The purpose of this study was to describe the uncomfortable symptoms among patients in using endotracheal tubes in surgical Intensive Care Units, and examine the relationships between these symptoms, preoperative education and ordered restraint. A cross-sectional design with convenience samples was used to recruit participants from a medical center in southern Taiwan. Intensive Care Unit Stressful Experience Questionnaire developed by Samuelson (2011) was administered for data collection. A total of 291 participants who received preoperative education and restraint, were 60.8% and 71.5% respectively. The common pre-extubating symptom was unable to talk due to endotracheal tube. The common symptom after extubation was painful swallowing. Patients with ordered restraint reported uncomfortable symptoms more frequently (p＜ .001) and stronger (p＜ .001) than those without it. In addition, restraint not only predicted the frequency and the intensity of symptoms before extubation, but also the intensity of symptoms after extubation. In addition, patients receiving preoperative education experienced lower frequency of depression (p= .039). These findings suggest that health care professionals should evaluate the removal of endotracheal tube earlier to reduce unnecessary restraint. Providing active care for patients, arranging flexible visitor time for caregiver and emphasizing symptoms management to reduce the uncomfortable symptoms is also important.