Lived Experiences of the Patients Hospitalized with COVID-19: A Phenomenological Study in a Province of Northwest Iran

COVID-19 is a serious infectious disease whose rapid and widespread spread urged the World Health Organization to declare it a global public health emergency. Understanding the experience of people infected and quarantined with COVID-19 is very important in maximizing disease control and minimizing the negative effects on patients, their families, and social networks. This study explored the experiences of patients with COVID-19 during care and quarantine in northwest Iran. A purposive sample of 11 patients with COVID-19 was recruited. Data were collected from the beginning of March to the beginning of June 2020, using semi-structured interviews and these were analyzed according to van Manen's phenomenological method. Interviews were audiotaped, transcribed verbatim and analyzed using thematic analysis. Ultimately, four themes, Characteristics of the experience, Response to traumatic experience, Deprivation, and Confusion, and containing 19 sub-themes, emerged. After understanding the findings of this research, nurses working in the wards of patients with COVID-19 can better consider the importance of assessing and analyzing the challenges and experiences of patients during periods of illness and quarantine. Findings also enhance the identification and organization of training needs during such a pandemic and the design of nursing programs to respond to them.