Table 2.

Types of challenges experienced by participants (N = 62).

Challenge type	Specific challenge	Representative quote
Communication with the medical team	Hard to get in touch with clinicians by telephone	“It's been a couple times that I've called up there and I didn't get an answer and I had to call back later, or I'll call two or three times… not get an answer and had to call back later.”
	Need to wait for updates by telephone	“It's hard on our emotional status not knowing for 8,10, 12  hours.it's very difficult for us.”
	Do not want to disturb medical staff by calling too frequently	“I don't call too often because I know they (the nurses) are busy.”
	Doctors/nurses seem rushed on the phone	“Sometimes it (communication) is more rushed or, like today, it wasn't very good…I felt like the phone literally cut out at one point.”
	Lack of continuity among medical staff	“I feel like, we're using different doctors to fill in here, right? It's like a different doctor every day. It's a different team.”
Communication among family members	Need to update multiple family members	“I usually have to call like five different people (family members), repeating it, and try to remember everything to tell them.”
Understanding and tracking medical information	Difficult to understand/keep track of medical information	“I mean, they (clinicians) do use some terms, you know, like for medicine and like his "inflammatory markers" and stuff that I don't understand.”
	Received incomplete or inconsistent information from doctors/nurses	“He (the clinician) said my dad was not on any antibiotics and I'm just like, what is going on here?”
Distress related to visitor restrictions	Difficult to not visit patient due to pandemic guidelines	“Is there any way possible that if I was to get PPE, if I can go in there and try to communicate and talk with my dad… feel him, rub him, hold his hand”
	Fear of medical decline	“I know my anxiety is pretty high. And I think [for] both of my stepdaughters it is, too. it's such a roller coaster. So, I mean, the doctors reassure us that everything that they've seen is pretty much normal on a COVID patient, but it's still high anxiety.”