Nursing service, as the largest user of labor resources, has become concerned about appropriate allocation of staffing resources. Therefore, this project was designed to measure quantitatively the direct nursing care provided to patients and to develop a new patient classification system based on the direct nursing care activities. The initial step in the development of the classification instrument was to identify the content of direct nursing activities. The frequency with which these activities were carried out, the total time spent in carrying them out and the average time for one performance of each of the nursing activities was calculated. The next step was to select the items for the classification instrument taking into account these direct nursing activities. A list of 40 items was prepared. These items were then classified into 8 major categories: personal hygiene, moving ＆ exercise, nutrition & elimination, observation, medication, treatment, collecting specimens and other care activities for severity ill patients. Each item was assigned a value unit based on the average time required by the nursing staff to complete the specific item. The third step was to determine the practicality of the items and value units, so an attempt was made to establish content validity for these items and units by obtaing a consensus from 8 head nurses, representing eight different departments. The 4th step was to conducted a pilot study to establish the score range for the classification boundaries. For this purpose an instrument was designed using the list of items and value units and a prepared classification criteria as a guideline to validate the patient classification. A judgment group consisting of 52 supervisory nurses and head nurses were asked to select the proper patient to fit each classification criteria and to fill out the instrument for each patient. The total value unit and the frequency for each classification group was calculated. According to the frequency distribution, the score range for the classification group was determined as follows : 0~15 for groupI, 16~30 for group II, 31~50 for group III, and above 51 for group IV. Finally a patient classification form was developed.