ATT VÅRDA I LIVETS SLUTSKEDE : EN LITTERATURÖVERSIKT OM SJUKSKÖTERSKORS ERFARENHETER

Sammanfattning: Background: End of life is the last stage in life. Patients experience that a good quality of life is most important in care at the end of life. In the end-of-life care, patients and relatives experience a need for communication, relationship and confirmation from the nurses. Patients want to be handled as unique people with individual needs. To go through the process at the end of life is a struggle for dying patients and their relatives, it is the nurses responsibility to ease the suffering for both patients and relatives. This is important for the patients and relatives to experience confirmation and that the nurses don't cause more suffering. Aim: To describe the nurse's experience of caring for patients at the end of life. Method: A general literature review, where seven articles with a qualitative method and four quantitative articles are analyzed. Results: After analysis five themes emerged. Nurses needfor education, palliative care as both challenging and giving, the importance of cooperation,the importance of effective communication and the relationship with patients and relatives. Nurses experienced that they could have a caring relationship with the patients by involving them in their care. To have experience of caring at the end of life and having knowledge within palliative care was essential for the nurses knowledge development. Conclusion: By highlighting nurses' experience of care at the end of life, one can draw conclusions that nurses need training and knowledge at the end-of-life care. In addition to knowledge, nurses need support and communication to be able to encourage cooperation among workcolleagues. Keywords: Caring relationship, dignity, end of life, experiences and palliative care