Communicating with patients in ICU.

Intensive care is an area which promotes feelings of high anxiety among patients, relatives and nurses. In such a highly-charged atmosphere, it is easy for communication problems to occur. Chris Turnock explores the reasons for poor nurse-patient communication in intensive care, and suggests that this might be largely due to the insecurities felt by nurses. While there are a number of factors which influence communication, emphasis should be placed on the quality of the nurse-patient interaction.