Background: Dementia is a disease that is increasing among the population. It is an incurable disease that affects memory, cognitive function, communication and everyday activities. The treatment is mainly focused on care - as the available medicine only acts to reduce symptoms of the disease. The disease is associated with behaviors like unease, agitation and aggression. A way to meet the increased care-needs of a person with dementia is to apply person centered care. It is a form of care that focuses on the individual and their needs.

Aim: The aim of this study was to illuminate nurse's experiences of applying person centered care to persons living with dementia.

Method: A qualitative literature-based study. Twelve articles were selected and analyzed. Results: The results show that the nurses' felt that the relationship with the person with dementia is important in order to be able to carry out person-centered care. This relationship is created by learning about the person and their background and current needs. The results show that the nurses' experiences of person-centered care was that attitudes created a basis for giving appropriate care. These experiences also showed the possibilities to handle questions of an existential nature. Furthermore, the nurses found that the physical environment had a great impact on their ability to interact with the person and to meet the persons' challenging behaviors in a satisfactory way. They also found that their knowledge of the person greatly improved which led to the soothing of the persons suffering. The nurses' experiences show that the person-centered care-method requires specific circumstances. 

Conclusion: This study provides a crucial insight into the experiences of nurses when applying person-centered care on persons living with dementia. The nurses play a key role in soothing unease and limiting the amount of suffering a person has to endure whilst they are in a new and unfamiliar environment. There is a definite lack of knowledge among the nurses in how to communicate efficiently with a person living with dementia