Cui Man. [Photo/China.org]

Various psychological supports to COVID-19 patients have proved helpful in their recovery, a head nurse who assisted fighting the epidemic in Wuhan, Hubei province, said.

"We faced challenges in terms of both medical rescue for patients and providing them psychological comfort," said Cui Man from the emergency department of Peking University Third Hospital.

As all COVID-19 patients have to be isolated for treatment, they lack human contact and visits from family members. In Wuhan in particular, many also had family members infected and hospitalized for treatment, resulting in heavy psychological pressure, she said.

To solve the problem, Cui and her colleagues stayed in Tongji Hospital in Wuhan for more than two months to aid treatment of seriously ill COVID-19 patients, providing psychological support to patients via various means.

To help serious patients from the same family in the same hospital, Cui and her colleagues transferred them to the same ward at their request.

A male patient in the hospital who was in critical condition was gradually taken off a mechanical ventilator and recovered after he was transferred to the same ward as his wife, Cui said.

To give confidence to more patients in isolation, Cui and her colleagues also provided reganmian, a popular local noodle, to patients, and made small cards with encouraging words for each of them, she said.

"The friendship between us and the patients also provided us with psychological support," she said.