Juggling employment and studies: Nursing students' perceptions of the influence of paid employment on their success

Background: Undergraduate nursing students are participating in part-time employment to finance their way through their studies despite evidence that working while undertaking study negatively impacts on their academic performance. Method: A mixed method research design was used to collect data for this study. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data. The survey was completed by 58 students enrolled in a three-year Bachelor of Nursing (BN) programme across two campuses at Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology in the Bay of Plenty, New Zealand. Results: Findings from this study showed student nurses undertake part-time work to reduce financial hardship and avoid student debt. Students reported their employment whether it be in health care, retail or hospitality, provided them with skills to support their nursing studies. An important finding was irrespective of the number of hours worked, students reported their work impacted negatively on their academic success as it diminished the amount of time they had to study. Conclusion: Although this is a small-scale study, the results provide valuable insight into nursing students' perceptions of the influence of paid employment on their academic success within the nursing programme. This research has national and international relevance given there is evidence that significant numbers of nursing students across many countries participate in part-time employment to reduce financial hardship and avoid excessive debt.