Reply #148: Basically, it's a ward for people who come in during the night,

[KitSileya]

but who don't need intensive care. If you're admitted late in the evening, and they still haven't determined whether you need to be moved to a regular ward, or what ward if you do, they put you in the ward that is connected to the emergency reception. An observation ward, in other words. The ER in my town is not in the same place as the hospital - a 1000 year old city with peculiar geography made it impossible to put a modern hospital downtown.