Doing your IWU clinicals outside Indiana
IWU's online NP students complete clinicals in their own community, wherever that is. What travels with you is IWU's license rule: an active, unencumbered RN license in each state where you have a practicum site. What changes from state to state is how that state treats nursing programs based elsewhere, and who may precept you. Here is how to plan for both.
Get your placement plan
Tell us your IWU program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with the preceptor and site options that fit your IWU course.
Own-community clinicals are how IWU's online programs work
IWU's program pages describe clinicals done in the student's own community, and the FNP certificate FAQ tells students to line up possible preceptors early because clinicals start early. Nothing in IWU's public catalog says your site has to be in your state of residence. What the catalog does insist on is a valid RN license where the site is.
The approval path doesn't change with geography. You work with program faculty, identify possible preceptors and sites, and submit documentation; IWU then vets and approves every site and preceptor, whatever state the practice is in.
IWU holds written authorization for onsite operations in Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Ohio and Florida, and runs education centers in Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky. Those locations serve enrollment, library and study needs. Your clinical site is chosen for your course and your community, not for its distance from an IWU center.
Your license follows the site
In every state that hosts a practicum site of yours, IWU expects an RN license that is active, unencumbered and valid there. A multistate compact license covers compact states, but Illinois, Michigan, New York, California and several other states sit outside the compact, and a site in one of them calls for that state's own license. The RN license page covers the compact in more depth.
Plan for Marion as well. Clinical hours happen near home, but IWU's NP programs bring you to campus for onsite requirements: a health-assessment residency for FNP students, a residency plus two intensives for PMHNP students, and three or four residencies on the DNP tracks. The DNP Systems Leadership residencies last up to four days each, with travel at your expense. See Marion residencies for each program.
How states treat nursing programs based elsewhere
State rules range from nothing at all to formal approval before a student logs an hour. A sample from our state research:
| State | What the state says |
|---|---|
| Ohio | No approval or notice step in state law; APRN students are exempt when an APRN faculty member, teaching assistant or preceptor supervises them |
| Kentucky | Board approval not required for out-of-state programs; preceptors of online APRN students need Kentucky licensure |
| Michigan | No approval or notice rule found for programs based outside Michigan |
| Illinois | Programs based elsewhere seeking clinical placements file five items with the state; the rule doesn't say whether graduate programs are covered |
| New York | Programs must be registered or approved by NYSED before placing students in clinical rotations; for NP students the NP program itself must be registered |
| California | Non-California NP programs need prior Board approval for clinical placements |
| Arizona | Out-of-state APRN programs must be approved before any student does clinicals there |
| Washington | Out-of-state distance programs need Board approval first, and approved placements are for Washington residents |
Most of these rules fall on the program rather than on you, though Alaska asks APRN students from programs based elsewhere to register individually for a preceptorship. IWU's standing with individual nursing boards isn't published, so before you commit to a site in a state with an approval rule, ask program faculty whether IWU can place students there. Each state guide on this site summarizes that state's rule.
Your preceptor, and the state they practice in
IWU's preceptor criteria sit in the NP Clinical Guidelines rather than the public catalog; our preceptor requirements page explains where to look. The state where your site operates can add conditions on top.
Ohio's student exemption for APRN students depends on supervision by an APRN serving the program as faculty, teaching assistant or preceptor, so an Ohio site relying on that exemption needs an APRN in the supervising role. Kentucky's board requires preceptors of online APRN students in the state to hold Kentucky APRN licensure. California's rule, for programs it approves, expects preceptors who meet its Board's requirements.
State practice law shapes who is available too. AANP classes Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky and Illinois as reduced-practice states, where NPs need some form of collaborative arrangement for at least part of their practice, and Michigan as restricted. A preceptor in good standing under their own state's rules is the starting point; IWU's approval comes on top.
Moving, or training in two states
If you move during the program, treat it as a fresh placement. Your license has to be valid in the new state before any hours there, the new site and preceptor go through IWU's approval, and the new state's rules for programs based elsewhere apply. Check IWU's licensure disclosure for the new state too, particularly on the ASN-to-MSN FNP route.
IWU's rule anticipates more than one practicum state, since the catalog refers to the "state(s) of the practicum sites". A second state doubles the license and approval work, though, so use one only when it fills a real gap, such as the 150 pediatric encounters FNP students need within the 800-encounter minimum.
Keep the timeline in view. The recent catalogs ask for site and preceptor approvals in Medatrax by the second week of a practicum course, and a cross-border site with an extra state step needs more lead time than one down the road.
Finding the right site where you live
Wherever home is, we search for a preceptor and clinical site in your community that fit your IWU course, with your licenses and your state's rules built into the search from the first call. Before a site reaches you, we have checked how your state treats programs based elsewhere and whether the preceptor's license and practice arrangement suit the placement.
We then put together the preceptor and site paperwork IWU reviews before approval. IWU signs off on every placement, and we make sure the School of Nursing gets everything it needs in one complete, rule-matched submission. If a preceptor withdraws partway through, we stay on call and bring you a replacement in the same state.
Share your state and program in the form below, or see how it works from first call to first shift.
Questions IWU students ask
Can I do IWU clinicals in a state other than the one I live in?
IWU's catalog doesn't require your site to be in your home state. It requires an active, unencumbered RN license in each state where you have a practicum site, plus IWU's approval of the site and preceptor. Close to home is the natural place to start, since IWU describes clinicals as happening in your own community.
Can I do IWU NP clinicals in New York?
New York's education department says out-of-state and online programs must be registered or approved by NYSED before placing students in clinical rotations there, and that NP students must be in a registered NP program; it warns that clinicals otherwise could be illegal. Ask IWU about its NYSED status before you look for a site. Our New York guide has the rest.
Do I have to travel to Indiana for IWU clinicals?
Not for clinical hours; those happen at approved sites in your own community. IWU's NP programs do include onsite requirements in Marion, such as the FNP health-assessment residency and the PMHNP residency and intensives, so budget time and travel for those visits alongside your local placement.
Is IWU authorized to enroll online students in my state?
IWU is an NC-SARA member and says it is authorized to offer distance education in all SARA-member states, with approvals or exemptions from every state where it enrolls online students. That authorization is separate from a nursing board's rules for clinical placements, which some states apply to programs based elsewhere.
Does my preceptor need an Indiana license if my site is out of state?
For a site outside Indiana, your preceptor's authority comes from the site's state. Indiana itself has no rule on record requiring an NP student's preceptor to hold an Indiana license as such. Other states may add conditions; Kentucky, for example, expects preceptors of online APRN students to hold Kentucky APRN licensure.
Related pages
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
PYCcourses, 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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