Nursing workload is defined as the time and care allocated to the patient as direct and indirect care, including workplace and professional development activities. The physical and mental workloads of nurses, which constitute an indispensable part of health organizations, have an impact on many health care outcomes. Evaluating the physical and mental workload of nurses together and making the necessary improvement activities is an important issue for the quality and continuity of care. Nurses working under more workload than normal affects patient care outcomes. The concept of missed nursing care, which is included in the outcomes of patient-oriented care, is defined as neglecting or postponing all or part of the required care. Unmet nursing care causes many negative consequences for both patient outcomes and health organizations. Within the scope of improvement activities, it is thought that the necessary manpower planning that will reduce the workload of nurses and thus undesirable care outcomes can be prevented. The outcomes of nursing-oriented care affect both institutional and national health services involving human and financial multifactorial resources. Therefore, science-based initiatives to make innovative investments are important to improve health quality and increase access to best practices.