IWU clinical systems and rules, guide by guide

Updated September 24, 2026 · Reviewed by the IWU Preceptor placement team

These guides break IWU's clinical process into the pieces you actually deal with: finding and approving preceptors, logging hours and encounters, clearance and licenses, courses and residencies, and the rules that change with where you live. Each one draws on IWU's catalog and program pages and flags where IWU's own sources disagree.

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IWU clinical systems and rules, guide by guide. These guides break IWU's clinical process into the pieces you actually deal with: finding and approving preceptors, logging hours and encounters, clearance and — Every IWU clinical guide in one place: preceptor approval, Medatrax, hours and encounters, clearance and licenses, residencies, the calendar and state rules.

Where IWU's official detail lives

IWU's catalog sets program rules, hour totals and progression standards. The working detail, including preceptor qualifications, form names and approval timing, sits in documents IWU gives enrolled students: the NP Clinical Guidelines, the DNP Project Manual and the School of Integrated Health Student Handbook, which the catalog places inside each course in Brightspace.

Where a guide below reaches the edge of what IWU publishes, it says so and sends you to those documents, your syllabus or your program faculty. New to IWU clinicals? Start with the placement process, then read who does what at IWU.

How your placement advisor uses these guides

Your placement advisor works from the same material. Before we put a preceptor forward for PYC-681 or a psychotherapy course, we check the match against these rules, so the placement fits the course before it ever reaches IWU's review.

Preceptors and approval

The IWU placement processHow clinical placement works at Indiana Wesleyan: you find the preceptor, IWU vets and approves, then Medatrax, compliance checks and faculty site visits.Securing sites and preceptorsWhat IWU's rule that students secure their own clinical sites and preceptors means course by course, from PYC-660 to PMHN-693, and how program faculty help.How IWU approves preceptorsHow Indiana Wesleyan vets and approves clinical sites and preceptors, what reaches the School of Nursing, and the habits that help a file clear the first time.Who can precept an IWU studentWhat IWU publishes about who can precept its NP students, where the NP Clinical Guidelines come in, and how state rules and settings shape the choice.NP Clinical GuidelinesWhy IWU's catalog points to the NP Clinical Guidelines, student handbooks and DNP Project Manual, and which placement answers to look up in them first.Placement costs policyIWU's Nursing Practice Experience Costs policy explained: who pays facility charges, compliance checks and residency travel, and how to plan for each one.Faculty site visitsWhat to expect when IWU faculty visit your clinical site: evaluations in each FNP clinical course, what they assess, and how students and preceptors prepare.Clinicals where you workCan IWU nursing students do clinicals at their own workplace? IWU's three conditions, how each program treats workplace sites, and what makes one approvable.Who does what at IWUEvery IWU role that touches a practicum: program and course faculty, the School of Nursing, Program Leader, deans, Office of Learner Success and advisors.

Hours, encounters and grades

Clinical hours by programClinical and practicum hours for every IWU nursing program, 175 to 1,000, plus the places where IWU's catalog and web pages print different totals.FNP clinical hours: 850 vs 700IWU's catalog sets 850 FNP practicum hours plus 800 encounters, the MSN web page says 700, and the certificate reads 780 or 850. How to plan around each.The 800 patient encountersIWU's FNP needs at least 800 patient encounters: 350 adult, 40 of them women's health, and 150 pediatric. How to choose sites that reach every count.PMHNP hours: 820, 525 or 785IWU's catalog sets 820 PMHNP practicum hours, its web page says 525 and the course pages add to 785. The hours in each PMHN course and how to plan them.The 1,000-hour DNP ruleBoth IWU DNP routes need at least 1,000 practicum hours. How BSN-to-DNP hours build, the 500-hour MSN transfer, and where DNP project hours happen.Medatrax and the week-two ruleIWU's recent catalogs route site and preceptor approvals, health records and compliance education through Medatrax by week two of each practicum course.Clinical logs and integrityIWU dismisses students who falsify clinical or practicum hours, with no re-entry. What the rule covers, where logs live, and habits that keep a record clean.Failing a clinical courseIWU's graduate nursing courses run lock-step with a B-or-better rule. What a failed clinical course means, when dismissal applies, and how to protect a retake.Incompletes and course changesIWU nursing incompletes, withdrawals and sitting out a course: the 75% rule, the 14-day engagement rule, six-month return exams and a site that falls through.

Clearance and licenses

Background check and drug screenWhen IWU nursing students need a background check and drug screen: at admission, again before the first practicum, and random testing after that.Immunizations and health clearanceThe immunizations IWU nursing students document before clinicals (TB, rubella, MMR, flu, hepatitis B), the health clearance, and what your site may add.RN license for clinicalsEach state where you do IWU clinicals needs your active, unencumbered RN license. How that works with compact licenses, border sites and your preceptor.The 500-hour RN requirementIWU's NP tracks ask for 500 hours of RN direct patient care in the year before admission. Who it covers, what IWU leaves open, and its other 500-hour rules.

Courses, residencies and calendar

PYC-660 Advanced Health AssessmentIWU's PYC-660 Advanced Health Assessment opens the FNP clinicals: 6 credits, the Marion residency, supervised clinical time and the preceptor who fits it.PYC-670 Foundations for Primary CarePYC-670 Foundations for Primary Care Practice: the 5-credit IWU FNP clinical on health promotion and diagnostic reasoning, and the preceptor it calls for.PYC-681 Primary Care Lifespan IIWU's PYC-681 Primary Care Across the Lifespan I: 6 credits of acute and chronic care across all ages, the encounters it builds and the preceptor who fits.PYC-682 Primary Care Lifespan IIIWU's PYC-682 Primary Care Across the Lifespan II: the 6-credit midpoint of the FNP clinicals, the encounter gaps to close and the preceptor to line up.PYC-683 Primary Care Lifespan IIIIWU's PYC-683 Primary Care Across the Lifespan III is the final FNP clinical: 6 credits, the last push to 850 hours and 800 encounters, and the right preceptor.PMHNP clinical courses (PMHN-652 to 693)IWU's PMHNP clinical courses, PMHN-652 through PMHN-693: hours per course, the three psychotherapy courses, the onsite intensives and the preceptors that fit.HSL practicum courses (520 hours)IWU's Health Systems Leadership practicums, GNUR-529P to HSL-688P: six 65-hour courses, a 130-hour capstone, 520 hours in all, and the leaders who fit each.Marion residencies and intensivesEvery onsite residency and intensive IWU nursing students attend, program by program: FNP, PMHNP, BSN-to-DNP and the Systems Leadership DNP, plus travel tips.Course format and calendarHow IWU National & Global runs nursing courses: no semesters, one course at a time for 7 to 15 weeks, cohort deadlines, and January, May and August starts.Portal, Brightspace and emailWhere IWU nursing work lives online: the myIWU Portal and National & Global Hub, Self-Service, Brightspace with your handbook, Outlook email and OCLS.

Where you live

State licensure disclosuresWhat IWU's professional licensure disclosures say for FNP, PMHNP, DNP and ASN-to-MSN students, what "not yet determined" means, and where NC-SARA fits.Clinicals outside IndianaIWU online nursing students train in their own community. What changes outside Indiana: your license, your preceptor's, and your state's program rules.Nursing accreditationCCNE accredits IWU's BSN, MSN, DNP and post-graduate APRN certificates through 2030. What that covers, where Indiana's board fits, and what sites may ask.

Questions IWU students ask

Where do I find IWU's NP Clinical Guidelines?

IWU shares them with enrolled students rather than posting them publicly, and the catalog refers students to them for practicum detail. Look in your Brightspace courses and ask your program faculty for the current version. Our NP Clinical Guidelines page explains what to look up first.

Does IWU still use Medatrax?

Medatrax appears in IWU's 2024-25 and 2025-26 catalogs as the home for three preparatory items: site and preceptor approvals, health records and compliance education. The 2026-27 pages we checked name no replacement system and drop the reference, so your syllabus is the place to confirm it.

Why do IWU's clinical hour figures differ between pages?

IWU's catalog and its program web pages disagree in places. The MSN FNP shows 850 practicum hours in the catalog and 700 on the program page; the MSN PMHNP shows 820 in the catalog and 525 on the web. Treat the catalog as the governing figure and confirm it in your syllabus.

Who at IWU approves my preceptor?

IWU names the School of Nursing as the body that approves sites and preceptors, and says the university vets each one after you submit documentation. DNP practicum hours carry a further sign-off from course faculty or the designated academic leader.

Last checked 2026-09-24

We check these pages against IWU's own catalog and program pages. IWU's NP Clinical Guidelines, your syllabus and your program faculty have the final word.

IWU says you secure the site and preceptor. We make that the easy part.

Tell us your IWU program, your community and when your next practicum course starts. We find preceptors who fit the course and prepare everything IWU vets before it approves them.

Preceptors matched to the course: primary care across the lifespan for the PYC courses, psychiatric care for PMHNP, leaders for HSL
Credentials, license and site details ready for IWU's review and Medatrax
In your own community, in Indiana or wherever you live and hold your RN license

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