Due to the obstruction of verbal communication, mechanically ventilated patients in intensive care units often cannot impart their basic needs. Possible consequences are a prolonged healing process, delirium, and other complications. To overcome the communication barrier, we provide a specialized solution to support communication in intensive care. Since patients bound to the bed are not able to use traditional devices efficiently, we develop a novel interaction device tailored to the intensive care context. In this paper, we present key requirements for the device, which are relevant to the interaction itself. These requirements resulted from a human-centered design process consisting of two studies, several workshops, and a comprehensive user and context analysis. We identified three categories relevant for the interaction, namely look and feel, sensors and actuators.