Concerns and Desires of Healthcare Workers Caring for Patients with COVID-19 in April and July 2020 in Japan: a Qualitative Study of Open-ended Survey Comments

Objectives: The prolonged effects of the COVID-19 pandemic continue to have a serious impact on healthcare workers. We described and compared the experiences of healthcare workers in Japan during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic from March to May 2020, and during the lull from June to July 2020.

Design: In this qualitative study, we used a web-based survey to obtain comments from healthcare workers about their experiences during the pandemic, and explored these using inductive content analysis.

Setting: A tertiary emergency hospital in Tokyo, in April and July 2020.

Participants: Participants were staff in the hospital, including physicians, nurses, pharmacists, radiological technicians and laboratory medical technicians. Many, but not all, had directly cared for patients with COVID-19.

Results: In total, 102 participants in the first survey and 154 in the second survey provided open-ended comments. Three themes were extracted: concerns, requests and gratitude. There were four subthemes under concerns: the hospital infection control system, fear of spreading infection to others, uncertainty about when the pandemic would end and being treated as a source of infection. There were 53 requests in the first survey and 106 in the second survey. These requests were divided into seven subthemes: compensation, staffing, information, facilities, leave time, PCR tests and equitable treatment. The theme on gratitude had two subthemes: information and emotional support, and material support. The fears and desires of healthcare workers included two types of uncertainty-related concerns, and requests were very different across the two surveys.

Conclusions: It is important to apply a balance of information to help staff adjust to their new work environment, as well as support to minimise the burden of infection and impact on their families.