A nurse embraces a terrified child before an operation and the images go around the world

Dealing with health problems, hospitalization, and the prospect of undergoing a surgical operation are unpleasant situations for everyone, which often make people feel lonely and scared.

This is true for an adult, so what to speak, of a child, who is not able to process anxiety and fear.

In these cases, the professional skills of the medical staff are unquestionably fundamental, but so is their ability to feel empathy and to be able to reassure those who feel fragile and vulnerable.

Dingxi People's Hospital

A concrete example of what has just been described is what happened at Dingxi People's Hospital in the Gansu province, in China, where a special nurse became the protagonist of a gesture of incredible sweetness.

At the health facility, a two-year-old boy, named Xuan Xuan, was hospitalized, and diagnosed with an inguinal hernia in his abdomen, which is extremely painful and had to absolutely be removed.

Dingxi People's Hospital

The little boy was waiting to undergo the surgery that would make him feel better, but in addition to the severe pain, he was literally terrified at the idea of the needles and scalpels that would have to be used on his body.

He was so frightened that he couldn't stop shaking and crying, so a female nurse from the medical team scheduled for the operation approached him and started hugging him and reassuring him that everything would be fine.

Dingxi People's Hospital

The woman sat with him, caressing and talking to him gently until the child calmed down. Then, the nurse waited for the anesthesia to take effect and the child to fall asleep.

Only then did she move away from the little boy and join the group of doctors and paramedics to start the surgery. The operation was a success and Xuan Xuan has completely recovered.

Dingxi People's Hospital

The child's mother had documented the extraordinary kindness of the nurse, and talked about the incident and shared some photos on social networks, after having also personally thanked all the members of the medical staff who had collaborated during the surgery.

The photos taken that day from outside the operating room have gone viral on the Internet. Many people have read the story of Xuan Xuan and commented on the goodness and compassionate nature of the health worker who treated the child as a person first rather than as a patient.

In a similar context, naturally, the first priority is to preserve the health of the patient. However, to do so by also offering some emotional and psychological support and encouragement would not make one's job, less professional, but would certainly without a doubt, make it more human.