M.Cur.The aim of the intensive care nurse is to give quality nursing to the critically ill surgical patient within the context of the family, as set out in her scope of practice. Various factors, however, affect the intensive care nurse's actions so that she does not achieve the aim. The persons close to the critically ill patient and the intensive care nurse form part of the patient's social external environment. Both of them are therefore important when facilitating health in the critically ill patient. The aim of this study is to explore and describe the experience of mutual interaction between the person close to the critically ill patient and the intensive care nurse and subsequently to create guidelines with regard to the intensive care nurse's handling of the person close to the critically ill patient during the patient's stay in an intensive care unit. The study is done by means of an exploratory, descriptive and contextual design by using the phenomenological method of interviewing. The participants were selected by purposive sampling according to selection criteria and represent various cultures. Nine persons close to the critically ill patient and six intensive care nurses comprised the participating population