Abstract. User attitudes towards a hospital virtual nurse agent are described, as evaluated in a randomized clinical trial involving 764 hospital patients. Patients talked to the agent for an average of 29 minutes while in their hospital beds, receiving their customized hospital discharge instructions from the agent and a printed booklet. Patients reported very high levels of satisfaction with and trust in the nurse agent, preferred receiving their discharge instructions from the agent over their human doctors and nurses, and found the system very easy to use. Perceived similarity to the agent was a significant determiner of liking, trust, desire to continue, and working alliance, although perceived similarity was unrelated to racial concordance between patients and the agent.