Sign language.

Before I was a psychiatric nurse I sat a lot of 1:1 suicide watch, but also a lot with people who were very sick and had a lot of tubes in various preexisting and created orifices. All of those tubes can be very uncomfortable, and even if the person logically knows they will recover and need the tubes to do that, they have to be constantly reminded to leave them alone. LOTS of people rip out their own urine catheters and even breathing tubes, and the anchor bulbs can make a very bloody mess on their way out.

When communicating with such people I often wished we both knew sign language fully, but I did know some basics I would teach to patients over the course of a shift. I highly recommend everyone knows

• water/drink
• toilet (PLUS piss/shit since they might help you differently for either one)
• pain/hurt
• food/eat
• vomit/puke

These'll take you thirty minutes to learn today and if you're strung up in an ICU someday it might make hell an inch less hellish. Communication boards where you point to the letter can help a whole lot, but when you gotta shit you gotta shit!