RN Nursing · Delegation and Supervision · Practice question
A charge nurse on an obstetrical unit is preparing the shift assignment. Which of the following clients should be assigned to an RN who has floated from a medical-surgical unit?
-
A client who has gestational diabetes and is receiving biweekly nonstress tests.
-
A multigravida client who has preeclampsia and is receiving misoprostol for induction of labor.
-
A client who is at 32 weeks of gestation and has premature rupture of membranes.
-
✓
A primigravida client who is 1 day postoperative following a cesarean birth and has a PCA pump.
Answer & explanation
Correct: A primigravida client who is 1 day postoperative following a cesarean birth and has a PCA pump.
When a float nurse from a medical-surgical unit is assigned to an obstetrical unit, the charge nurse must match the client's needs to the float nurse's competency. A primigravida who is one day postoperative following a cesarean birth and has a patient-controlled analgesia pump represents the most appropriate assignment for a medical-surgical float nurse. This client's care — postoperative monitoring, pain management, PCA assessment, wound care, and vital signs — closely mirrors competencies a medical-surgical nurse uses daily. A client with gestational diabetes receiving biweekly nonstress tests requires interpretation of fetal surveillance testing, which is specialized obstetrical knowledge not typically within a medical-surgical nurse's scope. A multigravida with preeclampsia receiving misoprostol for labor induction is high-acuity and requires expertise in obstetrical pharmacology, fetal monitoring, and recognition of eclampsia — inappropriate for a float nurse. A client at 32 weeks with premature rupture of membranes requires monitoring for chorioamnionitis, preterm labor, and fetal compromise, all requiring obstetrical expertise. The postoperative cesarean client's needs are most congruent with the medical-surgical nurse's existing skill set, making this the safest and most appropriate assignment.
Practise Delegation and Supervision questions
Work through full question sets with instant rationales, timed exams, and progress tracking.
Start practising freeRelated practice questions
- A nurse is working with an assistive personnel (AP) to care for a group of clients on the pediatric unit. Which of the following tasks should the nurse have the AP perform first?
- Which client should the charge nurse assign to the most experienced RN on the unit?
- A charge nurse is reviewing tasks that can be delegated to an assistive personnel (AP). Which task should the nurse recognize as not appropriate to delegate to an AP? (Select all that apply.)
- A nurse has identified tasks to delegate to a group of assistive personnel (AP) after receiving change-of-shift report. Identify the sequence of steps the nurse should follow when delegating tasks to the APs. (Use the ▲▼ arrows to put the steps in order, placing them in the selected order of performance. Use all the steps.)