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Nurse Uses 'Hand Of God' To Comfort Patient On Covid-19 Isolation Ward

Nurse Uses 'Hand Of God' To Comfort Patient On Covid-19 Isolation Ward

The tragic technique helps to increase circulation but also simulate human contact

Tom Wood

Tom Wood

A nurse from Brazil devised a way to provide some comfort to her patient by filling up two rubber surgical gloves with warm water to not only help Covid-19 patients with their blood circulation, but also create the illusion - hopefully - of some actual human contact.

The coronavirus pandemic has thrown up some serious challenges, and those who've been tasked with meeting them and finding ways to beat this wretched virus have been working tirelessly to make sure that patients get the best medical care, as well as the compassionate and humane treatment that we'd all expect to receive.

One of the biggest challenges has been the infectious nature of the virus meaning that human contact with severely affected patients has been difficult.

It means that last goodbyes have been said over Zoom, and human contact has been impossible.

However, one nurse in Brazil - which has been badly affected by the pandemic - started to improvise and came up with a way to provide some comfort.

Twitter

One journalist shared her technique and said: "'The hand of God' - nurses trying to comfort isolated patients in a Brazilian Covid isolation ward.

"Two disposable gloves tied, full of hot water, simulating impossible human contact.

"Salute to the front liners and a stark reminder of the grim situation our world is in!"

According to G1 Globo, the picture was taken at the Vilo Prado Emergency Care Centre Unit in Sao Paolo, and the nurse technician who demonstrated the idea is called Semei Araújo Cunha.

On social media, she wrote: "All for the sake of affection, comfort and care for the patient, it is not enough to be professional, you have to be empathetic human, letting the heart speak is good."

As per Indian Express, she added: "As we had an intubated patient, we decided to do it as a form of affection, stroking, humanizing, as if someone was taking her hand, and also to soften the extremities that were very cold, the hand was very cold".

Twitter

Cunha apparently picked up the idea from fellow nurse Lidiane Melo, who works in Rio de Janeiro.

Melo told local media: "His hand was very cold. I wrapped it in orthopaedic cotton and bandage, which is a practice foreseen in nursing, but it did not work.

"Circulation did not improve. I thought about wetting his hand with warm water, but because of the risk of contamination, the idea was not a good one.

"I thought a little more and put the warm water inside the surgical gloves and wrapped it in his hand.

"I made this glove with hot water to improve my patient's perfusion and see saturation better, and I hope she feels that someone is holding her hand."

It's tragic, but it goes to show how hard the nurses and healthcare professionals are trying to make this horrendous situation better all the time.

Featured Image Credit: Twitter

Topics: World News, Coronavirus, Brazil, Health, Covid-19