Background To improve working conditions and counteract nursing shortages, more knowledge is needed about the opportunities nurses have to carry out their work and what guide nurses’ work. The aim of this study was to use the ARIA guide to identify the opportunities and obstacles in nurse managers, registered specialist nurses and non-registered assistant nurses work in an operating department. Methods A descriptive case study design was performed in an operating department, comprising structured individual and group interviews according to work content analyses with nurse managers, registered specialist nurses and assistant nurses. Interviews were analysed in terms of predetermined aspects regarding working conditions and criteria for performance obstacles. Extracts from documents stating goals and registered data supplemented the interviews. Results The findings show that the daily surgery schedule, not the goal documents, guided daily work. An over-optimistic surgery schedule with unplanned changes and cancellations, over which the nurses had very little influence, as well as the time required to locate necessary equipment that was spread throughout the ward, resulted in nurses rushing through medical records and other preparations rather than preparing calmly for surgery. Although the registered specialist nurses and assistant nurses considered quality of care to be highly important, no standardised evaluations on quality of care were performed. Conclusion The study reveals the importance of a functioning physical work environment including storage, technical equipment supplies, and the positioning of technical equipment in operating rooms, in order for registered specialist and assistant nurses to perform their tasks well. Due to goal incongruence and performance obstacles, the nurses were often unable to reach their daily goals. Involving registered specialist nurses in the process of planning of the surgery schedule could facilitate their work to better match the prerequisites in the physical work environment and among available staff. In order for the Operating Department Goal Document to guide work, goals must be transformed into understandable, realistic, applicable and evaluable aims, and incorporated into daily work.