The Best Specializations and Locations for Nursing Professionals Starting a Family

It can be difficult to work as a nurse while running a family. While hospital nurses may only work three shifts a week this schedule can be erratic and extremely difficult. You may work on evenings. Over weekends. Certainly over the holidays.

This doesn’t suit everyone. Are you out of luck?

No! There are plenty of healthcare specialties. Many of them are considerably more favorable to the schedule of a new parent.

In this article, we take a look at how you can work as a nurse and still spend plenty of time with your family. 

School Nurse

In terms of nursing specialties that allow you to spend the most time with your children, it really doesn’t get better than a school nurse.

School nurses will work hours that fall within the typical 8-3 o’clock structure.

They are off on holidays. They are off on weekends. They even have summers off.

The work is also more important than many people realize. You may not be saving lives in the emergency room, but you are playing an important role in your school’s health ecosystem. It is the school nurse that manages viral outbreaks within the educational community. 

Remember that a flu outbreak that begins at school can touch many more lives. A cold that gets brought home to grandma may wind up being fatal. In that way, school nurses play an important role in managing health throughout the community.

Family Nurse Practitioners

Family nurse practitioners work the same hours as general practitioners. Their office may be open Monday through Saturday. Their shifts follow traditional business hours. 

Of course, the work is not easy. You need a graduate degree to do it and the programs are very strenuous. Still, it is easier to get this credential than it is to be certified as a medical doctor and you get many of the same benefits. High levels of autonomy. Extremely competitive pay. Even the ability to open your own practice.

Pay attention to your local laws. Some states are more permissive than others when it comes to what they allow nurse practitioners to do.

Education

There are two routes you can go for education and healthcare. The first and most obvious: teach future nurses. All of those professors you had in nursing school once worked as RNs themselves. To go this route you will need at least a graduate degree and probably a PhD.

Placements are pretty competitive. It may take you several years to establish yourself as a full-time professor. During that time, you may need to either moonlight as an educator while working as an RN or accept a smaller salary than you’re probably used to. However, once you get going you’ll find that the hours are much more flexible and the pay is even better than what most nurses receive.

College professors often don’t need to be on campus for more than 12 to 15 hours a week, including office hours. That number is even less if they are teaching some or all of their classes online. They may choose to take summers off and can even take sabbatical periods where they stop working for a year or two to research and recharge.

It’s a good gig if you can get it.

The other education route to keep in mind is health coaching. For example, when someone is newly diagnosed with diabetes, they will often be connected with a specialized healthcare educator who can walk them through the steps that will be required to take care of themselves.

These jobs do not usually happen on an emergency basis. For that reason, healthcare educators work traditional 9 to 5 Monday through Friday schedules.

Forensic Nursing

Not every aspect of forensic nursing is flexible. This position involves working with victims of crimes. Because violent crime can happen at any time the forensic nurse may be called onto the scene at odd hours of the day. Many violent crimes happen almost exclusively during evening hours, which means that you may expect lots of late nights or early mornings. Still, this is a lucrative and interesting career path for those who are interested in getting out of the strict hospital setting. 

Forensic nurses are often brought into police stations or work directly at the crime scene. In addition to treating the patient, they also collect evidence and sometimes testify in court cases they have worked. They may also be in as an expert witness for cases that they were not involved in.

The situations forensic nurses encounter are very difficult emotionally. It is usually forensic nurses who will administer medical care to victims of sexual assault. The sensitive nature of the work means it won’t be a great fit for everyone. 

Conclusion

Is it difficult to work as a nurse while raising a family? Not always. Even nurses who work in the hospital setting often appreciate the fact that the shifts are usually only spread out across three days of the week. Some nurses raising children might choose to work on the weekends so that they are available Monday through Friday to help the kids with homework and do all of the traditional domestic responsibilities that families require.

Other nurses may decide to take evening shifts so that they are working while the kids are sleeping.

Obviously, there are pros and cons to both. The point is that there is no one-size-fits-all all solution for balancing work and family life. The good news is that healthcare careers are extremely diverse and flexible. Chances are there is a nursing job out there that reflects your ideal scheduling requirements. You just have to find it.