Time spent by nurses on nursing care activities in a medical unit of a tertiary care center

Background: Nurses dedicate a substantially greater amount of time to patient care than other healthcare professionals. Their responsibilities encompass a broad spectrum of tasks, including offering personal and emotional support to patients, evaluating and recording patient conditions, as well as performing indirect duties such as managing units and coordinating care activities with other members of the healthcare team Nurses spend significantly more time in providing patient care compared to the other health care workers. Materials and Methods: A descriptive study was done in the medical wards, high dependency unit and intensive care unit of a tertiary care hospital to observe the nursing care activities of the registered nurses. One hundred patients were chosen using convenience judgmental sampling technique and nursing care activities performed for the patient over 24 hours was captured using a self- reporting proforma. The activities were analysed and categorized into 8 major domains. Results: The study found that 85.44% of nursing activities were dedicated to direct patient care, while 14.56% involved indirect care tasks. The majority of the direct care activities focused on therapeutic interventions (59.32%), with only a small portion of time allocated to patient counselling and education (1.3%). Conclusion: Patient assessment and medication administration were prioritized, with nurses dedicating the majority of their time to these tasks. In contrast, psychological support and preparation for home care received the least attention. To enhance the quality of life for patients, it is essential for nurses to allocate more time to emotional care and home care readiness.