Table 3.
Summary of identified themes, rationale and subthemes
| Theme | Description | Subthemes |
| Personal | Issues related to the personal feelings of nurses during their shift | Emotional detachment from patients |
| Fear of being infected and/or being a carrier | ||
| Working out of comfort zone | ||
| Feeling biased in saving patients | ||
| Patient-related | Issues related to patient-related activities (efforts toward saving a patient) and patient outcomes. | Lack of balance in effort and patient outcome |
| Increased workload | ||
| Clinical complications due to longer stay | ||
| Constant need to justify motives to patient’s family | ||
| Reduced quality of care for non-COVID-19 patients and possibility of transmission | ||
| Coworker related | Issues associated with the nurses’ feelings/concerns about their coworkers | Watching coworkers being burnt out |
| Fear of coworkers getting infected | ||
| Calibration in perception of workload | ||
| Organisational | Issues related to the organisation where the nurses worked at the time of study | Uncertainty of treatment plan |
| Donning and doffing of protective wear | ||
| Lack of staffing and resources | ||
| Lack of workflow due to emerging conditions | ||
| Visibility of leadership support | ||
| Team cohesion and trust | ||
| Societal | Issues related to the societal, political or the environment surrounding the workplace | Uncertainty about the pandemic situation |
| Unavailability of vaccines | ||
| Politicisation of COVID-19 and vaccine | ||
| Insensitivity to existing risks |