Metaphorical perceptions of surgical nurses regarding care for earthquake victims

Background: The physical, psychological, and social effects of the earthquake affect a person's functionality directly. It challenges individuals because it is often traumatizing, intense fear is experienced, and it is unpredictable, uncontrollable, and destructive. Nurses are one of the professional groups that have important duties in social disasters, and they are constantly exposed to the details of the traumatic situation, sometimes physically and sometimes by listening. To understand the severity of the trauma caused by this exposure, it is important to understand the emotions and thoughts that nurses feel while caring for earthquake victims. Aims: This study was planned to reveal the perceptions of nurses, who were themselves earthquake victims, regarding caring for earthquake victims through metaphors. Methods: This study was conducted as a phenomenological study with a qualitative research approach, in a province affected by the earthquake, with 85 surgical clinic nurses who were also earthquake victims and cared for earthquake victims. Results: The metaphors produced were examined together with their reasons and grouped under 3 categories (positive, negative, both positive and negative). Conclusions: As a result, when the metaphors used by earthquake victims are evaluated, the effects of nurses being earthquake victims themselves can be seen in the metaphors. It is revealed through metaphors that nurses' earthquake-related traumas are triggered while caring for earthquake victims.