Background: Mental illness is increasing in our society. Patients that suffer from mental illness run greater risk of developing somatic co-morbidity compared to patients without mental illness. Nurses who performed their work within somatic care were less experienced in caring for patients with mental illness and this could lead to these patients receiving inadequate care.

Aim: The purpose of this study was to illustrate nurses' experiences of caring for patients with mental illness in somatic care.

Method: A study of qualitative method. Ten (10) scientific articles were analyzed with Friberg's five-step model and compiled the results with two main categories and seven subcategories.

Results: Nurses experienced that they lacked skills and knowledge when caring for patients with mental illness. It made the nurses unprepared for meetings with patients with mental illness and felt that they needed support from staff with specialist training in psychiatry. Nurses also experienced an unfavourable work environment with lack of time and insufficient staff in need to be able to provide adequate care to patients with mental illness. These factors lead to a constant fear and frustration of general nurses that contributed to their negative attitudes towards patients with mental illness.

Conclusion: Education for general nurses in mental illness was considered as crucial to be able to provide good care to patients with mental illness in somatic care. Education in mental illness can leadto general nurses feeling more confident in their work. Organizational adaptations in the environment can create the conditions for safety to the staff and equal care for patients.