title: [Nurses' perception, experience and knowledge of palliative care in intensive care units].
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Adequate provision of palliative care by nursing in intensive care units is essential to facilitate a "good death" to critically ill patients.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To determine the perceptions, experiences and knowledge of intensive care nurses in caring for terminal patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  A literature review was conducted on the bases of Pubmed, Cinahl and PsicINFO data using as search terms: cuidados paliativos, UCI, percepciones, experiencias, conocimientos y enfermería and their alternatives in English (palliative care, ICU, perceptions, experiences, knowledge and nursing), and combined with AND and OR Boolean. Also, 3 journals in intensive care were reviewed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Twenty seven articles for review were selected, most of them qualitative studies (n=16). After analysis of the literature it has been identified that even though nurses perceive the need to respect the dignity of the patient, to provide care aimed to comfort and to encourage the inclusion of the family in patient care, there is a lack of knowledge of the end of life care in intensive care units' nurses.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This review reveals that to achieve quality care at the end of life, is necessary to encourage the training of nurses in palliative care and foster their emotional support, to conduct an effective multidisciplinary work and the inclusion of nurses in decision making.
authors.affiliation: Unidad de Cuidados Intensivos, Clínica Universidad de Navarra, Pamplona, España. Electronic address: anabelenps@gmail.com.
authors.forename: A B
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Piedrafita-Susín
authors.affiliation: Unidad de Cuidados Intensivos, Clínica Universidad de Navarra, Pamplona, España.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Yoldi-Arzoz
authors.affiliation: Unidad de Cuidados Intensivos, Clínica Universidad de Navarra, Pamplona, España.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sánchez-Fernández
authors.affiliation: Unidad de Cuidados Intensivos, Clínica Universidad de Navarra, Pamplona, España.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Zuazua-Ros
authors.affiliation: Área de Investigación, Formación y Desarrollo en Enfermería, Clínica Universidad de Navarra, Pamplona, España.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vázquez-Calatayud
mesh_terms: D002983:Clinical Competence; D003422:Critical Care; D006801:Humans; D007362:Intensive Care Units; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital; D010166:Palliative Care; D013727:Terminal Care
keywords: Conocimiento; Cuidados paliativos; Enfermera; Experience; Experiencia; Intensive care unit; Knowledge; Nurse; Palliative care; Percepción; Perception; Unidad de cuidados intensivos