ERFARENHETER AV VARD I LIVETS SLUTSKEDE : En litteraturstudie fran sjukskoterskors perspektiv

Background: The goal with palliative care at the end of life is to ease suffering and to promote quality of life. The care that is provided is structured around the patient’s wishes and to preserve integrity, the family is also to be included. In previous research it is revealed that patients and families wish for good communication and support from nurses. Aim: To describe nurses experience of providing end of life care. Method: A review with twelve chosen qualitative articles which constitutes the result. Result: The result highlighted the professional and emotional challenges of end-of-life care and how nurses interact with patients and families. Nurses gave physical-, spiritual- and emotional care to promote the best possible end of life. The experiences varied depending on previous knowledge, place of work, years of working experience, ability to handle phycological burden and togetherness in the team resulted in that the best possible care was provided. Conclusion: It is emphasised that nurses experience a lack of knowledge and work experience, at the same time they strive to provide safe and quality end of life care. Notwithstanding the fear of death and how the emotions should be handled, strength in the nurses’ work is reviled as teamwork and support of one another, patients and family.