Abstract: Objective: To understand the situation and feelings of clinical nurses facing time pressure in their work, and to provide reference for coping with time pressure in nursing work and improving nurses' happiness at work. Methods: A descriptive phenomenological research method was adopted. Purposive sampling and maximum difference sampling led to the inclusion of 14 nurses of 3 tertiary grade A hospitals in Suzhou from January to April 2022. Data were collected using semi-structured in-depth interviews and analyzed by the Colaizzi 7-step method. Results: Four themes were extracted through the analysis: time pressure in clinical nurses is ubiquitous, time pressure is negatively related to the quality of nursing and nurses' physical and mental health, time pressure is positively related to creativity and job engagement, poorly individual strategies to cope with time pressure. Conclusion: Working under time pressure leads to various challenges to nurses. Time pressure has a double-edged effect, and nursing managers should establish appropriate time pressure, so as to promote more positive effects.

Key words: time pressure; nurse; experience; work; qualitative research