Hospital nurses are exposed to many stress-generating factors. A study was conducted on the impact of occupational stress generation among the 254 nurses working in large hospitals in Burgas, Sliven and Yambol. The results show that hospital wards, as a workplace, are a source of serious psycho-emotional stress, whose level is assessed as average and high by 79.1% of the respondents. The following stress-generating factors stand out as the strongest: heavy workload due to staff shortages; many unusual administrative activities; increased expectations from patients; constant changes in the rules at the workplace; low wages, and limited autonomy. Hospital management should pay close attention to these issues in order to reduce the stress level among nursing staff, and thus improve patient care.