Background: The nurse’s workload can be affected by the work environment and the type of tasks performed in the workplace. Health issues and work-related suffering can be seen when the workload in considered high.

Aim: The aim of this study was to illuminate the nurse’s experiences of high workload in hospital environment.

Method: The design was a qualitative literature study with inductive onset. The data was collected from interviews in articles. The articles were searched systematically in 3 databases: PubMed, Cinahl and PsycInfo. Nine articles were obtained through systematic searches and one article was obtained through a non-systematic search, which made the analysis material consisting of 10 articles. Friberg’s 5-step qualitative analysis was used in this literature study.

Results: The result was categorized into 3 main categories and 7 sub-categories. The main categories were: To affect the work environment, to distribute work tasks, to understand the consequences of inadequacy. The sub-categories were: To maintain communication and cooperation between staff, to master knowledge, to deal with lack of time, to maintain staffing, to protect nursing measures, to be stressed and frustrated, to feel physical exhaustion.

Conclusion: High workload for nurses in hospital environment was caused by a non-optimal work environment, high number of patients and high number of work tasks. The nurses experienced deterioration in health due to high workload.