Introduction: Work contexts can affect nurses’ work and work outcomes. Work context factors of nurses, patients, or workflow can modulate nurses’ organization of work and determine increased workloads. Aim: The aim of this research was to analyze relationships between factors regarding the patient, the nurse, workflow, and nurses’ work organization, to investigate whether work organization is related to physical, mental, and emotional workloads, and to explore whether one dimension of workload influences the other dimensions. Methods: We used a cross-sectional design based on the Job Demand-Resources theory. We asked registered nurses, working in nine medical-surgical wards across three hospitals in Italy, to self-report on work organization and workloads regarding randomized shifts over three consecutive weeks. Four scales from the QEEW 2.0 questionnaire were used on an online survey for data collection. multivariable linear regressions with structural equation modelling were tested. The study was approved by the three local Ethics Committees. Results: We received 334 questionnaires regarding 125 shifts worked. Patient complexity (β = 0.347), patient specialties (β = 0.127), adequacy of staffing (β = −0.204), collaboration with colleagues (β = −0.155), unscheduled activities (β = 0.213), supply search (β = 0.141), and documentation (β = 0.221) significantly influenced nurses’ work organization. Nurses’ work organization was significantly related to physical, mental, and emotional nursing workloads. Conclusions: the patient, the nurse, and workflow aspects influence nurses’ work organization and workloads. Healthcare organizations, managers, and nurses should explore work settings to identify work turbulences early and implement strategies to improve nursing work conditions and workloads.

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Chronic ulcers are recognized worldwide as a public health issue that absorbs a significant amount of time and resources for health systems and health professionals, with a significant social, physical and psychological impact on the quality of life of patients and their families. Chronic ulcers that do not rapidly heal within 3 months are classified as "difficult wounds" (Kathawala et al., 2019;Murphy et al., 2020). It has been estimated that in Europe chronic ulcers mainly affect lower limbs in 1.51‰ of the population, and 2.21‰ of those with a mixed aetiology (Martinengo et al., 2019). In Italy, it is estimated that approximately two million people (24‰ of the Italian population) are affected by chronic ulcers (Parodi et al., 2021). This high prevalence is due to factors related to the