👤 By the CinnaRN Clinical Content Team🕐 Updated 2026-08-23🏷️ Management of Care🔖 Free to read, print, and share
Also known as: delegating to nursing assistants · what can a CNA do · delegating to aides · UAP tasks · assigning to techs
💡
Use this quick-reference guide to spot, treat, and prevent Delegation to UAP on the NCLEX. Keep it handy during review and on exam day!
🩺
📒 The 1-minute cheat sheet
✅ Can Do
ADLs: bathe, feed, ambulate
Vitals on STABLE clients
I&O, weight, positioning
📌 Cannot
No assess, teach, evaluate
No meds (most states)
No unstable/first-time tasks
📌 Rule
RN keeps accountability
Delegate task, not judgment
Match to UAP competency
🚩 Report
UAP reports abnormal → RN acts
Verify UAP completed safely
📚 Delegation to UAP — full study notes
The cheat sheet above is your quick recall card. These notes go deeper — what it is, what to do first, what must be reported, and what to teach.
Unlicensed assistive personnel (UAP) include CNAs, nurse aides, and techs. The RN may delegate only stable, predictable, routine tasks with established outcomes to UAP, but never the nursing process itself (assessment, planning, evaluation, teaching, judgment). Memory aid: UAP get the tasks that are STABLE and ROUTINE.
🔑
Key points
Understand these first
UAP may take vital signs, perform ADLs (bathing, feeding, ambulating), do basic hygiene, measure intake and output, collect routine specimens, and reposition stable clients.
UAP cannot assess, plan, evaluate, teach, administer most medications, perform sterile procedures, or care for unstable or unpredictable clients.
The RN retains accountability for delegated tasks even though the UAP performs them.
Feeding a client at high aspiration risk (dysphagia, post-CVA) should NOT be delegated to UAP.
UAP may reinforce previously taught information but may never provide new client teaching.
Delegate care of stable, chronic, predictable clients to UAP; keep unstable and acute clients for licensed staff.
✅
Nursing priorities
What to do, in order
Match the task to the UAP's scope, training, and the client's stability before delegating.
Give clear, specific directions including what to report and when to report it back.
Supervise and follow up on delegated tasks; verify completion and outcomes.
Keep all assessment, evaluation, teaching, and clinical judgment with the licensed nurse.
Intervene immediately if a UAP is assigned a task outside their scope.
🚩
Red flags — report now
Escalate immediately
Never delegate assessment, the first dose or any IV/titrated medication, teaching, or care of an unstable client to UAP.
Report-now: a UAP reports a vital sign or finding outside expected parameters (the RN must assess, not the UAP).
Never assign a UAP to feed a high-aspiration-risk client or to perform a sterile/invasive procedure.
❓ Delegation to UAP: NCLEX FAQs
What are the priority nursing interventions for Delegation to UAP?
Match the task to the UAP's scope, training, and the client's stability before delegating. Give clear, specific directions including what to report and when to report it back. Supervise and follow up on delegated tasks; verify completion and outcomes. Keep all assessment, evaluation, teaching, and clinical judgment with the licensed nurse.
What are the warning signs of Delegation to UAP a nurse must report?
Never delegate assessment, the first dose or any IV/titrated medication, teaching, or care of an unstable client to UAP. Report-now: a UAP reports a vital sign or finding outside expected parameters (the RN must assess, not the UAP). Never assign a UAP to feed a high-aspiration-risk client or to perform a sterile/invasive procedure.
What do I need to know about Delegation to UAP for the NCLEX?
UAP may take vital signs, perform ADLs (bathing, feeding, ambulating), do basic hygiene, measure intake and output, collect routine specimens, and reposition stable clients. UAP cannot assess, plan, evaluate, teach, administer most medications, perform sterile procedures, or care for unstable or unpredictable clients. The RN retains accountability for delegated tasks even though the UAP performs them. Feeding a client at high aspiration risk (dysphagia, post-CVA) should NOT be delegated to UAP.
✨
Quick Tip
UAP may take vital signs, perform ADLs (bathing, feeding, ambulating), do basic hygiene, measure intake and output, collect routine specimens, and reposition stable clients.