The politics of delegation

The American Nurses Association has stated that every patient needs a nurse, and they are right. But what do patients need a nurse to do? Politics has arisen around this issue in two ways: the development of new patient care delivery system models that use unlicensed assistive personnel to help professional staff, and a decrease in inpatient census has been seen throughout the country, resulting in changes in jobs and job locations. We argue that the best way to deal with these two factors is for nurses to redefine their functions, to focus on the professional aspects of care that only they can deliver and to keep open minds about where the delivery of services may take place. In the long run, this approach will take the profession much farther than blind adherence to outdated tradition.