The current study investigated the productivity of nurses in emergency department, ICU and CCU of Shahid-Madani hospital in Tabriz. Methods:A two-stage time and motion study was conducted; the observational work sampling study was undertaken by 15 nurses, followed by self-reporting work sampling study by 42 nurses over a period of five weeks. Descriptive and analytical statistics were used to analyze the data.Results: Fifty-seven work sampling data were collected, 15 through the observational study and 42 in self-reporting. Considerable differences were found in the nurses' time distribution between two techniques. Percentage of direct, indirect and personal activities in observational versus self-reporting were observed (32.74% versus 40.52%), (24.09% versus 28.84%) and (42.30% versus 30.41%) respectively. Conclusion:A considerable proportion of nurses' time in each shift was spent on their personal activities, which would affect their productivity as well as their direct and indirect delivered cares for patients. Identifying the percentage of spent time on nurses' personal activities would be a useful measure for improving patient care protocols in the hospitals.