Background: Head nurses are commonly facing time wasters. Time waster is any activity
that has that has fewer benefits and usually prevents the head nurse from accomplishing the job or
achieving the goal. Aim: Assess time wasters facing head nurses in the work place. Design: A
descriptive design was used in this study. Subjects: The subjects of the study included 115 head
nurses working in Ain Shams University hospitals. The subjects of the study were convenient
sample. Setting: The study was conducted at five hospitals affiliated to Ain-Shams University
Hospitals where the head nurses worked. Tool of data collection: Time waster's questionnaire.
Results: more than three fifth of head nurses facing all types of time wasters. The highest mean
score was communication time wasters 20.63±4.28 while the lowest mean score was planning time
wasters14.38±2.9. Conclusion: the result revealed that the most common time waster facing head
nurses was communication 66.1%, while planning time waster was the least time waster facing head
nurses 60.0%. Recommendations: Providing training programs for head nurses regarding strategies
to eliminate time wasters and enhance delegation process.