Nursing as a profession sometimes brings the professionals face to face with difficult clients such as the one in question in this case study. In this scenario, the nurse handling the case becomes frustrated since despite her determination to do the best for the client, the client does little to make it easy for the nurse to help her (Benjamin 1992, pp.5-7).
In my capacity as the supervisor, trying to help Ms. W so that Ms. R is eventually assisted is my responsibility. The first step in this case would be to have a candid discussion of Ms. R’s condition with the Ms. W.I will point out that some of the issues that have arose due to the negligence on the part of the client are beyond the professional ability of our clinic and therefore someone else needs to be brought on board if the client is to be helped. This is in line with Provision number four (4) under the code of ethics for nurses (American Nurses Association 2010, p.1).This provision spells out circumstances under which delegation is necessary.
Based on the available human resources, a well planned staffing outline is necessary if this young pregnant woman is to be assisted. The first person to attend to her should be the obstetrician. This professional will examine the client and determine the dangers posed by the ketones in her urine to the unborn baby and recommend immediate medical action. This will be followed by the licensed vocational nurse (LVN) whose role will be to guide the young lady on what she is supposed to do so as to ensure that she stays health during her pregnancy. The community health specialist can then come next and give her broad guidelines on how to take care of herself and the unborn baby and how to take care of the baby after she has given birth. The next and most important person will be the social worker whose role will be to try to advise the young woman on responsible behavior before and after giving birth. This will then be followed by the nutritionist who will advise her on what to eat so at to remain health during and after pregnancy.
Based on the condition inherent in the case at hand, I will advise the nurse that the client is better off taken care of at a different facility for a number of reasons. First, our clinic is not fully equipped with all the required professionals to deal with a problem of this magnitude. In the high risk clinic the personnel will be in a position to attend to urgent needs of the client and therefore be in a position to save her unborn baby. Secondly, there is a possibility that good follow up can be made so that the issue of the client getting lost does not arise.
As a nursing supervisor, the delegation authority is still vested in me. The supervisory role is a senior position and this thereof means that any form of dealings that involve external parties have to be done from the office of the nursing supervisor. Thus the delegation exercise has to be handled by the nursing supervisor. But it is important to note that involving the family practice nurse is necessary since she is the one who understands the case and can give all the required information to whoever may want to help the client. Delegation skills are very important in this scenario and this emphasizes the need for nursing supervisors to understand all the regulations concerned with delegation.
References
American Nurses Association. (2010).Code of Ethics for Nurses with Interpretive Statements. Web.
Benjamin, M., 1992.Ethics in Nursing. (3rd ed.).New York: Oxford University Press.