OBJECTIVES: For treatment needs, accompany is limited for ICU patients. A 30-minute visit a day is allowed for their families. However, mental disturbance have been reported in ICUs. Actually, patients suffer from not only diseases but also loneliness in the units. The study was conducted to answer the question whether ICU patients need to be accompanied? METHODS: A questionnaire survey consisting of 3 questions about the attitude to accompanies in ICU was conducted in General Hospital of Shenyang Military Area in China. The 3 questions are: 1) Do you need an accompanier when treated in ICU? (Yes/No); 2) If you need, who will be the candidate? (A family member/ A paid nursing staff / A relative or friend/ Anyone available); 3) How long do you need to stay with your family members each day in ICU? (Half an hour/ One hour/ Half a day/ All day). After repeatability test, the questionnaire was filled by patients randomly selected in ICU wards of cardiology and general medical wards from January 1, to August 31, 2011. Chi-square tests were used to compare the choices between patients from different wards, of different gender and age. RESULTS: Repeatabilities for the 3 questions were 0.742, 0.783, and 0.785. Totally, 142 patients were involved in, including 69 ICU patients and 73 general patients, 117 males and 25 females, 53 young & middle aged (≤60 )and 89 old ones (>60). Fifty-seven percent of the patients needed accompaniers in ICU, 86.6% of the patients chose family members as the candidates, 74.6% of the patients needed all-day accompanies by family members. Percentages of patients needing half-day and all-day accompany by family members were higher in ICU and old patients than those in general and younger ones(P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Patients do need to be accompanied in ICU. An all-day accompany by family member is highly preffered.