Introduction. Activities aimed at better availability and quality of health services concerning palliative and hospice care require the use of specialist qualifications of the nursing personnel. Aim. Analysis of the significance of a specialised palliative nursing care training programme and the possibilities of application of acquired qualifications in nursing practice, as seen by respective professionals. Material and methods. The survey covered 184 palliative care professionals from 6 voivodeships. Statistical analysis of the research results was performed with SPSS Statistics 22.0. software. Results. A majority of the surveyed stressed the usefulness of the specialised palliative nursing care training programme (93%), also in relation to gaining professional experience (57.1%) and obtaining qualifications needed to provide certain healthcare services independently (55.9%). The training programme enhanced the quality of work (73.9%), raised expertise and competence within professional duties, and improved the efficiency of care provided by nurses (64.1%), while being gratifying and prestigious (55%). The benefits were principally realised by health care professionals working in home hospices (p = 0.03). Some of the surveyed claimed they provided specialised healthcare services requiring additional qualifications, mainly due to chronic pain management and monitoring and to assessing the quality of patients’ life. Conclusions. According to palliative nursing care specialists, improving qualifications primarily results in gaining self-satisfaction and social recognition. Only few of the surveyed mentioned the improved efficiency in the patient care. The nurses working in home and inpatient hospices are the most independent and self-reliant, although high qualifications of staff are not fully utilised.

Key words: specialists, palliative care nursing.