CUW clinicals outside Wisconsin: what to check, and in what order

Washington: approvals CUW publishes

Washington is the one state where CUW posts clinical approvals of its own. The MSN FNP and AGPCNP pages say Washington's Nursing Care Quality Assurance Commission has cleared CUW to hold practice experiences in the state for those two tracks. The Post-BSN to DNP page says the same for its FNP and AGPCNP tracks, and the Post-MSN DNP page for that program. The PMHNP certificate page names the Washington State Board of Nursing and limits its approval to Washington residents.

Two of those claims collide with the disclosure, which marks Washington "Does Not Meet" for the Post-BSN to DNP and for both certificates. Ask the Graduate Clinical Coordinator which statement is current for your program before you look for a Washington preceptor.

What Washington's own rules add

• Washington's rule, WAC 246-840-571, says a distance program based in another state must win the board's approval ahead of any student clinical work in Washington.
• The board treats approved out-of-state placements as open to Washington residents, with exceptions weighed case by case.
• Washington bars relatives and personal friends from precepting an ARNP student, and the preceptor's ARNP, MD or DO license (an out-of-state equivalent also works) must be active and unencumbered.
• The board opened rulemaking on these education rules on December 5, 2025, including clinical placement barriers, so check the current text.

Wisconsin's side of the border

Wisconsin adds no approval step of its own when a Wisconsin school sends students elsewhere; the state's Distance Learning Authorization Board says it does not review licensure-program curricula. The destination state's rules are the ones that apply.

Wisconsin has held compact status since January 19, 2018, so a multistate RN license from Wisconsin carries into other compact states such as Iowa, North Dakota and Texas, but not Illinois, Michigan or Minnesota, none of which belongs. Wisconsin also sits outside the separate APRN Compact, which will not start working before seven states adopt it.

One Wisconsin rule deserves a question. Wisconsin Administrative Code N 1.08(6) says preceptors for Wisconsin nursing schools hold an unencumbered license or privilege to practice in Wisconsin at or above the student's target level, approved by the school's faculty. How CUW applies that to a preceptor practicing in another state is not published; ask the Graduate Clinical Coordinator.

How we run an out-of-state search

CUW students outside Wisconsin choose us because we do the state homework alongside the search. Your placement advisor reads your program's disclosure row, checks how the destination board treats schools from elsewhere and students licensed elsewhere, and flags on day one whether CUW will need to file anything before you can start.

Then we find the preceptor. We collect a license from the state where the preceptor actually practices, board certification, a CV and the site details, so the file reaches CUW's graduate faculty complete. Students near the Illinois or Minnesota line get a search on both sides, with each state's rules already sorted. Start from the state guides, or send us your home state and CUW program through the contact form.