A nurse is caring for a client who has just returned to the unit from the PACU. Which of the following tasks should the nurse assign to the assistive personnel?

Delegation requires matching tasks to the appropriate scope of practice. Assistive personnel (AP) are trained to perform basic, routine, stable tasks that do not require clinical judgment or assessment. Assisting the nurse to transfer the client to the bed is a physical task well within the AP scope and is the correct assignment. Asking the client about pain medication requires clinical judgment to evaluate and respond to the answer, which is a licensed nurse function. Obtaining vital signs on a client who has just returned from the PACU is not truly a routine task in this context — the postoperative client is unstable and requires assessment by a licensed nurse, making vital signs inappropriate for delegation immediately postoperatively. Checking the client's dressing for bleeding is a clinical assessment that requires the nurse's judgment to interpret findings and determine bleeding significance. The principle of delegation directs nurses to delegate only tasks that are routine, predictable, and do not require clinical judgment, making the transfer assist the only appropriate assignment for the AP in this scenario.