BACKGROUND: Empathetic psychological care improves mood and enhances the quality of life in critically ill patients. AIM: To study the impact of combining 222-nm ultraviolet (UV) disinfection with empathetic psychological care on emotional states, nosocomial infection rates, and quality of life in critically ill patients. METHODS: A total of 202 critically ill patients admitted to Beijing Ditan Hospital (December 2023 to May 2024) were randomly assigned to control (Ctrl, RESULTS: At baseline, there were no significant differences in SAS and SDS scores between the groups ( CONCLUSION: The combination of 222-nm UV disinfection and empathetic psychological care improves emotional states, reduces hospital infection rates, enhances the quality of life, and increases patient satisfaction among critically ill patients.