This paper aims at examining current nursing activities in a surgical step-down care unit in an acute teaching hospital in order to clarify the efficient room layout in these kinds of wards. Two nurses are followed and observed in each duty i.e. for 24 hours from the beginning of day duty (8:00am) until the end of night duty (8:30am in the following day). Another observation study was carried out the same day of the following week. Five observers were staying in designated locations and described the time of getting in and coming out from each room in the ward. As the result of this study, the following four major items are highlighted: 1. Actual situation of the nursing activities was obtained. 2. The investigated data was compared with those obtained in the previous studies. 3. Influencing factors to the nursing activities were discussed. 4. Some problems concerning the room layout were pointed out.
