The Challenges Of Responsibility Versus Accountability In Nursing

To delegate duties to a unlicensed assistive personnel (UAP), raises concerns and challenges for a registered nurse (RN) in maintaining a safe, quality nursing care environment (Mueller & Vogelsmeier, 2013). This motivates the author (as a novice nurse in the near future) to choose the topic of “Responsibility Versus Accountability” in order to get acquainted with the application of an appropriate nursing delegation in the practice. This information will aid the author to be an effective advocate to her clients in her nursing service especially in a situation that the application of an appropriate delegation process will be required. Understanding the impacts of the concepts of responsibility and accountability in depth with relation to the delegation process, may help the author to be well-informed and facilitated enough to apply delegation in her nursing practice without any hesitation.

Delegation Process

The delegation process starts when the RN (who holds the

The delegator is accountable for the acts of delegation and incur liability if found negligent in the process of delegating and supervising; while the delegate is accountable for the completion of the delegated task. The delegator is accountable for the transfer of responsibility and authority to a competent delegate (Porter-O-Grady & Malloch, 2016). The distinct concepts of accountability and responsibility are the key elements in the effectiveness of the delegation process. The difference of “accountability and responsibility relates to their orientation” (Porter-O’Grady & Malloch, 2016, p. 53). Responsibility emphases on the work, the competence of the delegator and delegate, the efficiency of the processes, the quality of work, and the excellence of the application; while, accountability focuses on the issues of outcome and demands attention to the effects of the work (Porter-O’Grady & Malloch,