the lived experience of health care workers during the coronavirus outbreak: a content analysis study

Introduction: the coronavirus disease 2019 (covid19) pandemic in iran is part of the worldwide pandemic of the covid19 caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome (sars) coronavirus. the present study has aimed to identify, through a qualitative methodology, the lived experiences of the health care workers (hcws) who are the most important group to keep others safe, alive, and healthy in the covid19 patients’ ward in iran. method: a conventional content analysis method was conducted on 11 hcws involved with covid19 patients by purposeful sampling. their experiences were explored through indepth semi structured interviews. results: the conventional content analysis revealed five themes: 1 experiencing psychological distress without sufficient psychological services; 2 experiencing multiple stressors that gradually reduced; 3 using coping skills; 4 family and public support; 5 media, medical community, and government officials role conclusion: it can be concluded that hcws need biopsychosocialspiritual protection from family, public, media, officials and government.