Introduction: Intubation changes the life of a patient; communicating gets difficult. Conscious intubated critically ill patients can therefore be in a great distress. Healthcare personnel have to observe the patient closely and try to use various nonverbal communication techniques if possible. Purpose: The purpose of this diploma work is to present the communication between healthcare professionals and conscious intubated patient in the intensive care unit. We wanted to determine the most useful communication techniques based on the experience of the patients gathered in selected literature. Work methods: In this diploma work, the descriptive method through a systematic review of literature was used. The search for freely accessible articles was through DIKul in a data bases Medline, ScienceDirect, CINAHL and ProQuest and on COBIB.SI. The following key words were the entries for the search: mechanical ventilation, intubation, communication, critically ill, difficult communication, nonverbal communication, patient experience. The included articles were published between 2004 and 2018. Results: The results of the research confirmed the cause of incapable verbal communication of intubated patients: stress, sense of weakness, fear and frustrations. The choice of the appropriate nonverbal communication is therefore highly important. Researchers suggest various communication strategies: writing on paper, alphabet board, picture board, short questions, using gestures, reading lips and observing facial expressions. Some also highlight the role of touch during communication. Based solely on these researches it is impossible to find the most appropriate nonverbal communication. Discussion and conclusion: Communication with a conscious intubated patient positively impacts them; it soothes and releases distress and fear. Healthcare personnel, relatives and a patient can try to communicate in different ways; certain communication tools have proved to be very good. Medical condition of a patient has to be well known to a nurse to be able to predict the patient’s momentary needs. Communication is improved through additional professional education and training. Learning such skills as well as individual treatment of each critically ill patient should be considered highly important.
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