Palliativ vård : Ur sjuksköterskornas perspektiv

Background: Palliative care involves maintaining patients’ quality of life during their last period of life. The last phase of palliative care is called at the end of life and is mostly aimedat alleviating symptoms and providing non-life-sustaining treatment for patients. Previous research has shown that patients experience different emotions at the end of life and nurses can help patients accept these emotions by communication with them. Aim: To describe nurses’ experiences of caring for patients in the end of life. Method: A systematic literature study based on ten qualitative study’s with a descriptive synthesis. Results: Two themes emerged in the analysis: Challenges for caring and The importance to be committed. The results showed that the nurses experienced various challenges in being able to perform good care. The nurses also felt that it was important to be involved in the caring. Conclusion: Nurses felt that lack of time and high workload prevented them from performing good care. A variety of communication styles are central to the nurse's meeting with patients in the end- of-life and their relatives