Lokman Hekim Health Sciences
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The Views And Experiences Of Nurses During The COVID-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative Study

Sevilay Şenol Çelik1 ORCID, Yusuf Çelik2 ORCID, Azize Atlı Özbaş3 ORCID, Hafize Savas4 ORCID, Sabri Kovancı4 ORCID
1 Koc University, School of Nursing, Istanbul, Turkey
2 Faculty of Health Sciences, Department of Health Management, Marmara University, Istanbul
3 Department of Psychiatric Nursing, Faculty of Nursing, Hacettepe University, Ankara
4 Nursing Department, Faculty of Health Sciences, Lokman Hekim University, Ankara, Turkey
DOI: 10.14744/lhhs.2022.10004 Article ID: LHHS-65175
Abstract
Introduction: Coronavirus pandemic showed that the number of nurses and management of personal protective equipment were the problems to meet the increasing demand in all around the world. The aim of this study is to determine the experiences and views of the nurses on the management of the nurse workforce and materials/ equipment in providing nursing care during the coronavirus (2019) pandemic.

Methods: Qualitative design was used in this study. A phenomenological approach was followed to collect data by administering focus group interviews in February 2021. The views of 37 nurses working in hospitals in seven geographic regions of Türkiye were obtained. Interview data were analyzed using content analysis.

Results: The views and experiences of the participants were grouped under five themes summarizing seven sub-themes and twenty-two open codes. The results of the study indicated that “not having/accessing personal protective equipment to protect nurses and patients from infection contamination" and "working with protective equipment for long hours" were the most frequently witnessed problems. In addition, participants reported that they were not understood by healthcare managers and felt lonely.

Discussion and Conclusion: Nurses have been fighting at the forefront of this disaster. However, in recognition of how sacred and valuable life is, nurses fighting against coronavirus should not be left alone and must be supported by healthcare managers and decision-makers.

Keywords: COVID-19 pandemic, nursing, qualitative research.

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