AimTo describe the lived experiences of nurses caring for patients and families in the context of COVID‐19 in Brazil and United States.DesignA phenomenological philosophical approach following the van Manen analysis method.MethodsParticipants were recruited in Brazil and the United States, including nurses working in health care settings caring for COVID‐19 patients. Recruitment used purposive and snowball sampling. Participants completed a demographic survey and semi‐structured interviews that were audio‐recorded and transcribed for analysis. A cross‐cultural examination occurred among researchers from each country.ResultsThe result was described (n = 35) by the themes, representing the essences of each lifeworld (relationship, time, space and body). The nurses' lived experience was one of reframing care while enduring repeated trauma of witnessing disrupted patient‐family‐nurse relationships. Themes were as follows: (a) Living a silent and lonely experience; (b) Providing connectedness for disrupted patient and family relationships; (c) Feeling the burden of the demands; (d) Being a helping connector; (e) Reshaping spaces amidst evolving interventions and policies; (f) Creating safe spaces, surrounded by turmoil, threat, and distress within an unsafe environment; (g) Reorganizing care and reframing time; (h) Reconciling losses, regrets, victories and lessons.ConclusionThe nurses' lived experience of caring for patients and families during the COVID‐19 pandemic prompted the need to respond to repeated traumas and distress posed by interrupted patient‐family and nurse‐own family relationships, vulnerable bodies, threatened space and dynamic and volatile time.ImpactCultural nuances were discovered depending on the practice setting, political discourse and the autonomy of the nurse. Innovative models of care that create structures and processes to support nurses in caring for patients in threatening environments and the commitment to connecting family members have potential to contribute to the ongoing health of the nursing profession.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, nurses were placed in an unprecedented context in which they engaged with community members, family members, and friends while positioned between dire hospital situations and community disbelief about the seriousness of the pandemic, often along political lines. A secondary analysis of a qualitative study exploring experiences of 39 nurses in the United States and Brazil in engaging with the community and political discourse during the pandemic provided insights into the impact of these interactions on nurses, and implications for how nurses may emerge from this pandemic time stronger and more supported by those in administrative positions.