By its very nature the ICU environment is a strange place with its noises, equipment, constant activity, and bright lights. The demands of the critically ill patients in this environment often keep the care providers from recognizing the hostility of the environment from the patient's perspective. Patients are often scared, confused, and uncomfortable, and the ICU environment does little to provide comfort. Despite studies that have indicated the need for a more healing environment for critically ill patients, little has changed in how ICUs are designed today.

There are other factors that will drive changes in the ICU bedside environment of the future, including significant advances in monitoring capabilities, the addition of new members to the health care team, the types of information and communications that will be needed, and the increased need for flexibility to accommodate sicker patients. These factors combined with the need for a more healing environment in the ICU have pushed critical care practitioners, administrators, and architects to work together on creating the ideal ICU. But what will the ideal ICU bedside environment be in the future?

This article presents the work done by practitioners on the need for a healing environment in the ICU. A discussion of the current issues in the ICU environment leads to a projection of what the ICU bedside environment might look like in 2010. The need for a change is clear, but it is a little unclear what will make the ICU a better place from the patient's and the practitioner's perspectives. The proposed ICU environment of the future must be able to meet the demands of the critically ill patient for high tech care and balance those environmental concerns with the equally important needs for a high touch, healing environment.