ABSTRACT Background and aims: Nutrition is a part of the medical treatment, and also a part of the nursing care. In spite of this, malnutrition is a common problem in the health care sector. Studies show that nurses have too little knowledge about nutrition and malnutrition and that nutrition has low priority in the daily work. The aim with this study was to find out the nurses self-reported knowledge about and their attitudes towards malnutrition, nutrition screening, prevention and treatment of patients with malnutrition. Methods: A questionnaire was handed out to 65 nurses in two different care units and 36 questionnaires were answered. Results: The respondents from the two care units self-reported their knowledge about nutrition and malnutrition low. Most of the respondents stated to have a big need of education about nutrition screening and more than half of the respondents stated that they have a need of education for prevention and treatment of malnutrition. None of the respondents stated that there were good routines to discover and treat malnutrition in their care units. Less than half of the respondents stated that the patient´s nutrition had high priority to them. Conclusion: The self-reported knowledge about nutrition and malnutrition, nutrition screening, prevention and treatment of patients with malnutrition is low among nurses. There is a big need of education about nutrition screening, prevention and treatment of malnutrition. Good and transparent routines and policies for nutrition screening and treatment of malnutrition are missing. Patient´s nutrition has low priority.To educate nurses within nutrition screening, prevention and treatment of malnutrition and to implement clear and simple-to-use nutrition screening instruments seems to be very important for improvement of patient´s nutritional care.