Assessment of procrastination in providing nursing care among Iranian nursing staff

AIM: This study aimed to investigate procrastination in nursing care providing. DESIGN: This descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out on 125 nurses in ICUs, PICUs, NICUs, and surgery wards, who were selected by census sampling in Iran. METHODS: The data were collected using the Procrastination Scale, which consisted of 25 items relating to 3 factors. Data were analyzed using statistics, Chi-square, Friedman test, analysis of variance, and Kolmogorov–Smirnov tests. RESULTS: Overall, 37% of the participants showed very high or high procrastination. Most of the procrastination was observed in the “Task aversion” (44.2%). ANOVA indicated that the mean total procrastination score had a significant relationship with age (p = 0.013), work experience (p = 0.006), and marital status (p = 0.02). Nurses with permanent employment (p = 0.014) and lower education (p = 0.009) and women (p = 0.023) were much more likely to procrastinate the provision of care. CONCLUSION: It is recommended to adopt appropriate management strategies and take adequate measures to reduce procrastination, considering the existence of procrastination among nurses and its adverse impact on the quality of care.