Assessing the Psychometric Properties of a Time Management Scale for Nurses in Hospitals

Background: Time management is a critical competency in nursing, directly affecting efficiency, stress levels, and patient care quality. However, few validated tools exist to assess this skill specifically among nurses in Palestine. Aim: To develop and validate a time management scale tailored to the nursing profession within Palestinian hospital settings. Methods: A self-administered questionnaire was distributed to 500 nurses across hospitals in Palestine. Initial item generation yielded 55 statements, refined to 43 following expert review and content validity assessment. Psychometric evaluation included exploratory factor analysis, internal consistency testing, and validity assessment using Pearson correlation and t-tests. Results: Five factors emerged: goal setting, time planning, time commitment and delegation, time priority, and managing time wasters, explaining 87.91% of total variance. Cronbach's alpha coefficients ranged from 0.85 to 0.92, indicating high reliability. Validity testing confirmed strong construct and discriminant validity. Conclusion: The newly developed scale is a reliable and valid instrument for assessing nurses' time management skills in Palestine. It can be used in practice, education, and research to evaluate and enhance nursing performance. Future studies should consider cross-cultural validation and longitudinal testing.