Background: Nurses´daily has to face death and dying in their work with patients in a palliative state.  This means both emotionell and workrelated challenges. However nurses in this context are not experiencing more stress then others.

Aim: The aim is to describe nurses´experiences of caring for patients in a palliative state.

Method: A litterature review based on ten qualitative articles published between 2006- 2012. To collect data we used the databases Cinahl, PubMed, Nursing Allied Health Source and Medline. We worked with Fribergs (2006) model ”Contribute to evidensbased care with a base in analyses of qualitative science” in the analysis.

Result: Four main themes were identified; The meaning of the nurses´ spirituality in the care, Why the nurse choose to work in this field, To be certain in the professional role and The meaning of the caring relationship. In these are nine subthemes included; To evole through insights, Making a difference, To feel satisfaction in their work, The importance of experience, The importance of colleagues, The importance of competence, Positive effects related to the relationship, Negative effects related to the relationship samt Finding a balance between work and private life.    

Discussion: The results were discussed using the model KASAM by A. Antonovsky . The results shows that nurses´motivation in their work comes from their sense of meaningfulness which impacts the care that is given by him/her. In addition, we looked at the results from the four cornerstones in palliative care.

Keywords: Nurse perspective, palliative care, death, dying, experience, meaning.