In the literature, few studies have examined the development of critical care nursing competence. Given that nursing practice is different in these units and that the nursing workforce is becoming increasingly less experienced, the aim of this study is to describe the factors facilitating and restricting the development of critical care nursing competence. A semi-structured interview conducted in the spirit of Chinn and Kramer (2008) was used to collect data from ten nurses, categorized according to Benner’s (1995) levels of competency. Results demonstrated that twenty-seven factors grouped on the basis of individual, contextual, and organizational perspectives either facilitated or restricted the development of competence by nurses working in intensive care. Although some factors have already been documented in the literature, several factors listed in this study were discovered for the first time as part of this research.