NMC Professional Accountability and Delegation 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A nurse delegates wound care to an unlicensed assistive personnel (UAP). The UAP reports the wound looks infected. What is the nurse's next action?
- Instruct the UAP to apply an antibiotic ointment
- Assess the wound personally before taking further action (Correct answer)
- Document the UAP's finding and wait for the physician's rounds
- Ask another UAP to confirm the observation
Correct answer: Assess the wound personally before taking further action
The nurse retains accountability for patient assessment and must personally evaluate the wound before any clinical decision.
Question 2: According to NMC standards, which of the following tasks is INAPPROPRIATE to delegate to a student nurse working under supervision?
- Assisting with personal hygiene
- Checking and recording vital signs
- Administering intravenous medications independently (Correct answer)
- Collecting a urine specimen
Correct answer: Administering intravenous medications independently
Independent administration of IV medications requires a registered nurse; students may not perform this without direct supervision and it exceeds safe delegation scope.
Question 3: A newly qualified nurse is unsure whether she has the competence to perform a specific clinical procedure. What should she do first?
- Attempt the procedure and ask for help if needed
- Refuse to perform the procedure permanently
- Declare her limitations and seek supervision before proceeding (Correct answer)
- Delegate the task to a healthcare assistant
Correct answer: Declare her limitations and seek supervision before proceeding
The NMC Code requires nurses to recognise their limits of competence and seek support before performing tasks outside their current ability.
Question 4: A charge nurse discovers a healthcare assistant has been administering oral medications without authorization. What is the charge nurse's primary responsibility?
- Warn the HCA informally and monitor future behaviour
- Immediately report the incident through the appropriate governance channel (Correct answer)
- Retrain the HCA and document the retraining
- Contact the HCA's family to explain the situation
Correct answer: Immediately report the incident through the appropriate governance channel
Unauthorized medication administration is a patient safety incident requiring immediate formal reporting through governance and incident management processes.
Question 5: Which principle of delegation requires the delegating nurse to ensure the person receiving the task has the right knowledge and skills?
- Right circumstances
- Right person (Correct answer)
- Right direction
- Right supervision
Correct answer: Right person
The 'right person' principle of delegation ensures the task is assigned to someone with the verified competence to perform it safely.
Question 6: A nurse manager assigns a registered nurse to supervise two student nurses simultaneously during a complex procedure. The RN feels this is unsafe. What should the RN do?
- Comply with the assignment without comment
- Raise the concern with the manager before proceeding (Correct answer)
- Refuse and leave the students unsupervised
- Ask the students to supervise each other
Correct answer: Raise the concern with the manager before proceeding
The NMC Code obliges nurses to escalate concerns about unsafe staffing or supervision arrangements before patient safety is compromised.
Question 7: Under the NMC framework, who holds ultimate accountability when a registered nurse delegates a task to another nurse?
- The healthcare organisation
- The delegatee (person receiving the task)
- The delegating registered nurse (Correct answer)
- Both equally share full accountability
Correct answer: The delegating registered nurse
The delegating registered nurse retains ultimate accountability for the appropriateness of the delegation, even though the delegatee is responsible for their own actions.
NMC Professional Accountability and Delegation 2
A nurse delegates wound care to an unlicensed assistive personnel (UAP).
The UAP reports the wound looks infected.
What is the nurse's next action?