Time under pressure: Exploring the dimensions of time management among critical care nurses

Critical care nurses are in an important position of patient care, and time management can increase their ability to make faster decisions and improve patient outcomes. Time management is an important part of nurses' professional performance.

This study aimed to determine time management and its dimensions among nurses working in critical care units.

This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted on 350 nurses working in adult critical care units (ICU and CCU) of teaching hospitals in Tehran, Iran in 2022. Multistage random sampling was used. The researcher provided the time management questionnaire to eligible nurses. Inferential statistics were used to investigate the correlation between demographic variables and time management.

Most nurses reported favorable TM (mean score = 94.43 ± 22.82 on a 0-100 scale). A multiple linear regression model identified three significant predictors: nurses working 1-20 monthly overtime hours scored higher in TM (β = 0.17, P = 0.001); those earning 70-130 million Rials scored lower than higher-income peers (β = -0.157, P = 0.003); and nurses with 1-5 years of critical care experience outperformed those with >20 years (β = 0.119, P = 0.024). However, the model explained only 7% of the variance in TM scores (R² = 0.07).

Most nurses demonstrated favorable time management. Higher years of work experience/income and official employment were not associated with better time management in critical care nurses. However, good time management was reported in fewer monthly overtime hours.

In-service time management training, especially for nurses with more years of work experience and stable working conditions, can improve all aspects of time management.