ABSTRACT             The quality of health service at Dr. Pirngadi Hospital Medan is determined by the human resources quality including the nurses. The nurses performance is affected by internal and external factors. The objective of this research is to analyse the effect of individual characteristics upon the nurses performance. The population is 96 nurses who had been working for at least 2 years as Civil Servants in the patient wards. Their qualification is Sekolah Perawat Kesehatan (Nursing School) and D3 Keperawatan (Academy of Nursing). This cross-sectional-study uses chi-square tests and logistic-regression.            It is found out that there is a significant proportional difference between the nurses age and quantity of work; between the nurses sex and job quality; between the nurses sex and quantity of work; between the nurses sex and cost effectiveness; between the nurses age, sex and initiatives; between education and quality of work; between education and cost efectiveness; between the length of work and quality of work; between the length of work and quantity of work; between the length of work and cost effectiveness; between the length of work and initiatives; between job placement and quantity of work.            The result of logistic regression shows that sex and education has the biggest effect upon the nurses performance. The recruitment of female nurses with Akper qualification may improve the performance. Sex and education is the most influential factors upon the performance. It is worth to increase the nurses performance through education and training which is supported by the hospital policy and management. Key words: Individual Characteristics, Performance, Nurses