This study was conducted to determine the perceptions of intensive care nurses regarding unmet care. A qualitative descriptive approach. The study was completed between April and September 2023 by conducting semi-structured individual interviews with 20 intensive care nurses in a Training and Research Hospital in Turkey and analyzed using the inductive content analysis method.

Unmet nursing care may occur due to systemic, institutional or nursing-related reasons. Reasons such as insufficient staff and equipment, excessive workload (Pereira et al., 2020), confusion between disciplines, and failure to prioritize care play an important role in missed care (Chaboyer et al., 2021; Dutra & Guirardello, 2021; Kılıç et al., 2023). In summary, while improvements should be made in nursing care practices to ensure patient safety and quality of care, systemic improvements should also be made. In order to make these improvements, it should be determined what the missed nursing care experienced and perceived in the clinical field is and what causes them. This research was conducted to determine the perceptions of intensive care nurses about unmet nursing care. This study is a qualitative design research conducted with intensive care nurses. In the study, a purposeful sample selection was made in accordance with the qualitative research approach. The number of participants was determined according to data saturation and is based on the volunteering of a total of 20 intensive care nurses. During the interview, the participants were asked a personal information form and expert opinion on the subject, as well as in-depth interview questions in a semi-structured information form consisting of eight questions.

Inclusion Criteria:

• working in intensive care
• volunteering to participate in the study

Exclusion Criteria:

• not volunteering to participate in the study

This study comprised research with qualitative design completed with intensive care nurses.