Studies have shown that stress is common in the nursing profession.Purpose: The aim was to investigate nurses' experience of stress in the work environment at the University Hospital in Uppsala and how nurses deal with this stress and whether the perceived stress experienced affect patient safety and in what way. Method: The study had a descriptive, qualitative design based on nine interviews. The selection criteria for the study was that participants were nurses and that they had worked at least one year within the profession and that they had experienced stress in their work environment. Data from the interviews was analyzed using the qualitative content analysis method by Graneheim and Lundman. Results: The analysis resulted in three categories: "Stress in the workplace?, "stress management" and "patient safety? and showed that all participants had experienced stress repeatedly in their workplaces.