This was a three year research plan. The purposes of this study were to (1) understand nursing workload and in relation to patient's acuity; (2) calculate nursing manpower allocation; (3) account for nursing manpower cost; (4) investigate nursing productivity by using developed VGH-T Factor Type Patient Classification Systems.The data collection time started Mar. 14, 1993 and ended Mar. 23, 1993 in general-surgical units at one Taipei medical center. There were 1,028 patients' data classified in a time period of 10 days. Two pilot studies on two different units were randomly chosen before the formal survey took place. Patients were classified into four types by a factor type tool. Reliability and validity were based on inter-rater reliability and experts' opinion. The results showed:(1) four general surgical units' workload included: 43.06,42.77, 23.43, 31.80; acuity levels were: 1.07, 1.11, 1.19, 1.03; (2) present nursing manpower allocations were: 19, 22, 13, 17, and classified manpower allocation for four units were 24,23, 12, 17; (3) the nursing manpower costs were $624.9, $898.6, $1,265.4, and $1,757.1 for 4 types of patients; (4) the nursing productivity was 1.11, 0.91, 0.82, and 0.87. The results showed there were individual differences in patient type, workload, acuity, nursing manpower allocation, nursing cost, and productivity. The results apply not only to nursing manpower allocation, scheduling and applying for nursing fees, but also provides a reference for performance evaluation.