*3.4.2 Observations*

At the nursing staff level, we used the Maribor Primary Health Care Patient Classification System instrument to measure the nursing care activities performed [40]. This instrument measures the nursing care activities divided into four categories:


For the aims of the study, we planned 16 hours of observations in the research days, including morning and afternoon shifts (from 06:00 to 22:00). Observations were performed in such a way that all working days of the week were included in a range of one month, randomly selected by the principal investigator of the study. Throughout the observations, activities were recorded at intervals of 10 minutes (allowing six observations per hour). Data collection was performed by 18 thirdyear pre-trained nursing students who previously had at least eight weeks of clinical practice at the ward.
