When the head nurse who is pivotal in the nursing service administration of the hospital performs efficiently as a first-line manager, the effectiveness of the nursing unit, which includes the quality of nursing care, the job satisfaction of staff members, and the cohesiveness of staff members is increased. With this point of view in mind, the researcher carried out a study to determine the actual work (the content of the work, the work process, the role of the head nurse, the activity media, and the purpose of the work) of the head nurse in a university hospital in Korea. In addition, this study was also carried out for the purpose of preparing an ideal model for the work of the head nurse. The research subjects were 39 head nurses. This included all the head nurses in two university hospitals except those who were working in outpatient care, operating rooms, central supply, nursing administration, in-service education and emergency care. Data were collected from September 24th to October 21st, 1987 and April 4th to 12th, 1988. A work activity record on which the head nurse recorded directly in a chronological narrative form, was used as the research instrument. The 234 work activity records, 39 head nurse's continuous recording over 6 days (from Monday to Saturday) were collected and analysed. The results were as follows: 1. With regard to the work content for the total daily work of the head nurse, 45.2% of the activities were managerial activities but 58.1% of the head nurse's time was spent in direct patient care. 2. With regard to the work process of the head nurse, specifically the location, the size and membership of groups contacted, the results were as follows: 1) Of the total daily work activities 92.4% were carried out in the nursing unit and this occupied 84. 5% of total daily work time. Direct patient care was generally performed on the nursing unit and managerial work was performed in other areas. 2) Of the total daily work activities, 73% was with one or more persons and 51.2% of total daily work time was spent in groups. 3) A total of 51 persons, working in different capacities were contacted. These included 21 persons giving patient care, 19 persons working in nursing unit management, and 7 persons working in human resource management.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)