based on a holistic view of the human being, the philosophy of palliative care is to value life and see death as a natural process. to understand the perceptions of nurses in the assistance to patients in palliative care. cross-sectional, exploratory descriptive study, with a qualitative approach that aimed to understand the phenomenon of palliative care in the perception of the professionals involved. After analysis of the participants' speeches, based on the objective and the similarity of the responses, six thematic categories emerged: Humanized Care, Leadership, Feelings, Family, Palliative Care and Comfort. The professionals pointed out as fundamental, the participation of family members and the skills acquired in the lived experience, the daily resignification, as well as their limitations, contributed to the understanding of the process of caring and human living, minimizing the suffering resulting from terminal illness.