Background: The rapid spread of the disease has severely impacted healthcare systems around the world. There is a lack of evidence related to the care experience of emergency department nurses. Objective: To understand the care experience and thoughts of emergency department nurses during the COVID-19 epidemic. Methods: Purposive sampling was used to recruit 16 emergency department nurses from a medical center, and a semi-structured interview was used for data collection. The enrollment period was from 28 July 2021 to 30 October 2021. Thematic content analysis was used for data analysis. Results: The care experiences of emergency department nurses during the COVID-19 epidemic can be classified into three themes and six sub-themes. Theme 1: I am the gatekeeper; theme 2: Care and environment challenges: difficulties with equipment and environment, managing patient’s and family members’ emotions, insufficient manpower of care; theme 3: Conflicting emotions: worrying about being infected or transmitting the disease, needs of effective support and empathy, and lack of understanding and discrimination towards the occupation. Conclusion: Emergency department nurses adhered to professional awareness and responsibility during the epidemic and play a critical role in epidemic prevention.
【저자키워드】 COVID-19, qualitative study, Epidemic prevention, emergency department nurses, care experience, 【초록키워드】 equipment, emergency department, Spread, Nurses, Epidemic, Data analysis, Care, Critical, Evidence, COVID-19 epidemic, Analysis, Nurse, Healthcare system, Support, Enrollment, effective, the epidemic, thought, was used, lack, the disease, impacted, recruit, 【제목키워드】 Qualitative, experience, Emergency, Nurse, Department,