Whose safety? Flexible risk assessment boundaries balance nurse safety with patient care

Results revealed that nurses applied a flexible boundary of risk assessment and management to balance patient and nurse needs, constantly re-evaluating their decisions to determine 'safe enough' strategies. Nurses used risk-based reasoning to determine this flexible boundary which may result in nurses' health and safety being traded off to achieve patient priorities. These findings highlight that managing risk is dynamic and the risk assessment and decision strategies adopted are flexible in response to evolving demands.