Table 3. Category chart.

Category	Subcategory
1. Pandemonium: facing the sudden COVID-19 pandemic unprepared	1) Feeling lost with no COVID-19 response prepared
	2) Confusion at being inserted into the COVID-19 response without a thorough understanding of the work
2. Balancing on a tightrope: the feeling of facing an insurmountable obstacle	1) Confusion exacerbated by frequent changes to guidelines and insufficient communication amidst a shortage of information
	2) Feeling a sense of despair due to the attitudes of others, which appear to differ from my own
	3) Overwhelmed by frequent staff changes and excessive workload
	4) Bewilderment at the lack of policy support after making the decision to support a cause
3. Together, through every hardship: everyone working together to the best of their abilities	1) Making everything I can to overcome COVID-19
	2) Constructing a response system through peripheral support and active requests for help
	3) Working for the health of everyone, not just myself
4. Every little bit helps: discovering how we grew once the situation had stabilized	1) Efficient work through the cultivation of a professional workforce and the construction of an infectious disease response environment
	2) Sense of reward at seeing the fruits of my efforts at the personal and social level
5. Proper preparation prevents poor performance: the expectation that preparedness will make us better for future outbreaks of new infectious diseases	1) The need to build upon the inadequate public healthcare system (hospitals, beds, etc.)
	2) Need to maintain a trained, professional workforce and secure a sufficient budget
	3) The need to improve systems for the division of roles in the event of interorganizational cooperation
	4) The need for systematic and continual education
	5) The need to construct infectious disease response systems for various scenarios and to develop and provide specific and easy manuals

COVID-19 = coronavirus disease 2019.