Introduction. There are many risks appearing in a work of district nurses which remarkably hinder their occupational activity and very often is a reason for changing the profession. Aim. The aim of this research was to identify chosen risks associated with the work of district nurses. Material and methods. To carry out this research a method of diagnostic pool using questionnaire techniques was used. The questionnaire consisted of 20 multiple choice questions. The research was carried out from December 2013 to March 2014 among district and family nurses in the Mazovian Province. Results. Community work was described as hard by 48% of respondents. The most often chosen factors responsible for overloading district nurses are: very low pay (88%), to high community expectations (87%), not enough employment (85%), burden associated with travelling to patients (84%), psychological (83%), administrative (60%). Conclusions. Main difficulties faced by district nurses in the course of their work in basic healthcare were: excessive overload with administrative duties, burden associated with travelling to patients (distance) and psychological burden. Very low pay, to high expectations from the community and not enough number of district nurses employed constitutes a big problem in the community work.

Key words: district nurse, occupational risks, workload.