Designing humanistic critical care environments.

The critical care environment can be designed to become more humanistic. Consideration of the environmental challenges of noise, lights, color, views, temperature, and comfort is essential. This article identifies the issues and concerns in the design of more humanistic healing in critical care units. Strategies to improve the environment include improving the physical and emotional tone of the unit through creative design, family and pet visitation, sleep promotion, and aromatherapy among others. In a life-threatening illness, attention paid to these concerns may significantly improve quality of life for patients and family.