To synthesize research on the influence of night‐shift napping on nurses. Shift work is common for hospital nurses. Various studies corroborate that shift work causes adverse health consequences for nurses. Night‐shift napping is a countermeasure to address the adverse outcomes of shift work. The literature search included the PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, PsycINFO and Cochrane Library electronic databases from inception to December 2017. Reference lists were hand searched.