Table 1.

Ranking of stressors

	Mean
1- Thirst	2.44
2- Presence of tubes in the nose or mouth	2.25
3- Not being in control of yourself	2.22
4- Inability to sleep	2.11
5- Pain	2.05
6- Inability to move hands due to i.v. line	1.98
7- Seeing family and friends for only a few minutes each day	1.91
8- Being in a room that is too hot or too cold	1.85
9- Having lights on constantly	1.70
10- Having to look at the pattern of holes in the ceiling	1.66
11- Unfamiliar and unusual noises	1.64
12- Being aware of unusual smells around you	1.63
13- Hearing buzzers and alarms from machinery	1.62
14- Hearing other patients cry out	1.59
15- Missing husband or wife	1.58
16- Not knowing when to expect things will be done to you	1.56
17- Being stuck with needles	1.54
18- Not having treatments explained to you	1.53
19- Uncomfortable bed and/or pillow	1.49
20- Being bothered	1.46
21- Having to wear oxygen	1.46
22- Not knowing what time it is	1.46
23- Not knowing what day it is	1.39
24- Having blood pressure taken often each day	1.38
25- Having the team use words you cannot understand	1.34
26- Nurses and doctors talking too loudly	1.34
27- Being cared for by unfamiliar doctors	1.27
28- Hearing the heart monitor alarm go off	1.26
29- Being awakened by nurses	1.25
30- Having strange machines around you	1.21
31- Not having the nurses introduce themselves	1.19
32- Constantly being examined by doctors and nurses	1.19
33- Feeling the nurses are watching the machines more closely than they are watching you	1.15
34- Lack of privacy	1.14
35- Having nurses be in too much of a hurry	1.13
36- Seeing i.v. bags hanging over your head	1.13
37- Not knowing where you are	1.11
38- Hearing the telephone ring	1.10
39- Being tied down by tubes	1.10
40- Presence of nurses constantly performing activities around your bed	1.09