The purpose of this thesis was to compare the use of time nurses spend on taking the blood pressure, using three different measurement methods. The thesis was a project involving Laurea University of Applied Sciences and Hospital District of Helsinki and Uusimaa and Meilahti Triangle Hospital. The thesis was made on the initiative of Meilahti Triangle Hospital ward 6B. The thesis objective was to develop nurse’s use of methods when taking the blood pressure. The study was carried out as a time research. The research method used was quantitative and the observation method was systematic observation.

Ward 6B was preliminarily testing a new electronic recording system. This thesis compared the new electronic registration system with the two methods already in use in the ward. Observation was conducted by a registered nurse working in the ward. She took the blood pressure using three different methods and recorded the results on an observation form. The measurements were divided into indirect and direct nursing care, which were 1) time used for preparation 2) time used for measurement 3) time used for recording. The results were analyzed using SPSS 16.0 program.

The study results revealed that the electronic recording system for the measurement of time that was piloted was the fastest method of taking the blood pressure. The method of taking the blood pressure was an automatic gauge and recording the result with a portable electronic recording system. The second fastest method was taking the blood pressure with an automatic gauge and recording the results in the ward office. The slowest method was taking the blood pressure with an automatic gauge and recording the result using a laptop. When comparing the distribution of time spent on direct and indirect nursing between these three blood pressure taking methods, the amount of time spent on direct nursing was significantly less using the first method than with the other two methods. Instead, the share of direct nursing care was almost the same for all measurement practices.

The study raised issues for further research. Utilizing wireless network technology in a nurse's work has not really been investigated. In addition, nursing staff’s attitudes to the use of technology in nursing have not been studied.

Based on this thesis and its conclusions ward 6B can develop nurses’ use of time to a more efficient direction, because the recording system previously used was not the most effective in terms of the use of time.