Aim To explore the challenges experienced by ICU nurses throughout the provision of care for COVID‐19 patients. Background The intensive care unit nurses, who are at the frontline of fighting against COVID‐19 and defusing this crisis, are faced with various challenges throughout the provision of care for COVID‐19 patients. Methods In this qualitative descriptive study, a total of 17 nurses working in intensive care units were selected using purposive sampling. Data were collected using semi‐structured face‐to‐face interviews. After recording and transcribing interviews, the concepts were extracted using the content analysis method. Findings The nurses reported the four following challenges throughout the provision of care for COVID‐19 patients: ‘organization's inefficiency in supporting nurses’, ‘physical exhaustion’, ‘living with uncertainty’ and ‘psychological burden of the disease’. Conclusion The present study portrayed a clear understanding of the challenges faced by nurses working in intensive care units during the crisis of the COVID‐19 pandemic based on their lived experiences. Implications for Nursing Management A profound understanding of these challenges in the current critical situation can help health care authorities adopt appropriate measures to resolve these challenges, provide health care facilities, support the health workforce, give accurate and evidence‐based information and perform psychological interventions on how to handle the current crisis.

Background In addition to physical problems, patients with COVID-19 suffer from considerable stress throughout the disease crisis. It is important to address mental health needs and not to ignore the psychological dimension in this group of patients. In this regard, the first practical step is to have a clear understanding of patients’ psychological issues. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the psychological disturbances of COVID-19 survivors throughout the disease crisis. Method This qualitative study was conducted using a phenomenological approach through 14 individual semi-structured in-depth interviews with patients recovered from COVID-19. Data were analyzed using Colaizzi’s seven-step method. Results Three themes of “living in limbo”, “psychological distress behind the wall” and “psychological burden of being a carrier” were extracted as the psychological disturbances of COVID-19 survivors throughout the disease crisis. Conclusion This study portrayed a better understanding of psychological disturbances of COVID-19 survivors throughout the disease crisis based on their lived experiences. Given the ambiguity in the time of the disease eradication and its continuing course, a deep understanding of these experiences in the current critical situation can help healthcare officials to make appropriate decisions and take measures to assess and identify psychological traumas and perform interventions to improve the mental state of these patients.

Background The exponential spread of COVID-19 has caused a huge threat to public health worldwide. Providing care for patients with COVID-19 is a stressful experience for ICU nurses, which can affect their protective reactions. The present study was conducted to explore the protective reactions of ICU nurses providing care for patients with COVID-19. Methods This qualitative descriptive study was conducted to discover the protective reactions of nurses providing care for patients with COVID-19. A total of 14 ICU nurses were selected by purposive sampling. Data were collected using individual semi-structured face-to-face interviews. All interviews were recorded, and then codes and themes were extracted using content analysis method. Finding Seventeen subcategories, six categories and two themes were extracted from the analysis of data. These themes include “Unbalanced self-protective reactions” and “Responsible self-protective reactions”. Conclusion During the COVID-19 epidemic and crisis, ICU nurses exhibit different self-protective reactions when providing care for patients with COVID-19, which include unbalanced and responsible reactions. Nursing managers can mitigate these unbalanced reactions by identifying them and their roots. Identifying the protective reactions of ICU nurses in providing care for patients with COVID-19 could assist in developing the necessary interventions to promote positive reactions and reduce unbalanced reactions by finding their root causes.

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Background: Different inhibitory factors may play a role in the process of developing the students’ clinical competence; among them, some of the characteristics of clinical instructors can be considered as the most important factors. Purpose: The aim of this study was to determine the inhibitory characteristics of instructors in the process of developing clinical competence in nursing students. Methods: This qualitative study was conducted using the conventional content analysis. Seventeen senior nursing students were selected by purposive sampling method. Individual semistructured interviews were used to collect data. After recording and implementing the interviews, the content analysis was used to extract the concepts. Results: According to participants’ experiences, the three themes, i.e. “autocracy,” “low clinical competence,” and “self-confidence weakness” were extracted as inhibitory features of clinical instructor in the process of developing the clinical competence of nursing students. Conclusion: The findings of this study illustrate the characteristics of a clinical instructor, which play an important role in reducing the clinical development and lack of clinical competence development among students.