Background: Diabetes mellitus type 1 is a lifelong chronic disease, which means constant contact with health care. Newly diagnosed patients with diabetes mellitus type 1 are admitted to hospital for approximately four days, during which time they and their relatives receive sufficient education to cope with everyday life at home.

Aim: To illuminate nurses' experiences of educating newly diagnosed patients with diabetes mellitus type 1 in a hospital environment.

Method: Six qualitative, two quantitative and two mixed-method articles were analysed. The studies took place in a hospital environment where nurses played a vital role in education about type 1 diabetes mellitus.

Results: Three themes emerged; Continuous staff training, which demonstrated that lack of time was the main reason for not having continuous staff training, Individualizing patient education, which illustrated the importance of individualized education for encouraging both patients and relatives to become more involved in the care and Working in a multi-professional team, which enabled nurses to individualize and take a person-centred approach to patient care.

Conclusion: Overall, nurses cite lack of time as a common reason for inadequate care as well as the absence of education for both patients and nurses. Individualizing patient education with regard to age, family situation and previous knowledge increases the likelihood of a safe and secure discharge. In order to create safe patient care, multi-professional collaboration is necessary to allow nurses to focus on providing individualized and person-centred care.