RESUMEN
Brazil has been severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The high numbers of confirmed cases and deaths have continued unabated since the first reported case, with no flattening or downward turn in the curve. In this context, healthcare workers have been exposed uninterruptedly to stress factors throughout a year of the pandemic. The study´s aim was to identify and analyze healthcare workers´ perceptions of their feelings and concerns that have surfaced in responding to the pandemic. METHOD: This was a cross-sectional online qualitative survey study of 554 healthcare personnel working in the state of Rio de Janeiro during the COVID-19 pandemic. Recruitment occurred from July 20 to September 30, 2020, using an online survey, preceded byfree informed consent term. Data were analyzed with the Iramuteq software. RESULTS: Through a dendrogram, the words with the highest chi-square were highlighted and grouped into four classes: healthcare workers´ fear of falling ill to COVID-19 and infecting their family members; work/labor issues; feelings of powerlessness and need for public policies for government action; and fatigue and burnout in the pandemic. Each word class was also illustrated by a similarity tree. CONCLUSION: The study revealed healthcare workers´ exacerbated fear of infection and transmission of COVID-19 to their family members, besides financial losses and feelings of powerlessness and abandonment.