Background: Specialists were asked to describe the most essential palliative and end-of-life care competencies needed in their working units, in order to deepen the understanding of the phenomenon.

Aim: To describe the most essential competencies of palliative-care nurses and physicians.

Methods: The data was collected using an open-ended question in a survey sent to registered nurses (n=129) working within palliative care and to physicians (n=64) with a special competency in palliative care. The data was analysed using content analysis.

Results: The description of the most essential competencies included 16 main categories and 63 subcategories in total. The three strongest main categories were 'clinical competence', 'competence in social interactions' and 'competence in giving support'. Eleven main categories were based on both nurses' and physicians' data, while five main categories were created from nurses' data only.

Conclusion: Interprofessional palliative-care education is recommended for the undergraduate and postgraduate education of nurses and physicians.