Objective To know the emotions of community nurses when they talk to end-of-life patients about health care decisions for their future

Design: Qualitative methodology.

Location: Basic health zone. Jaén.Spain

Participants: Community nurses who care for people at the end of life.

Main interventions Fourteen recorded interviews after informed consent. Analysis: transcription of speeches, coding of texts and grouping in categories.

Results Nurses’ emotions include discouragement, worry, sadness, anxiety, insecurity, bewilderment, anger, compassion or frustration.These affective phenomena appear after negatives experiences such as deception or difficulty in certain situations, lack of resources to face dialogical processes of health decisions planning or acknowledging the other’s suffering.The presence of such emotions leads the professional to adopt avoidance attitudes to elude a reality that causes them emotional distress.There are also participants who feel tranquility, respect, security, satisfaction or affection.These emotions are related to positive experiences, which generate a proactive attitude in the professional and promote actions that improve the quality in care at the end of life.

Conclusion Knowing the present emotions in the clinical relationship can help the professional. When the professional manages properly his/her emotions there is a better healthcare provision at the end of life. It is necessary to improve nurses’ emotional competencies through affective education.