Aim To explore the experience of psychiatric nurses who work in the community caring for clients with borderline personality disorder (BPD).

Method A qualitative design was adopted. Purposeful sampling was used and ten community psychiatric nurses underwent semi-structured interview. Data were analysed using thematic analysis.

Results The nurses’ understanding of BPD and their experiences of caring for individuals with the condition were varied. Participants identified a number of specific skills required when working with clients with BPD, but the absence of formal clinical supervision to support nurses was a particular difficulty, and training on BPD was lacking.

Conclusions Although community psychiatric nurses found working with these individuals challenging, they also reported on the rewards in seeing clients making progress.