Nurses’ experiences of providing care to suspected COVID-19 patients in a resource limited setting

Abstract

The emergence of the corona virus disease (COVID-19) has exacerbated the strain on health systems across the globe, particularly the already overburdened and fragile health systems in resource constrained countries. The study aimed at exploring the experiences of nurses providing care to suspected COVID-19 patients in a resource limited setting whilst awaiting COVID-19 test results. It adopted a descriptive phenomenological approach to explore and describe lived experiences of nurses who provided care to patients suspected of having COVID-19. In-depth individual telephone interviews were used to collect data from ten nurses. Using judgemental purposive sampling, the sample size of ten nurses was determined by data saturation. The healthcare workers experienced psychological challenges due to the prevailing environment associated with fear of contracting the virus and witnessing patients’ painful experiences of discomfort. Material resource limitations also had a bearing on the quality of patient care. Based on the findings of this study, the government and Ministry of Health and Child Care should address gaps associated with resource limitations and provide support to providers of care in the COVID-19 context.

Keywords

• COVID-19
• nurses
• provision of care
• suspected COVID-19 cases
• challenges