GW NP clinicals in Kentucky
Kentuckians can choose among GW Nursing's online programs, the Acute Care NP options aside, and the Kentucky Board of Nursing has no approval step for schools based elsewhere. The Kentucky rule that shapes your search concerns your preceptor, who needs a Kentucky APRN license to supervise an online APRN student in the state.
Get your placement plan
Tell us your GW program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with the preceptor and site options that fit your GW course.
How GW's state rules play out for Kentucky
Kentucky is absent from every exclusion on GW's State Authorizations page, and GW's licensure disclosures classify it as meeting requirements across the NP, certificate and midwifery programs they cover. GW notes that authorizations shift as boards change their rules, so confirm your track with admissions before enrolling.
| Degree and track | Kentucky residents | Hours and notes |
|---|---|---|
| MSN: FNP, AGPCNP, PMHNP, Nurse-Midwifery, Leadership | Open | 600 hours in NP tracks, 840 in midwifery, 300 in leadership |
| Post-BSN DNP: FNP, AGPCNP, PMHNP | Open | The same 600 precepted hours as the MSN |
| Post-MSN DNP: Nursing Practice | Open | 1,000 hours, 500 counted from your MSN |
| Post-master's AGPCNP or PMHNP certificate | Open | Clinicals usually begin in semester one |
| AGACNP, any option | Needs a DC, Maryland or Virginia home | Rotations confined to DC, Maryland or Northern Virginia |
KBN's hands-off stance on schools from elsewhere
KBN's regulatory overview is direct: the Board has no approval role over nursing schools based outside Kentucky, and a school with nothing in Kentucky except a clinical placement still needs no Board sign-off. Its approval power covers prelicensure programs that originate inside the state. No state filing therefore stands between a GW student and a Kentucky site. The steps that do apply are GW's: an affiliation agreement, program director review and Complio clearance, covered in GW's clinical placement process.
The license a Kentucky preceptor needs
This is the Kentucky rule to plan around. KBN's overview sets a two-license standard for anyone supervising an online master's or doctoral APRN student on Kentucky soil, whether as preceptor or as overseeing faculty: Kentucky RN licensure plus Kentucky APRN licensure, both active and unencumbered. For faculty whose home is in a compact state, the Kentucky APRN credential is enough by itself. Either way, the APRN license has to be Kentucky's.
Ask a prospective preceptor to confirm both licenses before you file, and attach the license to your Site Prospector submission as GW requires. Practice rules add context: AANP rates Kentucky reduced, with qualifying NPs keeping a pair of physician agreements for prescribing, spanning controlled and non-controlled substances, unless the Board grants an exemption, and new licensees facing employer-setting limits in their first year. GW's own preceptor standard is on the preceptor requirements page.
Your own license and the SARA exemption
Kentucky's statute, KRS 314.101 as KBN reads it, excuses visiting nurses on a clinical rotation from Kentucky licensure when their school either participates in SARA or is licensed by the state's Council on Postsecondary Education. GW participates in NC-SARA. GW's clearance rule goes further, though, expecting you to hold an RN license valid wherever a rotation takes place. Kentucky's multistate licenses date from January 19, 2018, so a Kentucky or other multistate license settles it. More on RN licenses for GW clinicals.
Louisville, Lexington and Northern Kentucky
Norton Healthcare, UofL Health, UK HealthCare, St. Elizabeth Healthcare and Baptist Health, whose footprint covers Kentucky and southern Indiana, are where Kentucky NP students tend to begin. Louisville's metro crosses into Indiana, and Northern Kentucky belongs to the Cincinnati metro, so many students weigh sites in Ohio as well. Both neighbors are compact states, and GW's license rule follows you there. Lexington and Bowling Green round out the bigger markets. Kentucky has no state preceptor incentive in the records behind this guide.
Why Kentucky students choose us
We check what KBN cares about before a name reaches GW. Your placement advisor confirms the preceptor's Kentucky RN and APRN licenses, fits the site to your course and prepares the signatory information for GW's agreement, so your Site Prospector entry arrives in CORE complete. Tell us where you live on the contact form.
Questions GW students ask
Does Kentucky need to approve GW before I start clinicals there?
No. KBN says schools based outside Kentucky need no KBN approval, even if a clinical placement is their only Kentucky presence. What still applies is GW's side: a signed contract with the site, your program director's yes on the preceptor, and a clearance notice before your first shift.
Can an Indiana-licensed NP supervise my rotation in Louisville?
Only with Kentucky licensure. KBN's two-license standard for precepting online APRN students in Kentucky includes a Kentucky APRN license in every case; the Kentucky RN license drops away only for faculty living in a compact state such as Indiana. Check the preceptor's Kentucky APRN license before you submit the site.
Does the SARA exemption mean I can skip a Kentucky or multistate RN license?
Not for GW. The KRS 314.101 exemption excuses visiting nurses from Kentucky licensure when their school is in SARA, but GW clears only students whose RN license is valid in the rotation's state. Hold a Kentucky or multistate license and upload it to Complio before the review.
Is GW's Acute Care NP program open to Kentucky residents?
Not while you live in Kentucky. GW limits AGACNP students to homes in DC, Maryland or Virginia, and their clinical hours happen only in DC, Maryland or Northern Virginia. Kentucky residents can choose the FNP, AGPCNP or PMHNP tracks instead, whose clinicals happen near home.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-24
We check these pages against GW's Bulletin and GW Nursing's own program and clinical pages. Your course, CORE and GW's Clinical Placement Team have the final word.
GW asks you to find your own site and preceptor. Hand that search to us.
Tell us your GW program, where you live and which clinical course is next. We find preceptors who fit the course and prepare the license, bio and site details GW's review asks for, so your Site Prospector goes in complete.
- Preceptors matched to the course: family practice for
NURS 6230toNURS 6232, older-adult primary care for AGPCNP, psychiatric care for PMHNP - License, bio or CV and the site's agreement signatory ready for your CORE submission
- Close to home, in DC, Maryland, Virginia or wherever you live and hold your RN license
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