Role and Responsibilities of the Nurse Assistant
What this domain covers
This domain covers scope of practice, delegation, chain of command, resident rights, mandatory reporting, professionalism, and legal limits. The assistant performs delegated, task-level care; the licensed nurse assesses, plans, teaches, and evaluates. Knowing the boundary line is what most questions test.
Core concepts
A nurse assistant may not assess, teach, evaluate outcomes, perform sterile procedures, or give medications unless the state has specifically trained and authorized the assistant to do so. A task must fall within your training and your job description before you accept it. A nurse's instruction does not expand your legal scope; when an assignment seems beyond it, say so politely and use the chain of command - charge nurse, then supervisor, then director of nursing, then administrator. Report to a licensed nurse, not sideways to another assistant.
Resident rights include privacy, dignity, choice, refusal of care, access to records, voicing grievances without retaliation, and freedom from abuse and neglect. Suspicion of abuse, neglect, or exploitation must be reported promptly to the nurse or administrator and, in most settings, to the state hotline. You report; you do not investigate. Delaware credentials nurse assistants through the state nurse aide registry, with renewal and in-service requirements - confirm current hour and renewal rules with your employer or the state board rather than relying on memory.
Professional boundaries matter: do not accept money or gifts, do not share personal contact information, and never post about residents or take photographs.
Traps that appear in questions
- Accepting a task because a nurse asked, even though it is outside your training.
- Charting before the care is done, or charting for another assistant.
- Keeping a resident's disclosure of abuse confidential.
- Choosing an answer where you investigate a complaint or confront the accused person yourself.
Rule of thumb
If it is not in your training, your job description, or a valid delegation, ask the nurse - do not guess.
Worked example
A busy nurse asks you to give a resident an oral pain pill. You decline politely, explain that medication administration is outside your scope, offer to position the resident and bring water, and let the nurse give the medication.