Nursing students who work: The relationship between hours worked, type of employment, and nursing students' academic succes

"Quality patient care hinges on having a well-educated nursing workforce" (Rosseter, 2013, p.1). Despite this fact, many nursing students who begin a nursing program never finish, and for those who do, some of them will never pass their licensure exam and thus cannot practice as a nurse. For many, this is in part due to the fact that they must be employed while in school, leading to less study time, less learning, and a lower GPA.;The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between nursing students' employment and their grade point average (GPA) in their first-year nursing major courses at a university in the Upper Great Plains of the United States. The study explored the relationship between the number of hours nursing students work while taking their first year nursing major courses and their GPA in their first-year nursing major courses. The study also examined the relationship between number of hours nursing students work while taking their first-year nursing major courses based on the type of work, type of nursing program, and other demographics.;The sample in this study consisted of 114 nursing students enrolled in first year nursing major courses. A quantitative research study was conducted using a Pearson product moment correlation with a .05 level of significance to look at the correlation between the variables.;The findings of this study showed no statistically significant correlation between the number of hours nursing students work and their GPA. This remained true when separating ASN from BSN students, when separating those who had children living in the home from those who did not, and when looking at whether they were employed in healthcare or not. Recommendations for practice and for further study are suggested.