Objective To explore the effect of placing the nasointestinal tube with the index finger pressing method in critically ill patients. Methods According to the time order of catheter placement, 112 critically ill patients to receive nasointestinal tube placement were divided into 2 groups.The control group(n=60) received nasointestinal tube placement with routine method, while the intervention group(n=52) received tube placement with the index finger pressing method. Results The rate of successful placement at the first attempt, and the time it took to complete placement had significant differences between the 2 groups （P＜0.05，P＜0.01）. There was no significant difference in tube placement related complications between the two groups (P>0.05). Conclusion Placing the nasointestinal tube with the index finger pressing method could improve the success rate of tube placement, shorten the time of tube placement,and boost early infusion of enteral nutrition into critically ill patients.