Purpose:The purpose of this study was to identify the trends of nurses' stress based on the last 10 years of international research and to suggest directions for future research. Methods: Fifty three articles between 2002 and 2011 were selected using key words such as 'nurse' and 'stress' from the PubMed and CINAHL. Results: The number of experimental studies increased. The nurses from the various fields were studied. Most studies used a reliable and valid tool for measuring stress of specific nursing staff. The Internet survey was recently used for a data collection method. Significant variables correlated with nurses' stress were categorized into 8 domains: Individual susceptibility, quantitative workload, qualitative workload, physical environment, organizational factors, and interpersonal conflict. Conclusion: In Korea, the next phase of research on nurses' stress needs to consider the experimental study design to find more specific causal relationships. Also, it is necessary to develop the nurses' stress tool for reliable and valid measurement.

No abstract