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Background: The majority of nursing home (NH) nurses work in different schedules, including irregular work-rotations and unsociable work-hours. The Norwegian population is getting older, causing increasing needs for competent personnel in NHs in the years to come. The quality of NH care will, among other things be determined by enrollment and the ability to sustain nurses with high competence. Aims: The aim of this study was to provide knowledge of nurses› experiences of how shift-work in NHs influences on their health and quality of life. Methods: This phenomenological study was based in semi-structured interview data from 8 out of 11 nurses who fulfilled the inclusion criteria. The informants represent three out of four NHs in a municipality in Mid-Norway. The data were registered on tape, verbatim transcribed and analyzed using Amadeo Giorgi's phenomenological method of analysis. Results: Counterclockwise rotation was considered particularly negative, signifying the main reason to different health issues such as sleep difficulties, exhaustion and indigestion; all of which negatively affected the nurses` quality of life. Limited opportunities for maintaining daily routines, embracing both meal- and toilet routines, contributed to a bodily unbalance, which was detrimental to their quality of life. Insufficient resting time between shifts related to counterclockwise rotation as well as night shifts lead to sleep difficulties and the experience of frequent exhaustion. Conclusion: This study provides knowledge of how NH shiftwork influences on nurses` health and quality of life. In order to recruit and maintain obligatory nursing competence, efforts directed towards avoidance of counterclockwise rotations and shift from late-to-early with inadequate rest-time in-between, should be accomplished. Moreover, the NH nurses highlighted the need for a normal meal rhythm, signifying a health promotion influence of having opportunities for a hot meal during evening work.

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