| Summary: | Background: Studies showed differences in attitudes towards patients with mental illness in nurses who worked in somatic care compared to nurses who worked in psychiatric care. The nurses in somatic care stated more negative attitudes to mental illness in relation to the nurses in psychiatric care. Studies also showed that work experience affected attitudes towards mental illness. Nurses who often came in contact with people with mental illness had less negative attitudes and prejudices against mental illness. Aim: The aim was to examine the experiences from nurses in somatic care, caring for patients who also have a psychiatric diagnosis. Method: The study was conducted as a semi-structured interview. The study was conducted through interviews with six nurses from the departments with a focus on somatic care. Qualitative content analysis was used for the analysis, which resulted in 48 pieces of sub-categories and six categories. Results: The analysis resulted in six categories: “often psychiatric patients in the somatic care”, “difficult patients”, “sees the whole patient as a person, not a diagnose”, “if it is not written, it does not exist”, “I know how to do, but” and “psychiatric disorder, not for real”. Conclusion: Nurses experienced that caring for patients with psychiatric comorbidity was caring for patients who required a lot of time and attention. The nurses felt they lacked some knowledge how they should respond to, and how to provide the best care, for these patients. Nurse’s experience was that they did not get the support from the psychiatric clinic that they wanted.
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