Background: Palliative care is an approach that improves quality of life for patients with a life threatening disease and their family. Communication is a tool for the nurse to be able to get to know the patients and their need, this requires knowledge about communication approach. It is included in the responsibility as a nurse to strive for the best quality of life until death. Relationship, ethics and narrative are aspects of a caring communication. Aim: was to illuminate nurse’s experiences of communication in a caring context with patients or next of kin in end of life care. Method: was a qualitative literature study in order to contribute to evidence based nursing. A content analysis based on the result of ten articles was performed. Result: the findings were two major themes, when caring communication was promoted and when caring communication was limited. This gave subthemes, among others, such as the nurse presence in the meeting between the physician the patient or relatives, the hierarchy of care limits the nurse, a supportive relationship, limited standards and emotional impact of the nurse. Conclusion: a good relationship, knowledge about communication and teamwork where seen to be important and it allowed and promoted a caring communication. In situations when the nurse, nor the patient, were informed about patient’s prognosis, the caring communication was missing which led to limited emotional support.