{"doi":"10.61473/001c.75266","title":"Reflections of public healthcare nurses during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa","abstract":"The COVID-19 pandemic has complicated healthcare service provision and access, yet little is known about experiences of public healthcare nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, particularly relating to health services for young people living with HIV. This study qualitatively explores the experiences, challenges and responses of nurses based in public healthcare facilities in the Eastern Cape during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. In-depth, semi-structured telephonic interviews were conducted with nurses (n=13) from public healthcare facilities in a mixed urban-rural health district in the Eastern Cape. Skilled interviewers conducted interviews in English and isiXhosa. Data were analysed thematically in NVivo software using an inductive approach. Findings highlight that the COVID-19 pandemic placed an additional burden on already resource-constrained healthcare facilities, with nurses enduring shortages of basic resources, rapid depletion and delayed restocking of COVID-19-related equipment, and additional strain due to staff shortages. Nurses also experienced daily dilemmas and internal conflicts associated with the pandemic, which affected their health and well-being, and their ability to deliver services. Despite these challenges, they shared a willingness to meet the needs of patients and documented various ways in which they went the extra mile, including forming a response committee to respond to issues arising from COVID-19, tracing patients whose treatment was interrupted, providing their personal contact information to patients, and using the services of local ‘caregivers’ to deliver medication. As the COVID-19 pandemic evolves and continues to create challenges for healthcare service delivery, it is essential that nurses are supported in ways that avoid burnout and empower them to meet the needs of their patients.","journal":"South African Health Review","year":2022,"id":285930,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":5,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9509,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2022-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":965333,"name":"Charné Dee Glinski","orcid":null,"position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":299796,"name":"Christina A. Laurenzi","orcid":"0000-0001-9648-4473","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":965334,"name":"Hlokoma Mangqalaza","orcid":null,"position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":299795,"name":"Elona Toska","orcid":"0000-0002-3800-3173","position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":546047,"name":"Lesley Gittings","orcid":"0000-0002-0463-0478","position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":479034,"name":"Nontokozo Langwenya","orcid":"0000-0001-7883-621X","position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":964865,"name":"Lulama Sidloyi","orcid":"0000-0003-1283-5999","position":7,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":965335,"name":"Amanda Mbiko","orcid":null,"position":8,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":965336,"name":"Babalwa Taleni","orcid":null,"position":9,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":965337,"name":"Bongiwe Saliwe","orcid":null,"position":10,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":780575,"name":"Jane Kelly","orcid":"0000-0002-1216-6273","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":22,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-19T00:29:48.841035Z","pmid":null,"pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}