Aim: To explore the perspectives and experiences of nurse instructors and clinical nurses regarding the assessment of safe nursing care and its components in clinical practice.
Background: Safe nursing care is a key aspect of risk management in the healthcare system. The assessment of safe nursing care and identification of its components are primary steps to establish patient safety and risk management and enhance the quality of care in clinical practice.
Methods: This was an interview study, with qualitative content analysis. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 16 nurse instructors and clinical nurses including nurse managers chosen by purposive sampling based on theoretical saturation. Data collection and analysis were carried out simultaneously until data saturation was reached.
Results: Data analysis led to the extraction of four main themes: holistic assessment of safe nursing care; team working and assessment of safe nursing care; ethical issues; and challenges of safe nursing care assessment.
Conclusion: Identifying these four components in the assessment of safe nursing care offers a contribution to the understanding of the elements of safe care assessment and the potential for improved patient safety.
Implications for nursing management: Safe care management requires the accurate and reliable assessment of safe nursing care and the need for strategies for reporting actual or potential unsafe care and errors to ensure patient safety.
Keywords: assessment; nurses; nursing; patient safety; qualitative research.
© 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.