To understand the growth experiences of senior nurses in coping with the death of patients so as to provide reference for clinical nursing management and teaching.

A phenomenological research method of qualitative study was employed in this study. Twenty-five senior nurses were in-depth interviewed with semi-structured interview guide. Thematic analysis method was adopted to collect and analyze the data, which were then organized into themes and subthemes.

Three themes were "changes in growth" "ways to grow" and "unmet needs". Senior nurses could cope with patients′ death well through accumulation and sharing of clinical experience, as they reorganized of death more definitely, their emotional response transferred reasonable, their coping strategy became matured, whereas the senior nurses still need help in the areas of psychological adaption, social support and professional theory education.

It is suggested that nursing managers should value the experience sharing and teaching function of senior oncology nurses, pay attention to the physical-mental health of senior nurses and provide professional psychosocial support to them. Otherwise, it is important to provide all oncology nurses with systematic knowledge training concerning hospice/death education to promote their career development ultimately.

Patients; Death; Senior nurse; Coping strategy; Growth