{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,30]],"date-time":"2026-09-30T14:29:50Z","timestamp":1790778590415,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":48,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"23","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2020,12,3]],"date-time":"2020-12-03T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1606953600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Research fund of Catholic University of Pusan 2020","award":["N\/A"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["N\/A"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["IJERPH"],"abstract":"<jats:p>COVID-19 is a respiratory disease caused by a novel coronavirus that quickly spread worldwide, resulting in a global pandemic. Healthcare professionals coming into close contact with COVID-19 patients experience mental health issues, including stress, depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, and burnout. This study aimed to explore the experiences of COVID-19-designated hospital nurses in South Korea who provided care for patients based on their lived experiences. Eighteen nurses working in a COVID-19-designated hospital completed in-depth individual telephone interviews between July and September 2020, and the data were analyzed using Giorgi\u2019s phenomenological methodology. The essential structure of the phenomenon was growth after the frontline battle against an infectious disease pandemic. Nine themes were identified: Pushed onto the Battlefield Without Any Preparation, Struggling on the Frontline, Altered Daily Life, Low Morale, Unexpectedly Long War, Ambivalence Toward Patients, Forces that Keep Me Going, Giving Meaning to My Work, and Taking Another Step in One\u2019s Growth. The nurses who cared for patients with COVID-19 had both negative and positive experiences, including post-traumatic growth. These findings could be used as basic data for establishing hospital systems and policies to support frontline nurses coping with infectious disease control to increase their adaption and positive experiences.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ijerph17239015","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2020,12,3]],"date-time":"2020-12-03T11:15:43Z","timestamp":1606994143000},"page":"9015","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":127,"title":["South Korean Nurses\u2019 Experiences with Patient Care at a COVID-19-Designated Hospital: Growth after the Frontline Battle against an Infectious Disease Pandemic"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"17","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6089-8519","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Nayoon","family":"Lee","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Nursing, Catholic University of Pusan, Busan 46252, Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7824-6559","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Hyun-Ju","family":"Lee","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Nursing, Catholic University of Pusan, Busan 46252, Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,12,3]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"World Health Organization (2020, September 23). 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