Abstract

Introduction. The COVID-19 pandemic, in its beginnings, caused a great impact with a high morbidity and mortality in which health teams, especially nursing, had to face great vital organizational changes in the way of caring. Objective: To understand from an interdisciplinary perspective the coping of nurses in an Adult Intensive Care Unit of a public hospital in Valparaiso, Chile, when caring for people diagnosed with COVID-19 during the year 2020 of the pandemic. Methodology: Qualitative study with a narrative design, which convenience sampling allowed the selection of 8 nurses who participated voluntarily after signing the informed consent. The collection of information was carried out through a semi-structured interview recorded virtually by videoconference, with prior authorization from the hospital's Scientific Ethics Committee. Results: The stressors were identified: Seeing people die, fear of infecting others, organizational changes and the uncertainty about the disease. To deal with them, they had personal and environmental resources, using coping strategies focused on the problem and emotion, which allowed them to adapt and focus the care of the person served. Conclusions: Nurses faced caring with emotional intelligence and resilience, which added to structural changes and the restructuring of their role, allowing them to adapt to overcome the contingency situation.