Background:

The world's aging population affects the need for palliative care which is underdeveloped worldwide. This increasing population makes influences to the professional way of nursing as palliative care is more about improving the quality of life rather than to cure. To participate in the meeting with death along with a patient can often be associated with fear and anxiety for both parties. This means that nurses need to be well prepared to provide professional care. Aim: The aim was to illuminate nurses' prerequisites for caring about a person in the end-of-life.

Method

:

A literature review of eleven studies with qualitative approach. Chosen articles were conducted thorough several times and the main findings were compared to identify similarities and differences which generated in themes and subthemes.

Results

: Prerequisites for nurses providing care for patients in a palliative phase emerged into three themes, confidence in the own knowledge, a functional working team and the own psychological strength. Knowledge, experiences, organizational structures, team support, strategies, values and the own health were conductive for feeling confident with your professional role as a nurse.

Conclusion

:

To ensure good end-of life care and preventing as well as promoting your own health as a nurse, certain prerequisites are needed for professional nursing. The results emerged into three themes and our conclusion is that a nurse needs all three for giving professional care to the patient. If there are lacks of prerequisites the caring will be incomplete.