Being a patient in hospital with Covid-19 must be a pretty scary experience. When people who have contracted the disease are admitted, they aren’t allowed visitors to keep them at ease while they’re being treated.

Doctors and nurses all have to wear full personal protective equipment (PPE) to keep them safe, which often means they need to have their face fully covered.

Some kind healthcare workers, however, have realised that the lack of human contact could make the experience all the more upsetting, and so have decided to tape photos of themselves to their PPE to put patients at ease.

Together with their name tags, they have added pictures of themselves smiling to reassure patients they are in the capable hands of a real person.

In a post on Instagram, Robertino Rodriguez, a respiratory therapist at Scripps Mercy Hospital in San Diego, wrote: “Yesterday I felt bad for my patients in ER when I would come in the room with my face covered in PPE.

“A reassuring smile makes a big difference to a scared patient. So today I made a giant laminated badge for my PPE. So my patients can see a reassuring and comforting smile.”

Other healthcare workers saw the idea and decided that it was the best way to make sure their patients were as calm and reassured as possible.

A nurse from Los Angeles, called Derek DeVault, also posted a photo of himself, saying: “Saw this idea on IG and thought it was a beautiful way to bring ease to our patients during this stressful time.

“Thank you to all the healthcare workers out there for battling on the frontlines. To all those who are staying home, huge shout out to you! I know that is also not easy.”

I think we can all agree that these heroes deserve all the praise they can get in these incredibly testing times.