Background: People with dementia need palliative care. Previous research shows that pain in this patient group often is undertreated. To make accurate pain assessments and provide adequate pain relief, good communication is required. Due to the dementia, communication is often lacking. Lack of verbal communication leads to physical communication becomingmore important but is individual and can be difficult to understand. This can be an obstaclefor nurses in their daily work with pain relief in this patient group.

Aim: The aim of this study was to describe nurses' experiences of pain relief in patients with dementia in the late palliative stage.

Method: The method was a literature-based study based on the analysis of qualitative research.

Results: The analysis of the articles that were selected led to the following main themes and sub-themes: Experiences of own knowledge and competence with sub-themes Experiences of complexity in palliative care and the challenges of pain assessment and pain relief. Interaction and interplay between the nurses, the patient and relatives with sub-themes. The progression ofdementia makes verbal communication difficult, Non-verbal communication that facilitates care and Relatives as a bridge between the nurses and the patient. Organizational prerequisites for conducting good nursing with sub-themes Factors within the organization that negatively affect the nurses' work and Lack of interaction between colleagues and different professions.

Conclusion: The results showed that the nurses experienced several obstacles when it came to providing pain relief in patients that suffers from dementia and is in the late palliative stage. Lack of knowledge, communication, time and staff were factors that contributed to stress and a feeling of helplessness among the nurses. These factors also led to inadequatepain assessments and inadequate pain relief.