Objective: 1) to study the level of nurses’ perception about palliative care for terminally ill patients, 2) to study the level of caregivers’ perception about palliative care for terminally ill patients, and 3) to compare perception level among nurses and caregivers towards palliative care for terminally ill patients.

Material and Method: Two hundred and seventy-four professional nurses were selected by a simple random technique from nurses who had been working in units other than the operating room, labour room, emergency room, observation unit and outpatient unit, and 114 caregivers who had taken care of the patients in the same units for more than 3 days. Data were collected through a demographic data form and questionnaire on nurses’ perception, while data of caregivers included personal data and caregivers’ perception towards palliative care for terminally ill patients using a rating scale developed by the researcher, based on literature review on palliative care for terminally ill patients. The reliability of questionnaires for nurses and caregivers was 0.92 and 0.84, respectively. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and Independent t-test.

Results: The level of nurses’ perception about palliative care for terminally ill patients was at a high level. The level of caregivers’ perception about palliative care for terminally ill patients was at a high level only in physical and psychological dimensions, but was at a moderate level in psychosocial and spiritual dimensions. There were statistical differences between nurses and caregivers at the 0.00, 0.02, 0.01, and 0.00 level, respectively.

Conclusion: There were significant differences in all dimensions of the perception level between nurses and caregivers. Nurses should be provided with more knowledge about psychosocial and spiritual care, and definite guidelines for palliative care of terminally ill patients should be set up.