Perceived Barriers, Perceived Facilities, and Perceived Needs in Caring for Patients with COVID-19: A Case Study on the Experience of Nurses

Introduction: As the world is fighting against the epidemic of COVID-19, nurses as the largest group of healthcare professionals at the forefront of this struggle, perceive the threats and challenges. Therefore, it is important to know the factors that help or hinder the health of nurses. The aim of this study is to investigate the experiences of nurses caring for patients with COVID-19.  Methods: The data for this qualitative study was collected during the summer and early fall of 2020. Participants were nurses from a hospital, which was considered the main hospitalization center for COVID-19 patients in Kerman, a city in Iran; they were selected through purposive sampling. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews.  Conventional content analysis method was used to analyze th data. Results: 10 nurses participated in the study. Three main categories and six subcategories were identified. Perceived barriers (including subcategories of “negative emotions” and “limitations in service delivery”), perceived facilities (subcategories included “perceived support”, commitment to work”, “previous experience”), and prevised needs (subcategories included “self-care” and “information needs”) were identified through analysis. Conclusion: Lack of seriousness to overcome the challenges and obstacles of nurses, results in physical and psychological harm to them and in continuation of COVID-19 epidemic, the health system will face nurses who will not have the enough capability to provide appropriate nursing care.