OBJECTIVE: To reveal the meaning given by the students of the fourth year of nursing undergraduate course in the experience of palliative care. METHODS: Qualitative study carried out in a population of 33 nursing undergraduates who attended the curriculum subject of nursing care for critically ill patients. The interviews were transcribed and analyzed using the methodological strategy of the Collective Subject's Discourse. RESULTS: The results depict the professional training that is focused on the biomedical and curative model of care, as well as unprepared to face the situations of death and dying in the context of palliative care. CONCLUSION: The following meanings were unveiled by undergraduates: feelings of powerlessness and frustration in dealing with death, the dilemma between being a nurse and being a teacher and the difficulty in dealing with family members of patients in palliative care.
Palliative care; Intensive care units; Students, nursing; Bioethical issues