Palliative Home Care : Nurses’ Experiences and Perceptions in Providing care - A literature review

Abstract: Background: Demands to be cared for and die at home are increasing nowadays. The holistic approach of palliative care is to emphasize on alleviating physical and psychological distresses and psychosocial support to patients and their families. The nurses have a significant role in promoting palliative care as guidelines of The National Board of Health and Welfare and The World Health Organization (WHO). Aim: To describe nurses' experiences and perceptions in providing palliative care to adult patients at home. Method: A general literature review of ten scientific articles were retrieved from CINAHL and MEDLINE. The collected data were analysed systematically before processing into the result. Results: Three themes and seven subthemes are identified. Three themes describe: supporting patients and their families, improving work efficiency and organizational factors. Seven subthemes present nurses’ experiences in handling psychosocial and emotional issues, strengthen empowerment, building relationships, interprofessional collaboration, self-development, workload and lack of time, and organization support. Conclusion: The results indicate the importance of increasing knowledge and skills in providing the holistic palliative home care for patients and their families. Organizations' supports and effective interprofessional collaboration are fundamental attributions in promoting adequate palliative care.