The poor labor conditions in which nursing practitioners work, evidenced in the loss of labor stability, employment benefits and no payment of night and holiday work surcharges, increase of working hours and the scarce time dedicated to direct care, among others, shows the effects of the neoliberalism model and impact in a negative way the care and personal and family life of practitioners since all these restrict the fulfillment of needs for the full human development. Objective: to describe and interpret personal, family and labor conditions that configure the nursing practitioners' quality of life and which have an impact on the care they provide. Type of study: descriptive, cross-sectional analysis. The surveyed population was that attending the 16th National Nursing Congress which took place in July 2005 in Medellin. Results: 218 participants were surveyed. 73% reported the quality of care has deteriorated; 49% refers to exhaustion or psychic weariness; 85% considers that their salaries satisfy their basic needs; entertainment is only 22%, free time 14% and affection in a scarce 5%. Conclusions: The quality of life of said practitioners shows that the relationship between deficiencies and potentialities presents an imbalance towards deterioration in satisfying their human needs, related with the lack of positive satisfiers in the having, being and doing, and one does not go beyond the perspective person -object to person -subject.