A Review of “Challenging Situations When Administering Palliative Chemotherapy—A Nursing Perspective”

The December 2014 issue of the European Journal of Oncology Nursing published an article by Näppä, Rasmussen, Axelsson, and Lindqvist that reported on a qualitative study of the challenges experienced by Swedish nurses when administering palliative cancer treatment at the end of life. The study identified the various clinical scenarios that create dilemmas among nurses. The authors described why chemotherapy at the end of life has become so prevalent and offered strategies to minimize or prevent the moral distress that can occur. Research from the United States identified similar trends in end-of-life treatment and supportive recommendations for multidisciplinary palliative care team collaboration as a solution.