Washington Revised Code Title 18. Businesses and Professions § 18.88B.070. Nurse delegated tasks

(1) The legislature recognizes that nurses have been successfully delegating nursing care tasks to family members and others for many years. The opportunity for a nurse to delegate nursing care tasks to home care aides certified under this chapter may enhance the viability and quality of health care services in community-based care settings and in-home care settings to allow individuals to live as independently as possible with maximum safeguards.

(3) The home care aide is accountable for his or her own individual actions in the delegation process. Home care aides accurately following written delegation instructions from a registered nurse are immune from liability regarding the performance of the delegated duties.

(4) Home care aides are not subject to any employer reprisal or disciplinary action by the secretary for refusing to accept delegation of a nursing care task based on his or her concerns about patient safety issues. No provider of a community-based care setting as defined in RCW 18.79.260, or in-home services agency as defined in RCW 70.127.010, may discriminate or retaliate in any manner against a person because the person made a complaint about the nurse delegation process or cooperated in the investigation of the complaint.