Key Concepts
Introduction
The Registered Nurse holds authority to delegate tasks to RPNs/LPNs and unregulated care providers while retaining accountability for patient outcomes. Delegation is guided by the Five Rights: right task, right circumstance, right person, right direction, and right supervision. The charge nurse assigns patients to RNs and RPNs based on acuity, complexity, and required scope of practice. Nursing judgment, initial assessments, care planning, and evaluation cannot be delegated. Understanding delegation frameworks accounts for 15-25% of licensing exam questions. On the exam, writers often pair stable-sounding options with unstable data—notice the mismatch before you commit. If the stem names a license or role, reread that line; scope errors are classic trap answers even when the clinical topic is familiar. Run a 60-second scan: breathing work and oxygenation, perfusion and end organs, neuro baseline, likely infection sources, and devices that can fail quietly. When two answers feel partly right, pick the one that reduces imminent harm and matches orders for the role you were given. Train yourself to state the primary risk in one short phrase before you read the options so distractors...