Abstract

Background The COVID-19 pandemic has provoked several changes in home care. Understanding home care nurses' experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic plays an essential role in home care management. Objective This study aimed to explore and articulate the experience of home care nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain. Design A qualitative study using hermeneutic phenomenology was carried out. Twenty home care nurses were interviewed by teleconference between January and March 2021. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed using qualitative data analysis software. Results Three main themes with five subthemes emerged from the data analysis: (a) The effect of COVID-19 pandemic on home care, with the subtheme the reorganization of home care nurses' competencies; (b) The role of telehealth in home care, which included the subthemes home care nurses' satisfaction with telehealth and barriers to implement telehealth in home care; and (c) Effects of the pandemic on home care nurses' lives, including the subthemes working in a pandemic is emotionally draining and the continuing fear of infecting others. Discussion The findings from this study demonstrate the profound effect that home care has experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic. Home care nurses' competencies were modified to care for and diagnose COVID-19 patients. Face-to-face home care was replaced by telehealth. All home care nurses experienced physical and psychological symptoms and the fear of infecting others.