How we place GW nursing students, from first message to clearance

The six steps, in order

Every GW student we work with moves through the same six steps. The order mirrors GW's own route from identifying a preceptor to clearance, so nothing we hand you has to be redone later.

1. Intake: program, course, term and citySend us your GW program, the clinical course that needs a preceptor (say NURS 6231 or NURS 6245), the term it runs and the city where you want to train. Your placement advisor checks the course's hours and setting against GW's published rules before a single practice is contacted.
2. A search built around the courseWe approach clinicians whose daily work matches what the course teaches, close to where you live. Each practice is asked about interest, start dates, weekly schedule and the full hour count, and you see only options that answered yes on all four.
3. Your Site Prospector package, assembledOnce a preceptor agrees, we gather what GW asks you to attach and enter: license, bio or CV, the site's signatory and agreement contact, the evaluation email and a short course-fit note. The Site Prospector guide shows where each piece lands in CORE.
4. Support through GW's reviewProgram director review, the affiliation agreement, placement confirmation, your compliance check and site onboarding follow in GW's order. When a reviewer has a question about the site or the preceptor, we get the answer from the practice quickly.
5. Clearance, then day oneThe Clinical Placement Team's clearance notification is your go-ahead. We then lock in your first shift and weekly schedule with the preceptor so every hour falls inside the term, as GW requires.
6. Replacement if a preceptor steps awayIf a preceptor withdraws before or during the rotation, a new search for the same course starts at once, with a fresh package so GW can verify the new preceptor before you work with them. The dropped preceptor page covers that situation in full.

Matching the setting to your GW course

A willing preceptor is only half the job; the setting has to fit the course objectives, or the program director will ask for another. GW's 2021 clinical placement guide spells out settings per rotation: adult internal medicine with no pediatric patients for the first FNP course, OB/GYN plus pediatrics for the second, at least 120 long-term care hours in the third AGPCNP course, and critical care in the second Acute Care course. Current rules may differ, so we check your syllabus as well. The settings by course page lays them out.

Some rules sit on the preceptor rather than the setting. NURS 6248 calls for a PMHNP or CNS preceptor, leadership practicum preceptors hold a master's degree or higher, and NURS 6259 must use a different preceptor and site from NURS 6258. Acute Care clinicals stay in DC, Maryland or Northern Virginia with the program director closely involved, and our Acute Care searches work inside that area and alongside that process.

Staying close through review and clearance

When a site has no agreement with GW yet, GW's 2021 clinical placement guide warns that one can take weeks to months, so we keep the practice's signatory responsive and answer GW's questions without delay. Sites that already hold an agreement usually move straight to confirmation. The affiliation agreement guide explains that stage.

Your Complio record is the one stage that belongs to you alone. GW asks you to buy the account no more than four months before clinicals, and your advisor reminds you when that window opens so compliance is finished well before clearance.