At Riverside General Hospital (RGH) the nursing staff recently had the opportunity to participate in a field trial of an electronic instrument which offers a new, automated method to measure routine vital signs (blood pressure, pulse, and temperature) in general floor patients. This article describes how the nursing staff at RGH came to be involved in the evaluation of this new product, how our different nursing units are organized, and how they made use of the system. Several observations will be made, followed by discussion points and conclusions.Riverside General Hospital is a 354-bed acute care center designated as a secondary trauma center and associated with the Loma Linda School of Medicine. In addition, RGH is the neuro center for Riverside County, and a base station emergency department. The nursing staff at RGH had had earlier experience with use of automated electronic blood pressure monitoring devices in the triage area for trauma and critical care patients. Also, the hospital currently uses instruments of this type in the emergency room, labor and delivery, intensive care and recovery.Our interest in evaluating the new battery powered multiple vital signs measurement system on the general floor was two-fold: (1) we were interested in assessing whether or not the system would increase our productivity; (2) we wished to evaluate whether it could eliminate variability between readings taken manually by different persons for pulse rate, temperature and blood pressure. With blood pressure especially, the human factor is always a problem — hearing abilities of individuals, judgment and previous training regarding K-sound end points, a tendency to release the thumbscrew too quickly, interpretations of the column or gauge, etc., all contribute to variability.RGH currently uses nursing assistants to take routine temperature, blood pressure, pulse, and respiration on general wards. Electronic thermometers are used for temperatures, and roll-around mercury column sphygmomanometers are used for blood pressures. Customary methods are used for pulse and respiration. Organization of these tasks depends on ward layout and the type of patients treated.