Abstract
This study focuses on patient safety and the risks of workload associated with health care in order to identify the risks that workload in nursing can generate for patient safety from the nurses' point of view. The research was developed through a qualitative approach, integrative literature review stage and field research with the application of a questionnaire. The results showed that most of the problems caused by work overload are medication errors and the fall of patients and that in these cases it is essential that there are notifications and that to solve the problems of overload should be adequacy of staff, professional recognition and economic valorization in the profession.