Clinical Placement

Clinical Placement Process & System

Section Contents

Understanding the Clinical Placement Process

VUSN is committed to our students’ clinical education needs. We have a dedicated Clinical Placement staff that administratively coordinates all students’ clinical placements. Your faculty will review all potential clinical placements to verify that both the preceptor and clinical site are appropriate for your specific program of study.  Collaboratively, these efforts ensure you receive the experiences necessary to prepare you in your specialty area.

Due to regulatory requirements or a lack of available and appropriate preceptors, VUSN may not be able to accommodate clinical placements in all areas of the country.  Please discuss your preferences with your specialty faculty to be sure you understand all possible options.

Clinical preceptors and/or agencies may require that you complete drug screening, fingerprinting, additional criminal background checks, or other requirements specific to that site.  Any costs associated with these processes are your responsibility.  Your Clinical Placement coordinator will notify you of any additional requirements associated with your rotation.  You are also responsible for lodging and transportation to and from all clinical facilities and field trips.

Faculty must approve any secondary sites for your clinical experiences to ensure the sites are necessary or appropriate to your clinical objectives. The number of sites and contracts will be limited per student.  Due to the large number of placements each term, the faculty reviews requests for rotations for a minimal number of hours (typically less than 80) on a case-by-case basis. If approved, then the Clinical Placement team begins the contract process.

You may not begin your clinical rotations until you have met all the site requirements and have received confirmation from your faculty and the Clinical Placement office that you are cleared to start.

Clinical Placement Action Plan

Faculty are committed to students and their clinical education needs. VUSN has a dedicated Clinical Placement staff that administratively coordinates the clinical placement for all students. The faculty determine the adequacy of the site and whether the preceptor meets the requirements to ensure you receive the experiences necessary to prepare you in your area of specialty.

Due to regulatory requirements or a lack of available and appropriate preceptors, VUSN may not be able to accommodate clinical placements in all areas of the country. Please discuss your preferences with your specialty faculty to be sure you understand all possible options.

Clinical preceptors and/or agencies may require drug screening, fingerprinting, additional criminal background checks, or other requirements specific to that site. Costs associated with these processes are the responsibility of the student. Your Clinical Placement coordinator will notify you of any additional requirements associated with your rotation. You are responsible for lodging and transportation to and from all clinical facilities and field trips.

Faculty must approve any additional sites for your clinical experiences to ensure the sites are necessary or appropriate to your clinical objectives. The number of sites and contracts will be limited per student. Due to the large number of placements each term, requests for rotations for a minimal number of hours (typically less than 80) must be reviewed and approved on a case-by-case basis by your clinical faculty before an agreement is initiated.

You may not begin your clinical rotations until you have met all the site requirements and have received confirmation from your faculty and the Clinical Placement office that you are cleared to start.

Please choose the appropriate category:

  • If you are a Nurse-Midwifery or Nurse-Midwifery/FNP Dual Student

    Clinical Placement Information for Nurse-Midwifery Students

    The program director, faculty, and clinical placement staff work to ensure all students have productive clinical experiences. The School of Nursing finds and assigns your midwifery clinical sites; you are not required to find your own clinical sites for the midwifery specialty. Preceptors and clinical sites are chosen for their ability to provide students with clinical experiences consistent with course and certification requirements and the mission of the school. Clinical experiences are designed to assist all students in meeting the American College of Nurse-Midwives Core Competencies for Basic Midwifery Practice. 

    Students in the midwifery program will have at least one clinical rotation outside of the Nashville area in part to expose them to regional differences in nurse-midwifery care. Sites can be around the country at some international military bases. Given the large number of midwifery students across the country, agencies and providers have asked that all placements be coordinated by a school representative. Students are not to reach out to sites to arrange their own placements. If you identify a possible placement, please contact the specialty director who will work with the clinical placement office staff to determine if this is a feasible site. Due to regulatory requirements or a lack of appropriate preceptors, VUSN may not be able to accommodate clinical placements in all areas of the country. Please discuss your preferences with your specialty faculty to be sure you understand all possible options.

    PreSpecialty (BA/BS in non-nursing field) Year Rotations

    Students during their PreSpecialty year will be placed in group clinical experiences. These group experiences may be in a hospital or community setting in the greater Middle Tennessee area (MTA).

    Fall I of the Midwifery Specialty Program

    After completing our health assessment lab courses, students have one clinical day in our Vanderbilt practices within a 30 minute radius of Nashville.  

    Spring Semester of the Midwifery Specialty Program

    In the spring of the midwifery specialty, midwifery students have one and dual midwifery/FNP students have two clinical placements. Placements are focused on outpatient care including antepartum, gynecologic, and primary care. These spring placements are within a 4-hour radius of the School of Nursing. Students may have rotations in Kentucky, Alabama, and east or west Tennessee, depending on the appropriateness of the site. Faculty take into consideration a number of factors in assigning students to sites, including learning needs, home address, and clinical interests.

    Summer of the Midwifery Specialty Program

    Clinical placements in the summer are focused on intrapartum, postpartum, and newborn care. These placements are in hospitals, birth centers, and home birth practices around the United States or at US military bases. Students are on call or in the clinical setting to provide labor, birth, and newborn care at all hours, including nights and weekends.  When on call, students must be within 30 minutes of the facility and have reliable child and/or pet care for each 12-24 hour shift. 

    Students have different summer and fall II sites. Faculty intentionally select each student’s sites to vary volume, populations, and preceptor skills sets to provide a diversity of learning experiences. At least one of the summer/fall II rotations will be outside of the Middle TN area.

    Fall II of the Midwifery Specialty Program

    The clinical rotation in fall II, known as Integration, provides the opportunity for students to integrate all of their knowledge and training in providing full-scope midwifery care across the lifespan within inpatient and outpatient settings. Students work closely with preceptors to master all the Core Competencies for Basic Midwifery practice, applying prior course content and skills while providing person-centered, culturally-appropriate midwifery care.  Outpatient visits are usually within business hours. Labor and birth care occur at all hours of the day and night and involves on-call time as well as scheduled shifts. 

    Clinical Requirements

    For clinicals at the specialty level, an active and unencumbered RN license, valid for the state in which the student is doing the rotation, is required. Depending on the clinical placement location, students may be required to obtain additional state licenses. Costs associated with additional licenses are the responsibility of the student. 

    All requirements for enrollment must be completed and on file at the time of enrollment and kept current throughout the student’s clinical practica. Clinical preceptors and/or agencies may require a drug screening, fingerprinting, additional criminal background checks, or other requirements specific to that site. Costs associated with these processes are the responsibility of the student. The clinical placement office will notify students of any additional requirements associated with their rotation.

    Students may not begin their clinical rotations until they have met all the site requirements and have received confirmation from their faculty and the clinical placement office that they are cleared to start. Faculty and clinical placement must approve any additional sites/clinics for the student’s clinical experience to ensure that the sites are appropriate to the student’s clinical objectives and a contract is in place with the site.

       Out of State Requirements and Additional State Information

    Transportation and Lodging

    Students are responsible for their transportation to and from all clinical facilities as well as lodging while at distant sites. While Nashville does have a public transportation system, not all of our sites are accessible via public transit. Ride-sharing services do not run in many of our rural sites. Students will need a reliable car and the ability to drive throughout the program.

    International Placements

    Many of our clinical sites work with vulnerable populations in need of culturally-appropriate health services. At the current time, our only international placements are at US military bases. This is for several reasons:

    • Midwifery practice is variable by country, and we focus on preparation for US practice as this is the information on the American Midwifery Certification Board exam and linked with safe practice after graduation. Our goal is to prepare you to meet the Core Competencies for Basic Midwifery Practice as determined by the American College of Nurse-Midwives. These competencies are compatible with the International Confederation of Midwives Essential Competencies. 
    • Vanderbilt is strongly committed to making sure all of our global health initiatives enhance short-term and long-health in ways the community values. Student availability varies by semester and without a sustained presence, we are unable to ensure the community would have lasting benefit. 

    Students can participate in non-clinical global health programs, and VUSN offers a Global Health Certificate that involves in-depth study of global health and a mentored project. Visit the VUSN global health website. We have had many midwifery students obtain a global health certificate with their MSN. 

    Due to State Board of Nursing or State Higher Education requirements, clinical placements may not be available in every location. We make every reasonable effort to accommodate a student’s placement requests.

  • If you are completing clinical rotations in the greater Middle Tennessee Area (MTA)

    Your faculty will notify you when your clinical placement assignments are visible in Exxat and when you have been cleared to start prior to your rotation start date. Information is listed under My Placements in the left-hand menu. You’ll see contact information for your preceptor and any additional requirements the site might have for you to complete.

    OMTA Map

    Clinical sites within a 150-mile radius from the School of Nursing are considered to be within this area. As a result, you may have rotations in Kentucky, Alabama, and east or west Tennessee, depending on the appropriateness of the site. Faculty take into consideration a number of factors in assigning students to sites, including home address, specialty needs, and clinical interests. The information in your student profile will help guide them.

    You may not begin your clinical rotation until the placement is published and your faculty have confirmed your official start date.

    As a reminder: Students are not to reach out to local sites to arrange their own placements. If you identify a possible local placement, contact your specialty director or course coordinator first; they will work with the Clinical Placement office staff to see if a placement is possible.

  • If you are completing clinical rotations outside the greater Middle Tennessee Area (OMTA)

    If you plan to complete clinical rotations outside the middle Tennessee area, the Clinical Placement staff, along with program faculty, will collaborate with you to secure quality clinical placements. After a site has been identified, Clinical Placement staff will work to secure all necessary contracts and paperwork.

    Begin by reviewing the specialty-specific info on clinical placement on your specialty orientation page. Each specialty has information and resources to assist you in your placement search.

    When you have identified an appropriate site/preceptor, submit the information through Exxat by clicking the My Activities link in the left-hand menu when you log in. This takes you to the My Request page; when you click that you will see your clinical courses listed.

    Dates for My Requests to open in Exxat:

    • Fall rotations: April 1
    • Spring rotations: June 1
    • Summer rotations: October 1

    You will submit a request for each clinical course, even if you’re staying at the same site. This enables your faculty to appropriately vet your preceptors as per VUSN’s accreditation guidelines, and allows the Clinical Placement team to confirm the agreement is still current and there aren’t any additional requirements. This is also necessary since Exxat is where you’ll log patient encounters and your clinical hours for each course.

    There is an OMTA Rotation Submission Manual under Resource Materials in the left-hand menu in Exxat, in addition to the general student manuals by specialty. This walks you through the steps necessary to submit your information for review.

    Once the faculty have approved the preceptor and the site, the Clinical Placement Office will work with the site to ensure all necessary agreements are in place and determine if there are additional requirements you may need to complete before you can start your rotation. You can check for status updates for each request in Exxat, and the Clinical Placement Office will keep you updated on progress.

    Once the placement is confirmed and you’ve been cleared, you’ll see the information in Exxat under My Placements. You may not begin your clinical rotation until the placement is published and you’ve been cleared by your faculty or the Clinical Placement Office has confirmed your official start date.