Unit-based Scenarios
In the unit-based scenario, assistive personnel, such as the ward secretary and nursing assistant, serve the unit. The nursing assistant works off a task list usually found in the job description, and has minimal direction from, or interaction with the RNs. The nursing assistant is often left to prioritize the multiple tasks given by differing RNs who are unaware of one another's requests of the assistant. This lack of communication can cause conflicts. The RNs do not know what their fellow RNs have also asked the assistant to do and the assistant has no way of knowing to which RN they are ultimately accountable. Nursing assistants express frustration with conflicts and work expectations that cannot be negotiated. RNs express frustration about not knowing the nursing assistants whereabouts or what they are doing.
An example of the unit based scenario is assigning a nursing assistant to take all the vitals signs or bathe all the patients. The nursing assistant understands what is expected, but may be interrupted in completing the vital signs and baths and asked to ambulate a patient by one RN, who does not know that another RN has just requested the nursing assistant to help with a dressing change. Meanwhile, the nursing assistant is trying to complete the bathes and take all patients' vital signs, while the RNs are questioning why the nursing assistant hasn't responded to their requests for help. In these scenarios the emphasis is on completing tasks of care, rather than focusing on the care process. It is difficult to develop healthy relationships and trust under these conditions.
Pairing
Pairing is the second scenario in which one RN works with an LPN and/or a nursing assistant for the shift (Koloroutis, Felgen, Person, & Wessel, 2007). However, the RN and LPN and/or assistant are not intentionally scheduled to work the same shift each day. Although they may all work the same shift on the next day, they may not be paired on the next day to care for the same patients. For a given shift, however, they work together, or are paired, and care for the same group of patients. Delegation usually increases with pairing. In this scenario, the RN and the LPN or nursing assistant discuss how care is to be prioritized and how it is to be done, and identify expected individualized outcomes for the shift. For instance, a patient's therapeutic goal for the shift might be for the patient to ambulate the length of the hall 30 minutes after the pain medication has been administered, with a pain rating no greater than 2 on a scale of 1 to 10 at the end of the walk. The nursing assistant would report observations and the pain scale rating to the RN who would then determine if the plan for pain control is adequate. Pairing increases the delegation potential and promotes healthy relationships.