Delegation in Nursing

―Ethnomethodology in Western Australia

Abstract

Development of medical technology has enabled people who are dependent on medical equipment, such as respirators, to stay at home and has contributed to improve their quality of life. However, the burden of their families has been gradually increasing as the family caregivers are required to gain more and more knowledge and skills to care for their family members. This issue leads the shortage of nurses that aggravates their working environment and affects the welfare of service consumers as well as the care providing professionals.

In Australia, where the nurse shortage is as critical as Japan, the Nurses Board of Western Australia commenced a project named "Scope of Nursing Practice Decision-Making Framework" in 2004. This research aims to show the reality of delegation within the context of Western Australian nursing system. Serious discussion, however, is needed from a political aspect before the notion of delegation is going to be introduced to Japanese nursing context. Four themes of discussion have emerged from the research result, which are: Necessity of restricting the range of delegatable task; Reduction of nurse direct care provision time; Dissemination of educational system; and Refusal rights for delegatees.