South Alabama student in NC....clinicals a problem?!

elkpark · Jan 10, 2014

I would concur that if the purpose behind the law is to keep out the poor quality online/distance education schools that is a good goal. Hopefully, the law and/or its implementation can be modified so that restriction are still in place for those institutions, but it still allows NC residents access to educational opportunities from high quality institutions that reside outside the state.

The law is structured so that NC residents can access out-of-state programs -- those programs simply have to apply and be approved by the University of North Carolina (UNC) System General Administration/Board of Governors (i.e., meet the same academic standards that schools located within NC are required to meet). If schools choose not to do that, it is the outside schools choosing to not offer themselves as an option for NC residents.

elkpark · Jan 10, 2014

I have found that advanced practice nursing is goverend conjointly by the NCBoN and the NC medical society, which may be part of the problem.

Again, this is a general academic issue that has nothing to do with nursing specifically, the NC BON, or what professional oversight of NPs exists in the state.

PatMac10,RN, RN · Jan 11, 2014

The legislation behind this has been in place for well over a year, but hasn't been evident to many of the schools until the last 9 months or so. That's when I noticed a lot of these schools started sending out notifications. Schools like Frontier and University of Cinn.

So I think the approval process takes a while. I talked to a Frontier rep about 3 or 4 months ago and they said that they were going to be having some kind of site visit and that hopefully in another half a year or a year they can open admission back up to NC residents.

So I think the approval process is extensive and it does cost a measure of money. So the schools must way if they have enough interest from a particular state before they decide to invest money for this "approval".

kdh1005 · Jan 20, 2014

If you go to the UNC Board of Governors site you can see the schools that are licensed in the state of North Carolina. The list is very short now. Especially for those with nursing schools. You can read the law and its purpose

PatMac10,RN, RN · Jan 20, 2014

A rep from Frontier told me that they have been, and still are waiting on NC to reveal their findings and give them a yay or nay on whether they can accept NC students again. This confirms my belief that the whole process is a lengthy and time consuming one for schools.

Sent from my iPhone using allnurses.com

Barinbass · Feb 9, 2014

I attended and finished an online program based in NJ, and I live in NC! I also did clinical at the same location here in NC as a USA student. We were there together with different preceptors as long as the school is accredited by CCNE and any other "board" NC requires ( I am not aware of any other), I do not see how NC can control where one goes to school. Call the NCBON and ask about the school. The only school I heard this about was Regents/Excelsior. The Cert exam is national and does not go through the BON. You register with your certifying body and test through them They notify your BON, and the BON approves it. Even still, after all of that in NC you get no license as such and have to have a doc's signature to allow you to practice, so without the doc's signature, you have what feels like nothing in this state. I had no problem getting the registration from the NCBON. Choose a real college. Th last I heard about Kaplan, it did not have the accreditation. As hard as it is finding work here as a new grad (they all want experienced FNPs, and I am an AGNP new grad), I am considering moving to a state with not only greater opportunity but also a more NP friendly nurse practice act. I also think they have no idea there is a difference an ANP and FNP. Here in NC, FNP seems to be generic for NP sort of like coke is to soda ( for me anyway).

HopefulPNP · Apr 13, 2014

Hi! I'm an NC resident as well and I'm so confused. On the USA College of Nursing website if you look under "students" they have a list of clinical affiliations for each state. There are many listed under NC (Duke, UNC, Novant, WakeForest Baptist, etc). So what does that mean??? We are able to choose any of those "affiliated" hospitals for preceptors?

Trauma Columnist · Apr 13, 2014

Moved to student NP forum for more answers. Good luck.

zmansc, ASN, RN · Apr 13, 2014

Hi! I'm an NC resident as well and I'm so confused. On the USA College of Nursing website if you look under "students" they have a list of clinical affiliations for each state. There are many listed under NC (Duke, UNC, Novant, WakeForest Baptist, etc). So what does that mean??? We are able to choose any of those "affiliated" hospitals for preceptors?

Many online schools have/had students who are grandfathered in under the law, so they continue to have those students perform clinicals until completion of their program. However, at least my school has stopped taking new students from NC, until the school gets approval or the law is changed.

I would love to say that the process is straightforward and there are no issues for the schools other than verification of quality of education, but it appears from what I've seen to be more of a turf war where the instate university get's to dictate to the people of NC what competition they can have from out of state universities.

I think the safest bets at this point are in-state either B&M or online programs. If you live near the border with another state, you might be able to get a RN license in that state and do your clinicals there, but that would not be practical for most.

JoshMc · Aug 11, 2014

Hi, I'm looking into USA as well. Did you every find out about the clinicals?? Thanks or any help you can offer!