There are serious ethical and legal implications of accepting assignments, but Registered Nurses or RNs have a right to refuse to conduct such decisions. In accordance with American Nurses Association (ANA), RNs have a strong and explicit professional right to object, reject, or accept a patient assignment in a written form, if they believe that such an action puts them or patients in danger (Nsiah et al., 2019). In other words, RNs can legally decline the patient assignment and refuse to provide their nursing services with the use of justifications behind their reasoning. Ethically, it provides nursing professionals more freedom to be autonomous, independent, and influential in the healthcare delivery process. In addition, it enables a greater degree of advocative ability for their concerns.
The delegation of assignments to unlicensed personnel is an intricate process. The core issues requiring consideration include the competence of the personnel, resources, communication barriers, documentation, and patient’s health (Lineberry et al., 2018). Thus, delegating assignments needs to be done appropriately within the range of expertise of the unlicensed worker since a patient’s wellbeing is at stake. The key insurance problems are centered around the coverage and direction of healthcare services provided. Respondeat Superior is a principle that holds employers accountable for the actions of employees (Shenoy et al., 2021). However, in healthcare, the principle is more complex since hospitals are not responsible for surgeons’ or anesthetists’ actions, and only the professionals themselves are held accountable. The implementation of Respondeat Superior can be detrimental in healthcare because there would be no incentive for healthcare professionals to avoid medical errors. It should be noted that it can be incorporated as an additional layer by making hospitals co-responsible alongside medical experts.
References
Lineberry, M., Whitney, E., & Noland, M. (2018). The role of school nurses, challenges, and reactions to delegation legislation: A qualitative approach. The Journal of School Nursing, 34(3), 222–231. Web.
Nsiah, C., Siakwa, M., & Ninnoni, J. P. K. (2019). Registered nurses’ description of patient advocacy in the clinical setting. Nursing Open, 6(3), 1124-1132. Web.
Shenoy, A., Shenoy, G. N., & Shenoy, G. G. (2021). Respondeat superior in medicine and public health practice: The question is – Who is accountable for whom? Ethics, Medicine and Public Health, 17, 100634. Web.
