Objective:

To identify the working conditions and the reasons why nursing professionals in Chile become sick.

Method:

This is a systematic review with a descriptive and retrospective character performed through a systematic search in accordance to the Occupational Health Network. The universe was constituted by the Chilean articles which made references to the descriptor words nursing, work, nursing staff, working conditions, occupational diseases, and occupational risks, resulting from the web data searches in Web of Science, MEDLINE, Cochrane Library, Scopus, SciELO, and LILACS. The sample included a total of 9 articles which principally dealt with issues of burnout, mental burden, psycho-physiological discomfort, and fatigue.

The development of this publication was framed in the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) criteria checklist.

Results:

Nursing professionals in Chile practice in working conditions marked by the lack of materials, the high demand of services, and the limited resources.

Conclusion:

The principal problems associated to work among these nurses correspond to psychosocial risks such as stress, fatigue, and burnout.