Abstract: Objective: To describe and analyze the perception and behavior of ICU nurses for hospice care through Meta-integration. Methods: Databases including The Cochrane Library, PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, CINAHL, PsycINFO, Chinese biomedical literature database (CBM), CNKI, WanFang Data and VIP were searched. All qualitative studies meeting the criteria were included, and Meta-integration method was used to analyze and integrate the data. Results: A total of 17 studies were included involving 68 clear results. Thirty-four new categories were formed and 4 main points were obtained: professional duties of ICU nurses in hospice care, emotional experience of ICU nurses in hospice care, interpersonal communication in hospice care, and obstacles in hospice care practice. Conclusion: ICU nurses have a relatively accurate and comprehensive understanding about their responsibility in hospice care, but they still lack of communication skills, psychological counseling, energy and time. The hospital should provide systematic training of hospice care and emotional counseling and psychological support to ICU nurses regularly, so as to help ICU nurses master the skills needed for hospice care, and promote the development of hospice care in ICU environment.

Key words: ICU; nurses; hospice care; qualitative research; Meta-integration