Background: Throughout the world, millions of people are affected by substance use disorders that cause a heavy burden on society due to the costs related to treatment and legal actions that often are required. It is common for people with SUD related to illicit drugs to frequently end up healthcare settings. Treatment results for this patient group is often less than favorable due to limited education and knowledge within the nursing community.

Aim: This study is a literature study whose purpose is to explore nurses’ experiences with patients who have SUD related to illicit drugs.

Method: 11 qualitative articles were chosen in this literature overview and thoroughly reread by the authors of this study to assure the quality of selected articles. They solely focused on the nurses’ experiences with patients who have SUD related to illicit drugs in different healthcare settings throughout the western world. 

Results: Two main themes were discovered: Knowledge and Nurse-patient relationship. Each main theme had two subthemes. Nurses often experienced that they were poorly equipped with knowledge and education. The lack of education also caused the nurses negative feelings such as dread, anxiety, frustration which negatively affected the nurse-patient relationship.

Conclusion: Exploring nurses’ experiences show that a lack of education adversely effects the treatment outcome for people with SUD and causes negative feeling that further enhances unfavorable views and prejudices towards the patient group. More education could reduce nurses’ negative feelings, improving outcome when treating patients with SUD and reduce costs for society.