PICU design should be approached by a multidisciplinary team consisting of, but not limited to, the PICU medical director, the ICU nurse manager, the chief architect, hospital administration, and the operating engineering staff Piergeorge AR, Ceserano FL, Casanova DM, 1983. The chief architect must be experienced in hospital space programming and hospital functional planning; the engineers should be experienced in the design of mechanical and electrical systems for hospitals, especially critical care units. The design team should be expanded as appropriate by adding members of other hospital departments working with and/or in the critical care unit, to assure that the design meets its intended function. In addition, environmental engineers, interior designers, staff nurses, physicians, and patients and families may be asked for comments on how to provide a functional and user-friendly environment. The developmental team should assess the expected demands on the proposed ICU based on an evaluation of its sources of patients, admission and discharge criteria, expected rate of occupancy, and services provided by other area hospitals. The ability to provide specific levels of care must be determined by analyzing physician resources, staff resources (nursing, respiratory therapy, etc), and the availability of support services (laboratory, radiology, pharmacy, etc.) (Task Force on Guidelines, Society of Critical Care Medicine, 1991).