The Role of Working While Studying among Medical University Students

Introduction: Working while studying has become widespread among Russian university students. The multifactorial and ambiguous impact of employment on medical university students determines the necessity of conducting the study.

Objective: To perform a hygienic assessment of effects of working while studying on medical university students.

Materials and Methods: The online survey involved 107 first to sixth-year students of the Pirogov Russian National Research Medical University (Pirogov University). The questionnaire contained questions about class attendance, sleep disorders, motivation to continue working in the specialty, academic performance at the university, bad habits, and morbidity.

Results: We established that more than 70 % [CI: 61.79–78.21] of the medical university students worked while studying. The majority of them (84.0 % [CI: 76.02–91.98]) worked in the medical field and 16.0 % [CI: 8.02–23.98] were employed in other fields. Students usually started working in the medical field in the third (19.0 % [CI: 9.62–28.38]) and fourth (47.6 % [CI 35.66–59.54]) years of study. We revealed a lower attendance rate for university lectures and practical classes among working students: 28.0 % [CI: 18.23–37.77] against 18.8 % [CI: 5.43–32.17] and 12.0 % [CI: 4.93–19.07] against 9.4 % [CI: 1.22–17.58], respectively, but the differences were not statistically significant (p > 0.05). Working while studying was found to adversely affect students’ health and well-being leading to frequent sleep disorders (56 % [CI: 45.2–66.8]), a 3-fold increase in the incidence of the common cold, chronic fatigue (79.4 % [CI: 70.53–88.27]) and anxiety (55.1 % [CI: 44.17–65.83]). Smoking was more prevalent among working students (33.0 % [CI: 22.76–43.24] versus 9.4 % [CI: 1.22–17.58]) (p < 0.05). It is worth noting that almost 40 % [CI: 29.34–50.66] of them started smoking after being hired. Employment while studying motivated 60.6 % [CI: 49.98–71.22] of the students to continue working in their specialty after graduation.

Conclusion: Working while studying has a significant effect on various aspects in medical university students.

1. Lyz’ NA, Istratova ON, Golubeva EV. Working students: Educational success and subjective well-being. Vysshee Obrazovanie v Rossii. 2023;32(2):80-96. (In Russ.) doi: 10.31992/0869-3617-2023-32-2-80-96

2. Alekseenko SN, Gayvoronskaya TV, Drobot NN. Labor employment of medical students as a factor influen­cing the formation of a future doctor. Sovremennye Problemy Nauki i Obrazovaniya. 2020;(2):3. (In Russ.) doi: 10.17513/spno.29589

3. Bochkova AG, Kravchenko DD, Kleimenov MV. The impact of secondary employment on the academic performance of full-time students. In: Innovative Aspects of Develo­pment of Science and Technology: Proceedings of the Fifth International Scientific and Practical Conference, Saratov, February 28, 2021. Saratov: Tsifrovaya Nauka Publ.; 2021:372-379. (In Russ.)

4. Zhukova TV, Gorbacheva NA, Kharagurgieva IM, Belik SN, Kononenko NA, Sbykovskaya LV. Health of students as a prognostic model of nation’s health. Zdorov’e Naseleniya i Sreda Obitaniya. 2018;(4(301)):36-41. (In Russ.) doi: 10.35627/2219-5238/2018-301-4-36-41

5. Rakhmanov RS, Tarasov AV, Potekhina NN. The analysis of morbidity among civil and military university students in Kaliningrad. Zdorov’e Naseleniya i Sreda Obitaniya. 2020;(4(325)):30-36. (In Russ.) doi: 10.35627/2219-5238/2020-325-4-30-36

6. Shestera AA, Sabirova KM, Kiku PF, Kaerova EV. Hygi­enic aspects of health of junior students of a medical university. Zdorov’e Naseleniya i Sreda Obitaniya. 2021;(3(336)):18-24. (In Russ.) doi: 10.35627/2219-5238/2021-336-3-18-24

7. Tsyganenko NV. Academic performance of working stu­dents. Obrazovanie i Problemy Razvitiya Obshchestva. 2021;(4(17)):113-119. (In Russ.)

8. Gorkovaya IA, Miklyaeva AV. The resilience of employed students: Gender perspective. In: Grachev AA, Zhuravlev AL, Zankovsky AN, eds. Current State and Prospects for Development of Labor Psychology and Organizational Psychology: Collection of Articles. Moscow: RAS Institute of Psychology; 2021:625-637. (In Russ.) doi: 10.38098/conf_21_0440

9. Bulycheva EV, Bakunovich MP. Peculiarities of the for­mation of the syndrome of emotional burnout students taking into account their professional employment. Meditsinskoe Obrazovanie i Professional’noe Razvitie. 2022;13(2):49-61. (In Russ.) doi: 10.33029/2220-8453-2022-13-2-49-61

10. Vanyarkha EG. [A working medical student: Pros and cons.] Forcipe. 2019;2(S1):323. (In Russ.)

11. Godunova AD, Gritskov VL. Motivational characteristics of working and non-working students (a case of under­graduate phycologists of St. Peterburg State Univer­sity). Nauchnye Issledovaniya Vypusknikov Fakul’teta Psikhologii SPbGU. 2015;3:41-47. (In Russ.) Accessed September 11, 2025. https://psy.spbu.ru/uploads/science/sci_researches/journal_sci_research-2015.pdf

12. Gorbenko AV, Andreev KA, Fedorin MM, Skirdenko YuP, Nikolaev NA, Chernenko SV. Secondary employment and its role in obtaining higher medical education. Professional’noe Obrazovanie v Sovremennom Mire. 2021;11(4):71-83. (In Russ.) doi: 10.20913/2618-7515-2021-4-9

13. Rakova TP, Sarayly KYu. [Impact of extracurricular acti­vities and employment of medical university students on academic performance and health.] Byulleten’ Meditsinskikh Internet-Konferentsiy. 2016;6(5):750-751. (In Russ.)

14. Rybakov VA. Secondary employment of university students at labour market: Tendencies and peculiarities (according to the results of the students of Moscow Arts and Huma­nities universities). Teoriya i Praktika Obshchestvennogo Razvitiya. 2020;(8(150)):84-88. (In Russ.)

15. Chernomyrdin NA, Punchenko OE. [Quality of life of working students.] In: Luchkevich VS, ed. Public Health and Quality of Life: Proceedings of the Sixth Russian Online Scientific and Practical Conference with inter­national participation, St. Petersburg, March 30, 2019. St. Petersburg; 2019;(Pt 2):364-365. (In Russ.)

16. Creed PA, French J, Hood M. Working while studying at university: The relationship between work benefits and demands and engagement and well-being. J Vocat Behav. 2015;86:48-57. doi: 10.1016/j.jvb.2014.11.002

17. Hordósy R, Clark T, Vickers D. Lower income stu­dents and the ‘double deficit’ of part-time work: Undergraduate experiences of finance, studying and employability. J Educ Work. 2018;31(4):353-365. doi: 10.1080/13639080.2018.1498068

18. Taylor WD, Snyder LA, Lin L. What free time? A daily study of work recovery and well-being among working students. J Occup Health Psychol. 2020;25(2):113-125. doi: 10.1037/ocp0000160

19. Samrkhanova II, Kadyrov RF, Efremov IS, Abdrakhmano­va AE, Asadullin AR. Comparative assessment of the relationship between mental health and insomnia of medical students, working and non-working as nurses. Meditsinskiy Vestnik Yuga Rossii. 2023;14(2):56-60. (In Russ.) doi: 10.21886/2219-8075-2023-14-2-56-60

20. Alotaibi AD, Alosaimi FM, Alajlan AA, Bin Abdulrahman KA. The relationship between sleep quality, stress, and academic performance among medical students. J Family Community Med. 2020;27(1):23-28. doi: 10.4103/jfcm.JFCM_132_19

21. Retivina VV. Labor values and attitudes of modern stu­dents. Vysshee Obrazovanie v Rossii. 2019;28(1):57-63. (In Russ.) doi: 10.31992/0869-3617-2019-28-1-57-63

22. Myasnikova NI. Life strategies of working medical stu­dents’ bahaviour. Vestnik Udmurtskogo Universiteta. Sotsiologiya. Politologiya. Mezhdunarodnye Otnosheniya. 2018;2(2):178-182. (In Russ.)

23. Tsvetkova NA, Petrova EA, Savchenko DV. Socio-psyc­hological peculiarities of working students: Personal orientation, life position, polycommunicative empathy. Perspektivy Nauki i Obrazovaniya. 2022;(1(55)):444-462. (In Russ.) doi: 10.32744/pse.2022.1.28

24. Picton A. Work–life balance in medical students: Self-care in a culture of self-sacrifice. BMC Med Educ. 2021;21(1):8. doi: 10.1186/s12909-020-02434-5