Objective To identify the concept and connotation of nursing workload, so as to enlighten nursing human resource ma-nagement.Methods A systematic literature retrieval was conducted from Chinese and oversea databases. Walker and Avant concept analysis method was used to analyze thedata.Results The conceptual attributes of nursing workload included: completing the nur-sing work, a certain amount and intensity of work, and consumption of corresponding physiology, cognition and emotion.Conclusion Nursing workload is complicated, affected by patients, nurses and environment. Nursing managers should sort out nursing work comprehensively and clarify the connotation of nursing workload, strengthen the training of nursing personnel and optimize the nursing work environment to reduce the negative impact of adverse factors on nursing workload, and construct scientific mea-surement tools to guide the rational allocation of human resources.