The Eidetic Insight

My salient insights and revealing findings gathered from the recurring themes were:

First, HCW’s were mostly vulnerable to COVID-19 due to the nature of their work. They

were bombarded with fear and uncertainty to their safety and their families. Being positive for

COVID-19 gives them the doubt to tell their families the truth about their situation and isolating

them from their families. All HCWs had their concern to their families whether they were in high

risk areas or low risk areas, they endured being separated from them while risking their lives in

their work.

Secondly, all of the participants felt fear, anxiety, tiredness and sometimes want to give

up on being HCW. Due to improper use, lack of information and lacking of PPE was major

contribution of decline of mental well being of some healthcare. Some HCW had gone through

social discrimination which added to their deteriorating mental health. There were also some

instances where patients contributed to the problems of HCW which complicates the HCW to

provide services to their patients.

Lastly, HCWs opt for the challenges, personal growth and helping others in need. They

were equally mindful of opportunities where there was a continuous training and advancement of

skill in which they could defend themselves and their families from the virus. Additionally,

HCW used different coping which best suited for themselves this more productive engaging with

COVID-19 patients. Furthermore, we must recognize the effort and help that the HCW received

from their own perspective hospitals and government that mitigated the effects of the pandemic

to their mental health. While there were setbacks and obstacles along the way, they were

motivated to press on towards their goals to end the pandemic and patients leave hospitals safely.
 All things consider, the vital insight that can be drawn from this study was that the HCWs

experience in the engagement of COVID-19 patients can be compared to “tinik sa lalamunan”.

For HCWs engaged with COVID-19 patients, working long hours, leaving your family and

forcing to adjust with the virus with protocols which had effect in their psychological well being

making them feel anxious and uncomfortable everyday with uncertainty. However, realizing that

these “tinik” in work, difficulties and adversity and adapting or having solutions to the problems

were like “nakuhanan nang tinik sa lalamunan” means developing to adapt and accepting the

uncontrollable whatever comes in their way. Just like the “tinik” in our selves getting it out or

pulling it resulted to relieved that it was taken out. Engaging with COVID patients were the

“tinik” that could be dealt and coped when they learn how to pull it out, pulling it out with

caution and by grasping how to live and facing it with solution in the midst of the uncertainty

and intensity of the changes and challenges they face.

The figure below presents the evolved conceptual framework of this study based on the

derived themes from the participant’s experiences. Through their experiences, the following

main themes were obtained to describe their journey into engaging with COVID-19 patients.

Each themes comprise of significant experience they had encountered starting from the

first main theme of HCW’s Socio-Psychological Context During the Pandemic which four sub-

themes emerged from the account of the participants, namely the first theme was: A.) HCW’s

Stressors and Psychological Reactions, B.) Social Discrimination, C.) Family Relations and D.)

Increased Workload; from being infected with COVID-19 to the fear, anxieties engaging with

patients, to HCW being discriminated in their neighborhood or in public. Some might have

develop traumas due to their engagement to COVID patients, while others had been affected in
their relationship on their families with isolation together with the increased workload that the

HCWs gone through.

Theme two (II) is the HCW protective factors considered how, who, why the protective

factors help them in their day-to-day jobs and lives to continue, it consisted with two sub-themes:

A.) Relying on Personal Attributes and B.) Gaining Social Support. The crucial factors on

keeping their mental well being while engaging with COVID-19 patients that influence their

behaviors and attitude towards them. Theme three (III), HCWs working condition, work

environment among the HCWs it include two sub-themes A.) Knowledge about the Novel

Disease and B.) Organization’s role in the HCW’s professional work: witnessing that the mental

health of HCWs were not their sole responsibility, it was also shared with their employees and

specialized organization which shared the vital information of virus. Some HCW might had

difficulties regarding the support they got from the government or private health facility which

resulted to the increased difficulty of facing of the pandemic.

Lastly, theme four (IV) Handum sang aton mga HCW (Aspirations of our HCWs) about

finding the goals and dreams of our HCWs who relentless facing COVID-19 patients which

included their health and their families health. This also include hopes of HCW where all light

had vanish they saw it and not giving up on it, hoping that the cure will arrive to patients who

had suffered in this pandemic.

Overall, the framework illustrates that the HCWs who engaged with COVID-19 patients

recognized there were multiple aspects of a HCW life in the pandemic that interacts with and

affects the HCW. It is beyond HCW well being, taking into account wider influencing factors

and context of mental health. Their experience in engaging with COVID-19 patients with the

help of their support system, the protocols from WHO, CDC, hospitals and the government
protect them to go through with the pandemic. And so, this environment of the HCW is a nested

arrangement of structures, each contained within next. It was organized in order of how much of

an impact they had on HCWs. Most HCWs experience sort of urgency towards adapting to

COVID-19, preventing infection towards themselves, colleagues, public and family members.

But with time and experience, the future of HCWs in the pandemic will become manageable. A

successful adaptation of HCWs working in the pandemic was a learning process and with the

help of their support system with hospitals and government it might be successful mitigated the

spreading of the virus.