Background:

The Covid-19 pandemic has posed several challenges to the world's healthcare systems, especially nursing, including home care nursing problems.

Objective:

The purpose of this study was to explain nurses' perceptions of the challenges of home care in the Covid-19 pandemic.

Methods:

The present study was a qualitative study with a conventional content analysis approach conducted from November 2020 to September 2021. Participants included 16 home care nurses who were purposefully selected based on eligibility criteria. After obtaining ethical authorization, the data were collected through semi-structured interviews. MAXQDA Version 10 software was used for data mangement. Data analysis was performed using Granheim and Lundman five-step method. Guba and Lincoln criteria were utilized for trustworthiness.

Findings:

The seven main categories obtained in this study included “the onset of a new chapter: from avoidance to relapse”,“burnout”,“vortex of moral distress”,“social stigma”,“difficulty in breaking the transmission chain”,“care inhibitors related to patient and family” and “support deficiency: crisis of home care nursing agencies in crisis”.

Conclusion:

The results showed that nurses working in-home care during the Covid-19 pandemic had experienced several challenges in various fields. Identifying these challenges in the Covid-19 pandemic can help improve the quality of home care nursing and strengthen the field for applied research and planning in this area.