Background Nurses have significant role in the palliative care services. Therefore Palliative Care courses should take place in the nursing education in order to provide and maintain the success and care quality in the palliative care.

Aim To determine the attitudes of toward care of the dying of nursing students having palliative care course.

Methods A quasi-experimental pretest-posttest research design was used. The scope and the sample of the research consisted of 50 students in the 4th grade in a University’s Nursing Department, in 2014. All students completed The Frommelt Attitude Toward Care of the Dying (FATCOD) scale before and after the  education program. Possible scores for the tool can range from 30–150. A higher score indicates a more positive attitude toward caring. The Pre-test and post-test scores were compared. Some independent variables effects on FATCOD scores were evaluated. Descriptive analysis, Kruskal Wallis, Mann Whitney U, Wilcoxon were used.

Results FATCOD mean scores of the students before and after the course was 103.10 ± 8.94, 108.70 ± 9.74 in turn and pre, post-test difference was statistically significant (<0.05). FATCOD scores was affected by some independent variables such as encountering with a death case or care a patient in terminal phase and estimate the palliative care course’s necessity in nursing education.

Discussion The palliative care course’s positive effect on students attitudes toward care of dying is compatible with the literature.

Conclusion Students were affected positively by Palliative Care course. According to the results, the curriculum should be developed and integrate to all nursing programmes.