The aim of this paper is to photograph, through a literature review, the burnout and all its related aspects in the world of nursing. We have selected 40 papers with a specific valence which frame and study the nursing burnout in an appropriate way. This topic has been studied in all of the continents, apart from South America. The burnout has been subject of analysis in all the departments, whom oncology and psychiatry result the ones with the highest frequency of studies. In this paper all the studies have been divided into three categories according to their objective: studies on aspects related to the burnout (57,5%), comparative studies (25%), studies on the burnout level (17,5%). From the studies concerning the related aspects comes out that the burnout is strongly related to the coping strategies, the stress index and the personal accomplishment and these factors are highly predictive. Beside that, the data show some disagreements concerning the relation between burnout and sex and burnout and age. The comparative studies show that nurses are, between health care staff, the ones which run the highest risk of burnout, especially the oncologic nurses and nurses working with AIDS patients. This literature review, summing up which steps the research has done and which are still to do, reflects the strong importance of the problem called burnout and the aspects related to it inside the world of nursing. This review underlines the importance of an insertion of support group inside the clinical practice to avoid the risk to have sick persons who take care of other patients.