Nurses may take a person's vital signs several times a day. Vital signs include taking and recording a patient's temperature, blood pressure, respirations, pulse, and pain level. Other things recorded in vital signs may be weight (especially for renal patients), bowel movements, and blood pressure measurements which are taking in different positions (in heart patients, for example, it is common to do a lying then standing measurement to assess the cardiovascular system's ability to compensate).
Vital signs are usually done with an electronic machine (commonly called a Dynamap) in modern first world countries, however nurses are usually trained to also use manual equipment. These include a sphygmomanometer for blood pressure and a thermometer for temperature. Nurses are also trained in use of a stethoscope to hear heart, lung and bowel sounds on patients of all ages.
