Guidelines on critical care services and personnel: Recommendations based on a system of categorization of three levels of care.

Objectives: To describe three levels of hospital-based critical care centers to optimally match services and personnel with community needs, and to recommend essential intensive care unit services and personnel for each critical care level.

Participants: A multidisciplinary writing panel of professionals with expertise in the clinical practice of critical care medicine working under the direction of the American College of Critical Care Medicine (ACCM).

Data Sources And Synthesis: Relevant medical literature was accessed through a systematic Medline search and synthesized by the ACCM writing panel, a multidisciplinary group of critical care experts.