Challenges of Tele-Nursing in the Follow-Up of Covid-19 Patients

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has become one of the crises in the health system. It is necessary to take actions for follow-up, remote care and development of home care for these patients. This study aims to investigate the challenges of tele-nursing in the follow-up of patients with COVID-19.

In this qualitative study, 15 patients and 20 nurses participated. For collecting data, 15 individual interviews with patients, 4 individual interviews and 2 focus group interviews with nurses were conducted. The semi-structured interviews lasted 30-40 minutes. The Graneheim & Lundman approach was used for content analysis.

Data analysis led to the extraction of two categories and ten subcategories. The category of “Tele-nursing challenges from the patients’ perspectives” included the subcategories of technical limitations, variability of nurses, non-compliance with patients’ conditions, inefficiency in complicated situations, and imposing a care burden on families.  The category of “tele-nursing challenges from nurses’ perspectives” included the subcategories of unsuitable in high-risk cases, poor acceptance by patients, uncertainty of care implementation, limitations in direct assessment, and nurses’ lack of preparedness.

The nurse’s lack of preparedness and the limitations of tele-nursing in patient assessment and care, control of high-risk and complicated cases, and continuous care should be considered in the management of health promotion and nursing education.