SUH is located in lzumo, in wester Japan. It has 600 beds
and approximately 1,700 staff members, including about 380
doctors and 480 nurses. The older of the two buildings has
eight floors, all 110 m in length and oriented east to west, with
the third to the eighth floors housing patient wards. Each floor
has a staff station in the centre of the building that includes a
nursing care/management unit that is divided into sections that
serve the east and west wards. Each ward houses fom 30 to
40 inpatients. A new building opened in June, 2011. It has
nine floors that are 51 m east to west and 31 m (the lower 4
floors are 51 m) north to south. The ffh to ninth floors are
wards and there is a staff station in the centre of each floor.
The intensive care unit (lCU) and other special sections are
located on the second floor of the new building. Next to these
is a three storey building that houses the outpatient clinics and
special examination sections. The locations of these buildings
are shown in Fig. 1.