| Summary: | Background The aim of palliative care is to improve the quality of life for both the patient and her next of kin during the patient’s end of life. Palliative care rests on the four cornerstones managing symptoms, communication and relationship, teamwork and relative support. The nurses’ task is to assess the patients’ physical, mental and spiritual needs according to these four cornerstones.Aim To assess nurses’ experiences of treating patients at the end of life.Method Eleven academic journals that respond to the aim has been analyzed and synthesized in a literature review in order to summarize current research on the subject. The result was reviewed and similarities and differences were analyzed. The result yielded five major themes.Result The result gave a comprehensive overview of different experiences of nurses caring for patients at the end of life. These experiences is described under the five major themes – nurses professional approach, nurses need for collegial support, the burdensome work in palliative care, nurses experiences of death and nurses and relationship with patients and their next of kin.Discussion In the discussion the result has been discussed using Partricia Benners theory From novice to expert which is a useful theory about the nurses’ development. It touches different aspects of the stages in which the nurse develop from beginner to expert. Also earlier research about the experiences of the nurse in palliative care is discussed in this part.Keywords Palliative care, end of life care, nurses, experiences.
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