Introduction: Palliative care is intended for patients whose disease cannot be cured, but only to relieve its symptoms. This type of care varies around the world, especially in Asia and Africa, and requires far more knowledge, skills, and also solidity and professionalism from nurses that are rarely encountered in other forms of healthcare. A major problem is the lack of knowledge of nurses, especially about communication with the patient and about the approach to the patient itself. Purpose: the aim of the thesis is to present a summary of the literature and interventions performed by nurses in palliative care in Asian and African countries. Methods: a descriptive method of work was used. A review of Slovenian and foreign professional and scientific literature was made. The reviewed articles focused on palliative care in Asian and African countries and the professional competencies of palliative care nurses. The literature met the following criteria: the sources are not older than 10 years, are in Slovenian or English and are freely accessible. Results: Professional competencies in palliative care vary considerably from one country to another: in some cases medicines are prescribed by a doctor and administered by a nurse, in others medicines are prescribed by a nurse and administered by volunteers. In most cases, nurses are the only contact with the health care patients recieve, given their distance from public health facilities. Therefore, they have smaller hospice units to provide care easier. As a result, the psychophysical load on nurses is also greater and causes burnout syndrome of palliative care providers. A comparison between the more developed and less developed countries shows that the selection countries are quite similar in terms of lack of knowledge about palliative care, use and training of vocational competencies. Discussion and conclusion: Palliative care is largely underdeveloped in Asian and African countries. Nurses lack knowledge about this type of care, the professional competencies it covers, and the holistic approach to patients who are in the terminal phase of life and need psychological support. This is what theirs families need even in times of grief. There has been a great need for this kind of education of nurses, which is already present in educational institutions for nursing. Palliative care as an independent form of health care in progressing slowly but professionally.
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