Caring for COVID-19’s patients, an opportunity for spiritual transcendence in volunteer nurses: a content analysis study

ABSTRACT Nurses are living in unprecedented times and the first-line against the COVID-19 pandemic. Nurses see controversial issues and face different complications that lead to work-life conflicts and compromise patient safety. Finding volunteer nurses is a fantastic adventure in such a situation. This study attempted to analyze volunteer nurses’ experiences and factors influencing care in the COVID-19 pandemic situation. A qualitative descriptive study was applied from Jun to May 2021 in four different hospitals in Iran. Data was collected by Semi-structured interviews (N:13) with an open-ended question until data saturation. Data were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. The study was approved by the ethics committee of Birjand University medical and science and was conducted in achievement of the moral standards in terms of voluntary participation, the confidentiality of data, anonymity, and verbal informed consent. Two main themes obtained were “A faith-based approach” and “Care, an opportunity for spiritual transcendence.” Five categories are “Belief in a divine destiny,” “Transformation of life meaning”, “spiritual hedonism”, “Wise self-sacrifice”, and “Sacred Defense” and ten subcategories were extracted that indicated volunteer nurses’ perspectives during the COVID-19 outbreak. Cultural and individual factors lead to making decisions in nurses. Themes indicate that spiritual perspectives, ethical issues, and religious points of view are factors that can influence willingness, commitment, and function of nurses. Spiritual transcendence is one of the most valuable humanistic situations that manifest for nurses than normal circumstances. It is pivotal for senior educational and clinical managers to identify, develop, and strengthen the capacity of nurses with such a vision to recruit them in high-responsibility departments, and know-how to transfer these perspectives to the next generation of nurses.