Complex palliative care frequently requires simultaneous management of symptoms, medication burden, oral-health problems, communication needs, changing goals of care, and transitions across services. Nurses, pharmacists, and dental professionals may each contribute distinct expertise, yet the extent to which their work is coordinated, overlapping, or separated by professional and organizational boundaries has not been mapped comprehensively. To map the available evidence on nursing, pharmacy, and dental or oral-health roles in complex palliative care; identify areas of shared responsibility; examine medication, oral-health, communication, referral, and patient-participation interfaces; and characterize barriers, facilitators, models of care, and evidence gaps. A scoping review was conducted using JBI-informed methods and PRISMA-ScR-compatible reporting. Searches conducted on 16 September 2026 identified 69 records across four executed source blocks. After removal of two duplicate records, 67 records underwent title and abstract screening. Forty-one reports were sought and assessed, 12 were excluded after report-level assessment, and 29 evidence units were included. The evidence depicts collaboration as an interface between differentiated professional roles rather than a uniform team configuration. Dental and oral-health evidence was smaller and more setting-specific but identified clinically distinctive needs requiring specialist assessment, treatment, and escalation. Shared responsibility was most visible in recognition of problems, information exchange, referral, monitoring, and alignment of care with patient priorities. Current evidence supports coordinated but differentiated professional contributions to complex palliative care. The strongest synthesis is that collaboration depends on making professional boundaries permeable enough for timely communication and escalation while retaining the expertise needed for medication, oral-health, symptom, and continuity-related decisions.
