Background: Healthcare-associated infections are a big problem all over the world and in Sweden approximately 10% of every patient gets an infection during hospital care. As a nurse you have responsibility to work in a safe way to prevent these infections. But still many patients suffer from this type of infections, they spend more time in the hospital and the economic costs for the hospitals increase. There are laws and guidelines that nurses have to follow but that isn't always the case.

Aim: The aim of this study was to illuminate factors affecting nurses' work against health care-associated infections.

Method: A literature review of ten articles, six qualitative, three quantitative and one mixed method, was used to see different aspects on what affects the work against healthcare-associated infections. The articles had been published between the years of 2010-2017.

Results: The results were divided into domains and subthemes regarding factors affecting nurses' in their work related to hygiene. The domains include the human factors and the organizational factors related to nurses. All factors were depending on each other and improvements couldn´t be made unless every factor was changed. Nurses' fear of dirt and their unawareness about hygiene was a big reason that healthcare-associated infections existed. The lack of and poor placement of material was also factors that affected the work and contributed to the non-use of protection. The nurses also wanted clear guidelines on hygiene routines.

Conclusion: Factors influencing nurses in their work related to hygiene went hand in hand and they all had to be addressed at the same time for the work to change for the better.