Immunizations and health clearance for IWU clinicals
Before an IWU FNP or PMHNP student's first practicum course, the catalog asks for health clearance plus documentation of TB, rubella, MMR, the flu vaccine and hepatitis B. Your clinical site can add items of its own, and everything has to be finished before you see a patient. This page covers what IWU names, what it leaves to its handbooks, and how we keep your clearance in step with your placement.
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What IWU's graduate catalog names
IWU's catalog pages for the MSN FNP and MSN PMHNP list the same health items to document before the first practicum: TB, rubella, MMR, the flu vaccine and hepatitis B. The BSN-to-DNP pages name a shorter set, TB, rubella and hepatitis B status. Every APRN track adds a health clearance, and the cost of all of it is yours.
| Program | Items named | Also required |
|---|---|---|
| MSN FNP | TB, rubella, MMR, flu vaccine, hepatitis B | Health clearance; every site requirement |
| MSN PMHNP | TB, rubella, MMR, flu vaccine, hepatitis B | Health clearance; every site requirement |
| Post-graduate FNP certificate | Health clearance and immunizations; see your catalog page for the itemized list | Every site requirement |
| BSN-to-DNP (FNP or PMHNP) | TB, rubella and hepatitis B status | Drug screen before the first practicum |
| RN-to-BSN | Immunization tracking when the practicum facility requires it | Instructions from the Division of Post-licensure Nursing |
| BSN, Marion campus | Health Clearance Form, TB, MMR, hepatitis B, Tdap, varicella, flu | American Heart Association BLS; drug screen |
ASN-to-MSN students move into the MSN clinical courses after the bridge, so check the catalog page for your ASN-to-MSN track to confirm which list governs you.
Health clearance is more than a vaccine list
IWU pairs immunizations with a separate requirement it calls health clearance. The public catalog doesn't publish the graduate form, who signs it or how recent it must be. Those details sit in the NP Clinical Guidelines and student handbooks, which enrolled students can open and the public cannot; our guide to the NP Clinical Guidelines shows where to start reading.
On the Marion campus the equivalent is a named Health Clearance Form on the pre-licensure list. Graduate students shouldn't assume that form applies to them. Ask program faculty which document IWU wants for your track and who is expected to complete it.
Get that answer before you book appointments. One visit that covers the clearance, a TB test and any missing doses is far easier to fit around work than three separate trips.
What your clinical site can add
IWU's catalog makes every requirement of the practicum agency part of your job, at your own expense, before any patient contact. In effect the site's list becomes a second checklist layered over IWU's.
Health systems publish lists that go further than IWU's. Franciscan Health's page for NP rotations in central Indiana asks for a TB test, an MMR and rubella titer, hepatitis B, varicella, tetanus and pertussis, the seasonal flu vaccine and CPR/AED, along with a background check and drug screen. If your site asks for items like these, they become part of your clearance for that placement.
IWU's public pages don't list BLS, student liability insurance or HIPAA training for graduate students, yet sites may. IU Health describes quarterly audits of insurance, vaccinations and BLS for its students, and Deaconess asks for professional liability insurance provided by the school. Confirm each item with the site and with the NP Clinical Guidelines rather than assuming.
Clearing IWU's list and clearing your site's list are two separate jobs, and both must be finished before your first patient.
Timing: Medatrax and the second week of the course
IWU's recent catalogs direct health requirements and compliance education into Medatrax, next to site and preceptor approvals. A student who hasn't submitted those preparatory items by the second week of a practicum course may be dismissed. The 2026-27 pages don't repeat that sentence, so confirm the current system with your faculty; our Medatrax page tracks what the catalogs say.
Compliance education is a requirement in its own right. The catalog doesn't describe its content or say whether HIPAA training is included, so complete whatever modules IWU assigns and save each completion record.
Plan backward from your first clinical course. Items that depend on a lab result or a multi-dose series take longer than a signature, so start with those and leave the paperwork for last.
The Marion BSN and RN-to-BSN lists
Pre-licensure students in Marion work from a fuller, itemized list, stored in a secure online document management system:
- Health Clearance Form
- TB test every year
- Two MMR doses or titers
- Three-dose hepatitis B series
- Tdap
- Varicella, two doses or a titer
- Flu shot every year
- Drug screen, offered at the IWU Health Center
The campus program also requires American Heart Association BLS, kept current throughout, and online-only courses don't qualify. Our BSN clinicals page explains how the Marion clinical groups run.
IWU arranges campus clinicals itself, in groups of about five to eight students starting in the sophomore year, so this list is what a campus student works through before those first rotations.
Online RN-to-BSN students track immunizations only when their practicum facility asks for it, at their own expense, following instructions from the Division of Post-licensure Nursing.
How we keep your clearance and your placement moving together
A clearance checklist is only complete once you know which site it serves, and settling that early is our specialty. We source a local preceptor whose practice matches what your IWU course requires, then gather the site's health requirements before you book a single appointment. You work from one list, built for that placement.
On the IWU side, we prepare the material the School of Nursing reviews before approving a site and preceptor, including preceptor credentials, license details and site information. IWU makes the approval decision; we see that the file it receives is complete and matches its rules on the first pass. If your preceptor leaves partway through a course, we line up the next one and tell you at once what the new site needs.
Send your program and start term through the form below, or read the full IWU placement process first.
Questions IWU students ask
Does IWU accept titers instead of vaccine records for graduate students?
IWU's graduate catalog asks for documentation of MMR, rubella and hepatitis B without saying which forms of proof it accepts. The Marion BSN list does allow titers for MMR and varicella, so IWU uses titers on the campus side. For your own track, check the NP Clinical Guidelines or ask program faculty, and confirm what your site accepts as well.
Can I get an exemption from an IWU immunization requirement?
IWU's public catalog doesn't describe exemptions for graduate nursing students. Because the catalog also makes every site requirement yours to meet, an exemption would have to work for the clinical site as well as for IWU. Raise it with program faculty before you ask a preceptor to host you, so nobody commits to a placement that stalls at onboarding.
Do IWU NP students need BLS certification?
IWU's public pages don't list BLS for graduate students. The Marion BSN does require American Heart Association BLS, kept current, and won't accept online-only courses. If your clinical site asks for BLS, treat it as required for that placement, since the catalog places every site requirement on the student.
Where do IWU students upload immunization records?
IWU's 2024-25 and 2025-26 catalogs name Medatrax for health requirements, compliance education and site and preceptor approvals, with a second-week deadline in each practicum course. Current students should confirm the system in the NP Clinical Guidelines. Marion BSN students use a secure online document management system that the pre-licensure division directs.
Is a yearly flu shot required for IWU clinicals?
The MSN FNP and PMHNP catalog pages list the flu vaccine among the items to document before the first practicum course, and the Marion BSN list calls for a flu shot every year. How often graduate students must renew it isn't stated publicly, so follow your site's rule and the guidance in your student handbook.
Does IWU share my health records with my clinical site?
It can. When a site requests them, IWU may share your health, immunization, background check and drug-screen records with that site. Keep your own organized set too, because a site may ask you directly. The background check page covers the screening records that travel with your health file.
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.
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