Table 1.
Summary of studies and reported study results
| Author (year) Country | Purpose/Aim/Research Question | Methodology/Data collection/Data analysis | Sampling andparticipants | Main results/Themes | CASP scoring |
| Gao et al/ 2020/ China | To explore nurses’ experiences regarding shift patterns while providing front-line care for COVID-19 patients in isolation wards | Phenomenological research method/ semi-structured interview/ Colaizzi's analysis method | Purposive sampling / 40 nurses | assess the competency of nurses to assignnursing work scientifically and reasonably, reorganize nursing workflow to optimizeshift patterns, communicate between managers and front-line nurses to humanizeshift patterns, and nurses’ various feelings and views on shift patterns | 9 |
| Wahyuningsih et al/ 2020/ Indonesia | to dig on the deep meaning on the nurses’ practice during treating the COVID-19’s patients | qualitative research/ semi-structured / content analysis | Purposive sampling / 5 nurses | the challenge of being a COVID-19 nurse in the emergency room, ICU and Covid care room, second, the resilience and resilience of nurses, third, the professionalism of nurses | 8 |
| Liu et al/ 2020 /China | describe the experiences of these health-care providers in the early stages of the outbreak | phenomenological qualitative study/ semi-structured interview/ Colaizzi's phenomenological method | purposive and snowball sampling / nine nurses and four physicians | “Being fully responsible for patients’ wellbeing— ‘this is my duty’”, “challenges of working on COVID-19 wards”, “resilience amid challenges”. | 9 |
| Catania et al/ 2020/ Italia | To explore nursing management issues within COVID-19 narratives of Italian front-line nurses | qualitative study/ semi-structured interview / thematic analysis | purposefully sampling/ 23 nurses | organizational and logistic change; leadershipmodels adopted to manage the emergency; changes in nursing approaches; personal protective equipment issues; physical and psychological impact on nurses; and team value/spirit | 9 |
| Karimi et al/ 2020/Iran | explore the lived experiences of nurses caring for patientswith COVID-19 in Iran | phenomenology qualitative study/ semi-structured interviews / Colaizzi's method | purposefully sampling/ 12 nurses | “Mental condition”, “emotional condition”, “care context” | 9 |
| Kackin et al /2020/Turkey | determine the experiences and psychosocial problems of nurses caring for patients diagnosed with COVID-19 in Turkey | phenomenology qualitative study/ semi-structured interviews / Colaizzi's method | purposive sampling/ 10 nurses | “Effects of the outbreak”,” short-term coping strategies” and “needs” | 9 |
| Galehdar et al/2020/Iran | explore nurses’ experiences of psychological distress during care of patients with COVID-19 | qualitative research/ semi-structured indepth telephone interviews/content analysis | purposive sampling/ 20 nurses | death anxiety, anxiety due to the nature of the disease, anxiety caused by corpse burial, fear of infecting the family, distress about time wasting, emotional distress of delivering bad news, fear of being contaminated, the emergence of obsessive thoughts, the bad feeling of wearing personal protective equipment, conflict between fear and conscience, and the public ignorance of preventive measures | 8 |
| Pazokia et al 2021/ Iran | investigate nurses who have experienced COVID-19 patient care. | qualitative study/ semi-structured interviews/content analysis | purposive sampling/ 18 nurses | Organizational Structure Challenges with five subcategories (high workload, deficiency in management, lack of facilities and equipment, irregularity and financial motivation) and care difficulty with four subcategories (psychological concern, recovery and treatment, insufficient care training programs and personal self-protection) | 8 |
| LoGiudice and Bartos/2021/US | To understand nurses’ lived experiences during the COVID-19 outbreak and to examine their resiliency | mixed methods design/ semi-structured interviews/ Colaizzi's phenomenological method was used for qualitative analysis/ | purposive sampling/ 43 nurses | “What's the protocol today? And were,oh where, is the research?”/Family ties broken: How nurses bridge the gap/The never-ending “sanitize cycle”/Restorative self-care/ “Proud to be a nurse” | 10 |
| Danielis et al/2021/Italia | To describe the experiences of Italian nurses who have been urgently and compulsorily allocated to a newly established COVID-19 sub-intensive care unit. | qualitative descriptive study/ focus groups /Thematic analysis | Purposive sampling/ 24 nurse | ‘Becoming a frontline nurse’, ‘living a double-faced professional experience’ and ‘advancing in nursing practice’ | 9 |
| Robinson and Stinson/ 2021/ US | this study was to understand the experiences of registerednurses working with hospitalized COVID-19 patients | hermeneutic phenomenology design/ Semi structured interviews/ Colaizzi's method | Purposive sampling/ 24 nurse | “The human connection,” “the nursing burden,” and “coping.” | 8 |
| Andersson et al/ 2021/ Sweden | the study was to deductively study person-centered care, based on critical carenurses’ experiences during the first phase of the covid-19 pandemic | qualitative design/ individual interviews/ content analysis | 6 Nurse | four domains of person-centered practice: the prerequisites, the care environment, person-centered processes and person-centered outcomes. | 8 |
| Specht et al/ 2021/ Denmark | To explore how nurses experienced working in a newly organized COVID-19ward with high-riskpatients during a new and unknown pandemic. | phenomenological-hermeneutic approach/ Semi-structured individual telephone interviews/ PaulRicoeur's theory | Purposive sampling/ 23 nurse | four themes were generated: (a) Challenging and uncertain situation, but also a positive experience (b) Professional and personal development (c) Lack of nurses' rights during a pandemic (d) Reward in itself or a desire for financial reward. | 9 |
| Bergman et al/ 2021/ Sweden | To describe Swedish registered nurses' experiences of caringfor patients with COVID-19 in ICUs during the pandemic | Mixed method/ Questionnaire and Facebook page/ content analysis and descriptive statistics | 474 nurses | three categories: tumbling into chaos, diminished nursing care, and transition into pandemic ICU care | 7 |
| Fernández-Castillo et al/ 2021/ Spain | to explore and describe the experiences and perceptions of nurses working in an ICU during the COVID-19 global pandemic | Qualitative research/ semi-structured videocall interviews/ / content analysis | homogeneous purposivesampling/17 nurses | 4 main themes: “providing nursingcare,” “resources management and safety,” “psychosocial aspects andemotional lability,” and “professional relationships and fellowship.” | 9 |
| Liang et al/ 2021/ Taiwan | to explore in-depth nurses’ experiences of providing care in the time of the COVID-19 global pandemic | qualitative study/ Semi-structured face-to-face interviews/ Colaizzi's seven-step method | purposivesampling/16 nurses | three themes: (i) facing the emerging challenge, (ii) struggling with uncertainty, fear, stigma,and workload, and (iii) adapting to changes in the environment: learning and innovation | 8 |
| White/ 2021/ US | to understand nurses’ caring experiences during the recent pandemic in theUnited States | interpretive phenomenological approach/ unstructured interview / Smith et al. (2009) approach to qualitative analysis | purposivesampling/15 participants | Five major themes were interpreted: If not us, then who?; Accepting uncertainty; It was never enough; Finding self and our voices in a new role; and Believing it was worth it | 8 |