Background: Research shows that relatives of palliative care patients who are cared for at the end-of-life experience deficiencies in, among other things, support from the nurses. Relatives request clearer information and communication so that relatives can experience a sense of security. Aim: To describe the nurses' experience of dealing with relatives of palliative patients who are at the end of life. Method: Literature study with descriptive synthesis based on 10 qualitative articles. Results: Two themes were identified. The first theme was "Meeting challenges" with the subthemes "Lack of time and knowledge" and "Emotional impact". The second theme was "To create a relationship" with sub-themes "The importance of informing relatives " and "The importance of relatives' wishes". The Results: The lack of time affects availability of relatives, and the lack of knowledge is a limitation, the nurses believe. Furthermore, it emerges how the relationship between the nurses and the palliative patient has an emotional impact on the nurses. The nurses believe that the treatment of relatives is about being compliant to both the patient and relatives, and this is described as the central part of participation. Opinions from relatives that sometimes did not agree with the patient's wishes became a challenge for the nurses. Conclusion: The nurses' experiences mostly consisted of the treatment of relatives in connection with end-of-life care where it was considered a challenge and stressful, but also important.
Keywords: End of life, experiences, palliative care, personal treatment, relatives