Hospitalized patients who experience sudden unanticipated serious deterioration and subsequent cardiorespiratory arrests have very poor outcomes. In addition, the institutional and patient costs of such events are quite high. A significant number of avoidable adverse and sentinel events occur on the medical-surgical floor, where nurse to-patient ratios often prevent continuous direct patient observation. Many of the patients that suffer either serious deterioration or sudden death have preceding predictive events. Continuous monitoring of vital signs can provide early detection of deterioration and may improve patient outcomes. A report by the Institute for Health Care Improvement (IHI) suggests that in many instances, subjective complaints and changes in vital signs could be noticed hours or even days in advance of cardiac or respiratory arrests, and majority of the events were observed to be preventable.