Experiences of nursing professionals involved in the care of COVID-19 patients

Abstract

The outbreak of SARS-COV-2 has become an opportunity for nursing professionals of North Eastern states of India to experience handling patients during pandemics with limited resources. To explore the experiences of nursing staff in the care of COVID-19 patients. Descriptive phenomenological design was adopted to describe the experiences of nursing professionals involved in the care of COVID-19 patients in selected hospitals/COVID centers of Assam, India. The experiences of nurses caring for COVID-19 patients were summarized into 4 themes and various sub-themes. The themes include: Perspectives about COVID-19 duty, Experience on PPE kit, Conflicts & disagreements and Swab test & the final stage of isolation. Nurses reported changing patterns of nursing care, anxiety regarding COVID-19 duty, professional growth amidst risks and pressure. The nurses had to work under certain conflicts and disagreements in relation to patient care, their personal and career related decisions and interprofessional role distribution. At the final stage of isolation, most nurses were prepared to handle the situation even if they test COVID-19 positive. During this COVID-19 outbreak, positive and negative emotions of the front-line nurses interweaved and coexisted. The experience was new and challenging, the nurses had contributed in the management of COVID-19.