In the nurse’s meeting with dying patient’s and their relatives there comes up challenges and difficulties. The nurse must be able to act on the basis of her own empathic ability. The aim of this literature review was to illuminate the importance of the nurses empathic relation in palliative care. Joyce Travelbee was used as a theoretical framework. Her nurse theory is based on that the care is an interpersonal process where the nurse takes part in the preventing work which demands to overcome or find the meaning in sickness and suffering. The method used in this literature review has a content analysis approach and is built on 12 research articles. The result shows that the nurse’s empathic ability makes sense in the palliative care. The analyse of the articles resulted in four categories: communication, involvement, trust and confidence and finally teamwork. The nurse’s ability to show empathy sets the ground for patients and relatives faith and hope that the patient will be able to live a meaningful life as possible.