Rodriguez-Arrastia, MiguelGarcía-Martín, ManuelRomero-López, AnaRopero-Padilla, CarmenRuiz-Gonzalez, CristoferRoman, PabloSanchez-Labraca, Nuria2023-05-032023-05-032022-03-23http://hdl.handle.net/10668/21053The capacity of hospitals and primary care centres has, rightfully, been at the centre of public and political debate on resource availability and control measures during the outbreak of COVID-19 and lockdown. Thus, the aim of this study is to describe the public and professional perceptions towards the evolution of the COVID-19 public-health response, in order to analyse and learn lessons for future health policies in similar situations in the future. A descriptive qualitative study was conducted through 41 in-depth interviews between January and June 2021. Twenty-one healthcare professionals and twenty service users participated in our study. The participants were recruited using purposive sampling. After our data analysis, three main themes emerged: (i) experiences during an unprecedented public health threat: the impact and challenges of early control measures, and outcomes for the public image of nursing; (ii) overcoming the impact of the outbreak on the healthcare system: professional coping strategies in the context of the pandemic, and institutional considerations in hospitals and primary care; and (iii) the efficiency of resource management during the outbreak: perceptions of professionals and healthcare users. Health providers and service users demand structural and organisational changes, as well as resource-optimisation strategies for front-line workers. Nurses need to be involved in decision making in order to provide evidence-based guidelines and ensure well-resourced and supported care practice.enAttribution 4.0 Internationalhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/COVID-19health personnelnursingpatientsqualitative researchCOVID-19Communicable Disease ControlHumansPandemicsPublic HealthQualitative ResearchSARS-CoV-2Spainresearch article35409509open access10.3390/ijerph190738241660-4601PMC8997787https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/7/3824/pdf?version=1648197736https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8997787/pdf