NCLEX Delegation Questions: Free Practice With Rationales (RN, LPN, UAP)

Delegation questions frustrate students because they feel like guesswork. They are not. There is one rule underneath nearly all of them, and once you see it you stop guessing. Here are two free practice questions with the reasoning worked out in full.

Question 1

Which task may the registered nurse delegate to unlicensed assistive personnel?

A. Reinforcing teaching about a low-sodium diet

B. Obtaining a routine set of vital signs on a stable patient

C. Assessing a patient's pain for the first time this shift

D. Evaluating whether a patient's shortness of breath improved after a nebulizer treatment

Answer: B. Unlicensed assistive personnel can take on tasks that are standardized and predictable, performed on a stable patient with a predictable outcome. Routine vital signs fit that description exactly. Option A is teaching, which belongs to the nurse. Option C is an assessment. Option D is an evaluation. Notice that three of the four wrong answers are steps of the nursing process, and that is not an accident — it is how these questions are built.

Question 2

A charge nurse is assigning patients on a medical unit. Which patient is most appropriate to assign to a licensed practical nurse?

A. A newly admitted patient who needs an initial admission assessment

B. A stable patient with a chronic wound who requires a routine dressing change

C. A patient receiving their first dose of intravenous antibiotic

D. A patient who needs discharge teaching about a new insulin regimen

Answer: B. A stable patient with a predictable, routine task is the right assignment for a licensed practical nurse. Option A is an initial assessment, which the registered nurse must perform — an LPN may collect data and contribute to it, but the initial assessment itself stays with the RN. Option C is a first dose, and first doses carry the risk of an allergic or anaphylactic reaction, so an unstable or unpredictable situation stays with the RN. Option D is initial teaching on a brand-new regimen. Watch for the words initial, first, new and unstable — they are the exam telling you to keep that patient with the registered nurse.

The one rule that answers almost all of them

You may delegate a task, but never the nursing process. No assessment, no nursing diagnosis, no planning, no evaluation, no teaching. If the verb in an answer choice is assess, evaluate, plan, or teach, that choice is not going to unlicensed personnel. Layer one more filter on top for LPN assignments: stable and predictable goes to the LPN, while anything initial, first, new, or unstable stays with the registered nurse.

Want more practice like this? The free NCLEX 2026 Starter Kit includes a delegation guide covering RN, LPN and UAP scope, plus NGN-style questions with rationales. You can get it at nursepassmastery.com.