Purpose@#This study investigated the difficulties in
end-of-life care and
end-of-life care competency in
nurses who take care of
cancer patients. @*
Methods@#In the mixed
method, a structured
questionnaire on
end-of-life care stress and competency was conducted on 115
nurses caring for
cancer patients, and 19 were interviewed for
qualitative research. For the collected quantitative data, descriptive
statistics were used. For the qualitative study, the contents of the
interview were summarized and systematized using the content
analysis method to derive the main themes. @*Results@#The mean
end-of-life care stress was 4.08 points (out of 5) and the mean
end-of-life care competency was 3.43 points (out of 5). Four themes and 11 sub-themes for the difficulties in
end-of-life care were identified, and the four themes are as follows (1)
regret over limited
end-of-life nursing, (2) different aspects of persistent
emotional distress, (3) overloaded duty at the
end-of-life (4) conflicts encountered in
decision-making for
life-sustaining
treatment. Four themes and eight sub-themes for
end-of-life care competency were identified, and the four themes are as follows (1)
empathy and listening skills, (2)
communication skills, (3) clinical
nursing experience and
education, (4) clinical
nursing competency. @*Conclusion@#It was confirmed that
nurses caring for
cancer patients had a high level of
end-of-life care stress, and it is necessary to develop a program to reduce difficulties in
end-of-life care and increase
end-of-life care competency.