Caregivers’ perception of the caring challenges in coronavirus crisis (COVID-19): a qualitative study

BACKGROUND: The nurses act as the guardians of people’s health by preventing, controlling, and curing emerging diseases, including coronavirus, a highly infectious and contagious disease which has presented the caregivers in the Iranian healthcare system with many clinical challenges. In view of lack of research on the clinical challenges which arise during health crises, emerging diseases included, there is need for further investigation of those clinical challenges and dilemmas. The aim in present study was to describe the caregivers’ experiences of the caring challenges in patients with coronavirus (COVID-19). METHODS: The present study is a qualitative work with a phenomenological-descriptive design. Data were collected via semi-structured, in-depth, individual interviews. The collected data were analyzed according to Colaizzi’s method. The participants were 23 members of the medical staff responsible for coronavirus patients in Iran who met the inclusion criteria. The participants were selected via purposeful sampling which was continued to the point of data saturation. RESULTS: The results yielded 3 main themes “psychological tension”, “inefficient management”, and “contextual factors” with 11 categories. CONCLUSION: In dealing with coronavirus patients and providing quality care to them, nurses face various clinical challenges which affect their performance. Administrators must, alongside giving instructions to people on how to prevent the coronavirus disease and taking effective safety measures, make sure that clinical centers are managed efficiently in order for nurses to fulfill their caring objectives satisfactorily. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12912-021-00607-1.