Community and hospital academic performance of working nurse interns: A mixed-methods study in Peru

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVE: Nursing is a professional career that requires patient-specialized care. To this end, it requires a high academic performance during undergraduate studies. However, some factors that can influence the academic performance of nursing students have been noticed during the internship. We aimed to determine the hospital and community-academic performance of nurse interns who work. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We designed a 3-year mixed study carried out with students of the Universidad Norbert Wiener. We interviewed 15 students about their academic performance, the consequences of studying while working, internship, family, and academic activities. Using the quantitative approach, we analyzed the evaluations of 321 students between 2016 and 2018. RESULTS: The qualitative approach showed that students had certain difficulties in their clinical internship because they worked and studied simultaneously. Despite this, their academic performance was remarkable in both internship programs, and 10% of students had an outstanding performance. This performance is subject to personal, economic, and family factors that affect students in their last year of undergraduate studies. CONCLUSIONS: Working nursing interns had a remarkable academic performance during community and hospital internships. This performance is influenced by personal, financial, and family factors that affect students in their final year of undergraduate study.