PALLIATIVE CARE IN ONCOLOGY AND ITS IMPACT ON NURSES' MENTAL HEALTH: AN EXPERIENCE REPORT

Abstract

In the oncological context, professionals face challenges that affect their mental health, such as emotional overload, exposure to suffering and death, in addition to the needs and demands of patients and their families, generating physical and mental exhaustion, resulting in burnout. This work aims to report the experience lived in the mandatory Curricular internship of the ninth period of the undergraduate Nursing course, addressing topics related to the mental health of health professionals, especially that of nurses and their challenges in Palliative Care within the Cancer Hospital of the Federal University of Uberlândia. The Internship took place from  January to May 2024. Bringing the importance of obtaining studies that emphasize the mental health of nursing professionals and provide subsidies for the implementation of actions aimed at preventing mental illness and supporting nursing professionals so that they do not succumb to the challenges encountered in their praxis in the face of palliative oncological care.