Table 2.

Themes and Sub-Themes Emerging from the Interviews

Themes	Subthemes	Quotations
Motivations for supporting the hardest-hit areas	Professional commitment	I am a nurse, [and] nurses were needed there [Hubei Province]. There was not much to think about. It was my passion for my profession, and a sense of responsibility. … I really wanted to go. I hoped I could do something to help others, so I signed up. (N1)
	Family support	Being my family members, they didn’t want me to go to such a dangerous place. Later, I talked with my family, telling them that I would do a good job in protecting myself. They also knew that I really wanted to support Hubei Province. After we had talked, they said that if I was determined to go, they would not object. (N10)
	Media propaganda	At that time, I had read some media reports and learned about the situation regarding medical staff and patients in Hubei Province. I just wanted to help them. I thought that if I could go, I might be able to relieve the pressure on them. (N10)
Challenges faced during the support missions	Heavy workloads	We were responsible for all of the patients’ basic everyday care. The workload in this area was still relatively heavy. …There was one patient who had diarrhea four times, and it was difficult for one nurse to clean up, so you had to call a partner to help you. (N3)
	Changes in working patterns	We were not familiar with the environment, including the placement of objects, and some instruments were different from ours. That could be a challenge. (N2) The local isolation ward was actually a transformed normal ward, and the preparation of first aid supplies was not on par with that in my previous department (ICU). (N12)
	Communication barriers	In Hubei Province, only the young people could communicate with us in Mandarin. Other people, especially the elderly, had major problems communicating. (N11) Our faces were hardly recognizable under surgical masks and goggles. So many patients did not know us at all. (N1) Because we wore two-layered masks, the patients could not hear us clearly, so we had to repeat things more loudly. (N12)
	Barriers associated with wearing PPE	As soon as I put on the PPE, I felt very hot. Then I went into the ward and walked around, and in about 10 minutes, I was sweating, finding it hard to breathe, dizzy, and wanting to go outside. My clothes were soaked through within about two hours. (N10) Because of having to wear three layers of sterile gloves, my fingers were numb. When I administered venipuncture and deep vein catheterization to a patient, I couldn’t feel the patient’s blood vessels with my fingers. In addition, the goggles made it difficult for me to see the patient’s blood vessels, which is tantamount to saying that they were pierced blindly. (N6) Having to wear a mask for so long, my face was worn and blistered at that time, and the skin was broken. (N4)
Psychological experiences	Uncertainty	We only knew that we were going to Huangshi, we did not know to which specific hospital. Actually, we did not understand what lay ahead. Uncertainty made us psychologically uneasy. (N1)
	Fear of infection	Really, I was scared. At first, I even thought there were viruses in the air in Wuhan. (N4) I made a mistake in taking off the PPE. Then, I kept searching the Internet for [advice on] this problem. … Anyway, [I thought] I’d better take some medicine to prevent it, and that at least gave me some psychological comfort. I took oseltamivir for 10 days. (N3) Two days later, the head nurse who greeted us on the first day when we entered the hospital was also diagnosed with COVID-19, which was actually quite frightening. (N4)
	Loneliness	After work, we could only go to the canteen to pack a meal and then went back to our rooms to eat it. Colleagues were not allowed to get together for dinner. Coupled with the fact that we left our hometown for a completely strange place, this obviously made me feel lonely. (N1)
	Stressful events	There was a patient who was in his eighties. After his death, when I was sorting out his belongings, I saw his written will and the password written on the bank card. And then I broke down, tears running down my cheeks and neck. (N5)
	Sleep disorders	Each time the phone rang, I would involuntarily go through the information, and then I couldn’t sleep. (N6) Sometimes I hated the night. …Because I’m afraid of being alone in my room, I slept with the light on every day. (N8) Some night shifts required us to get up at 9 p.m., which was quite different from my usual schedule. So if I was on this shift, I couldn’t sleep all night. (N11)
Psychological adjustments	Adequate training and PPE can ease anxiety	We had been trained before we entered the isolation ward, and then a few of us got together and practiced wearing and removing the PPE over and over again. Later, when I went to the ward, I was not so nervous and scared. (N4)
	Professional instinct triumphs over fear	When we came into contact with patients, at least in my case, I didn’t have much fear. When I cared for patients, I hoped I could do something to help them recover as soon as possible. Maybe it’s just a professional instinct. (N1)
	Positive response to stress	The psychiatrist would give us psychological counseling every week, and then get us to do relaxation exercises. It worked really well. (N2) When we got back to the hotel, everyone had to be in their own small room, so we created a small karaoke room with the singing app and began singing in it. It was also a way to release stress. (N4) I wrote in a diary every day, recording what I had done and what I had gained, and this made me feel much more comfortable. (N12)
	Social support	My family expressed concern about me every day. They worried about whether I had eaten well, put on my clothes, and slept well. The concern of my family made me less stressed. (N4) I always felt that I was not alone; everyone [colleagues] was together, helping each other. …The government has given us a lot of support and it was really not easy for China to control the epidemic in such a short time. (N10)
Personal and professional growth	Stronger professional identity	Through this incident, the sense of a social identity associated with [the] nursing [profession] seems to be stronger than before. (N4) To be honest, I once thought about quitting my job. But after this event, I feel that my professional identity has been greatly strengthened, and I have a sense of achievement. (N7)
	Positive work attitude	During each shift, all patients must be photographed and [their information] uploaded to the WeChat group composed of colleagues, with detailed descriptions of their special conditions. Anyway, I don’t think we considered this a chore. We all did it from our hearts and very carefully. This attitude has a great impact on me. (N3)
	Harmonious interpersonal relationships	One patient, when we went to facilitate his functional exercise and talk to him, was very willing to communicate with us and kept thanking us. (N6) Our relationships changed, just like when we had seriously ill patients, they [male nurses] took the initiative to take care of them. And when we were menstruating, they would also help us with some of the work. (N9)
	Expanded possibilities	The patient was healthy when discharged because we didn’t give up on him. In the future, even if there is a little hope, I do not want to give up easily. (N2) After completing the mission, I felt that I had matured a lot. As long as I work hard, there will be a lot of successful things. (N9)
	Live and learn	I think I have to continue to improve myself, and I suddenly have the impulse to study as a specialist nurse and a graduate student. (N6)
	Cherish life	What I feel more deeply is that I should cherish everything that I have now and cherish the time with my family. Because we don’t know when an misfortune will happen, so we should cherish the time [we have] with our families. (N2)