Jobs without night shifts

[lizzieh]

Is it realistic to get into nursing if you don't want to work night shifts?

I've been considering nursing for a few years now and am at the point educationally where I need to decide within the next 6 months and finalize my nursing pre reqs if necessary.

That being said, I just want to test the waters; are there particular career paths within nursing where you don't have to work overnights frequently? I think I'd be ok with an erratic schedule for a few years, but not the rest of my career. I love sleep more than pretty much anything.

[Fatsacktommy]

There are plenty of positions in nursing that aren't just the night shift, but it also depends if you're leaning towards a particular specialty. I feel that new people end up with nocs quite often, d/t the fact that any open day shifts are offered to the unit first. However, there's still plenty of opportunities in nursing that don't involve the night shift. Me personally, I love nocs-I'm also very use to them.

[meanmaryjean, DNP, RN]

Just because you work nights does not mean you don't sleep. You do sleep. As much as other people if you make it a priority. You just sleep at a different time.

[brownbook]

When I was young I too loved to sleep. I thought anyone who had a job that required working nights, evenings, weekends, was a sad sack loser to work such awful hours.

Well...of course life just laughed at me and I ended up with a nursing career working 11 pm to 7 am, plus every other weekend, to say nothing of giving up on Christmas, Thanksgiving, etc. for 17 years.

Never say never. Working nights is not as bad as it sounds. And you don't have to do it 17 years. After I finally found out patient surgery, (no nights, no weekends, no holidays.....unless you're required to take call), I met many fellow nurses who had done one or two years of acute care, 24/7 nursing, then found jobs with "better", normal, hours.

[ChryssyD]

Sure--doctor's office, dialysis clinic, wound care clinic, health department, psych or geriatric day care, home health visits, insurance physicals, call-center or phone triage...there are plenty of strictly business-hours nursing jobs. Many of them do, unfortunately, prefer experienced nurses, but there are always exceptions. Or you could just refuse to take a hospital or nursing home position that requires night-shift work. Not everyone is capable of being a vampire and most places understand this. Don't worry too much, really shouldn't be a problem.