Introduction: Human dignity is a fundamental value of a democratic and legal state, which belongs to every individual, regardless of their political and ideological orientation. Palliative care provides comprehensive and continuous care to a patient with a progressive incurable disease during illness, at death and during the period of mourning. The right to preserved dignity must not be diminished at the time of dying. Purpose: The purpose of the thesis is to define and present the concept of dignity in relation to the dying. Methods: A descriptive work method was used with a systematic review of professional and scientific literature. For the literature search, we used the time frame from 2012 to 2022. We searched for literature in Slovenian and English in the databases MEDLINE, CINAHL, diKul, Google Scholar and Science Direct. The literature search period was from September to December 2022. 10 articles were included in the final analysis. Results: By reviewing the literature, we found that patients find it difficult to define the concept of dignity, but associate it with respect, trust and sincerity. Patients experience diminished dignity due to lack of privacy, deteriorating health and poor financial and social situation. Nurses preserve the dignity of the patient by respecting the patient, building a trusting and sincere relationship with him, ensuring his privacy, and in the case of the dying, they take into account the patient's wishes at the last moments of life and relieve pain. However, there may be some obstacles to respect for dignity; the reduced dignity of the dying in the hospital can occur due to the lack of educated staff, the abundance of administrative work and the overcrowding of the wards. Discussion and conclusion: Dignity is a human right that belongs to every individual, regardless of gender, race, age or religious belief. Palliative care provides comprehensive care to a patient with a progressive incurable disease. The fundamental goal of palliative care is not to prolong life, but to make sure that the patient spends the last moments as well as possible without pain. A nurse must know the basics of palliative care well, must be skilled in communicating with a palliative patient, must be compassionate and dedicated, must ensure that the patient's physical and psychological needs are met.
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