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Based on a qualitative rapid ethnography study, this article analyzes everyday care work in nursing homes in Ontario and Sweden. The comparison is linked to the broader socio-political and organizational contexts in the two jurisdictions. Policy documents in both locations stress that care services should be of high quality and individually adapted. The organizational preconditions to provide such care were better in the Swedish care homes because of higher staffing ratios, fewer routines, and more time for collegial support. The workers therefore had more opportunities to adapt their efforts to meet residents’ different and changing needs. In both jurisdictions, however, the care workers’ own needs were often disregarded, and their health and well-being were at risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]