and unsafe in another. The difference is usually the client’s stability, the complexity of the activity, or the competence and authorization of the proposed delegatee. The five rights function like interlocking safety gates. A correct task assigned to the wrong person, or a safe task attempted in an unstable situation, is still unsafe. RNs, RPNs, and NPs use the framework whenever they delegate an activity.