Aim: This study investigated the ways in which nurses caring for COVID-19 patients during the pandemic's early stages recognized professional growth through their experiences and continued working for several years, as well as the key experiences for identifying professional growth, external factors, and career intentions.
Methods: We used a qualitative research method called the Trajectory Equifinality Model (TEM). The participants were nine nurses caring for COVID-19 patients during the pandemic's early stages and had already recognized professional growth through a series of experiences. We constructed a TEM diagram based on two interviews per participant (in February-March, and July-August 2022).
Results: The process by which the participants recognized professional growth through a series of experiences was divided into Phases 1-4. The participants experienced adversity in Phases 1 and 3, and the following professional growth in Phases 2 and 4: gaining confidence as a nurse performing tasks of great social significance by acquiring the ability to fulfill my roles and realizing I could use the skills I had acquired by providing nursing care to COVID-19 patients in other situations, respectively. The key experiences for identifying professional growth as well as the inhibiting and facilitating factors of the process differed depending on the phase. The participants' career intention was wanting to continue to be involved in nursing by utilizing the skills and experience I have accumulated.
Conclusion: Managers and directors of nursing should provide appropriate support in each phase to help nurses recognize their professional growth during emerging epidemics.
Keywords: COVID‐19; nurses; professional growth; qualitative study; trajectory Equifinality model.
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