Nursing work is inherently dangerous, as nurses face multiple hazards, including occupational stressors, on a weekly basis. While scholars have established that occupational stressors relate to safety behaviors between-person, less is known about how occupational stressors relate to safety behaviors within-person. The current study focused on two prevalent resource depleting, yet understudied, stressors for nurses: understaffing and unreasonable tasks. Using an explanatory sequential mixed-methods design, I first implemented a quantitative weekly diary study to examine within-person fluctuations in understaffing, unreasonable tasks, emotional exhaustion, anger, and safety behaviors among nurses. Within-person relationships between unreasonable tasks and both emotional exhaustion and anger were positive and statistically significant as hypothesized, and anger was positively related to safety workarounds as hypothesized. However, understaffing was not related to emotional exhaustion nor anger, or were the strains related to safety behaviors. I then conducted interviews with 11 new nurse participants to examine whether nurses’ lived experiences resonated with the quantitative study findings, identify contextual factors, and highlight practical strategies for managing weeks when nurses experienced relatively high levels of understaffing and unreasonable tasks. Four contextual factors were identified: patient care demands, team environment, organizational resources and infrastructure, and attentional and cognitive disruptions. Strengthening workforce capacity and improving management visibility and support are important for addressing understaffing and unreasonable tasks and for supporting nurses’ well-being and safety.
