Lived Experiences of the Health Care Providers Infected with Coronavirus Disease: A Phenomenological Study

With the COVID-19 outbreak and the involvement of many countries, Healthcare Providers (HCPs), as a large group on the front lines of handling this disease, have been exposed to the virus the most and faced heavy pressure with limited resources and facilities, resulting in many of these individuals becoming infected. Accordingly, the current research was conducted to investigate and identify the lived experiences of HCPs during the COVID-19 pandemic at Masih Daneshvari Hospital in Tehran, the first hospital to admit patients with COVID-19.

This study employs a qualitative approach with a conventional content analysis method, where data collection and analysis were conducted according to the steps outlined by Graneheim and Lundman. The study population in this research consisted of 42 people, including 26 females and 16 males, selected from the HCPs working in Masih Daneshvari Hospital wards. The interviews were conducted semi-structured and face-to-face until saturation was reached.

One thousand and nineteen initial codes were extracted through the collection and analysis of participants' data. After reviewing and equalizing similar codes, 62 final codes were extracted. Also, 6 main categories and 14 subcategories were extracted from interviews with the HPCs infected with COVID-19: Physical and mental challenges (psychological effects, job burnout, disease symptoms), cultural-belief challenges (beliefs and values, and moral conflicts), social challenges (occupational conflicts, social stigma), family challenges (economic-livelihood problems, work-family conflict), challenges related to the disease characteristics (informed management, disease unknown and difficult conditions), and the challenge of facilities, equipment, and human resources (hospital capacities, popular volunteer forces, organizational changes, and support) were extracted.

The results of this study indicated that the HPCs faced challenges regarding emotions, interpersonal relationships with colleagues and relatives, the workplace, and the difficulty of the workplace when infected with COVID-19. In this regard, it is essential to use strategies such as benefitting from sufficient preparation before the outbreak concerning equipment, human force, required training about the disease and its process, making the HPCs skillful, and creating numerous incentives.