Setting boundaries

boundaries nurse wellbeing Sep 22, 2025

Holding the Line: Why Boundaries Matter in Perioperative Nursing

Perioperative nursing is a high pressure and emotionally demanding specialty 🏥 where staff manage rapid clinical decisions and complex patient care. Setting clear professional and personal boundaries protects nurse wellbeing ❤️ by clearly defining and outlining role expectations and limits. Setting boundaries around workload, emotional labour, and out of hours availability helps to reduce stress, burnout, and preserves clinical judgment essential for intraoperative care. Boundaries also help maintain therapeutic nurse–patient relationships by preventing overinvolvement and role confusion.

Boundaries help nurses to guard against compassion fatigue and moral distress. Examples of professional boundaries include:
🔹 Negotiating reasonable shift patterns
🔹 Declining non essential additional tasks
🔹 Protecting leave and personal time 🌿
🔹 Limiting work communication outside of work hours
🔹 Saying no to overtime or extra shift requests when feeling fatigued 😴
🔹 Redirecting inappropriate patient or family requests
🔹 Not performing tasks outside scope of practice
🔹 Engaging in reflective practice or peer support groups

Organisational support is critical to successful boundary practice. Examples of ways that organisations can support boundaries for staff include:
🔸 Clear policies on scope of practice 📑
🔸 Workload allocation
🔸 Reporting structures
🔸 Psychological safety
🔸 Zero tolerance policies on workplace issues such as bullying and harassment 🚫
🔸 Ensure adequate staffing levels
🔸 Leadership that models respectful boundaries and provides education in assertiveness, conflict resolution, and reflective practice normalises boundary setting as a professional competence rather than a personal issue.

Embedding boundary education into perioperative orientation and ongoing professional development helps to improve staff retention and builds a culture that values staff wellbeing 🌟.

Setting boundaries does not mean withdrawing compassion or avoiding responsibility. Instead, boundaries are an ethical and practical strategy for self preservation. For perioperative nurses, firm yet compassionate boundaries preserve wellbeing, enhance team dynamics and create a safer, more sustainable workplace for staff.

Build Knowledge ✅
Improve Safety ✅

References:

Australian College of Nursing — Maintaining Professional Boundaries (PDF).https://www.acn.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/career-hub-resources-maintaining-professional-boundaries.pdf

 ACORN — Standards for Perioperative Nursing in Australia.
https://www.acorn.org.au/standards/ 

Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia — Professional boundaries for nurses (February 2010).
https://www.nursingmidwiferyboard.gov.au/documents/default.aspx?chksum=bes7sYtZAWnmggO%2FzV0uBQ%3D%3D&dbid=AP&record=WD10%2F1347

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