Hospital systems that run their own student process

Why a preceptor's yes is only half the approval

At a small private practice, the clinician who agrees to take you is usually the one who decides. At a large hospital system, a student office stands between you and the unit. It checks the school's agreement, your paperwork and the preceptor's work area before anyone signs, and it runs on its own calendar, not Bradley's.

Bradley still runs its side in full. The preceptor packet reaches Bradley through DocuSign, Bradley approves both the preceptor and the facility, and the agency paperwork is handled on Bradley's end; the Office of Online and Distance Education lists clinical agency agreements and affiliation agreements among its jobs. So a hospital placement moves on two tracks at once: the system's request and Bradley's preceptor packet.

Bradley's 2017 preceptor webinar already flagged that some facilities bring their own agreement instead of Bradley's, and it named the VA as an example. The Graduate Student Handbook also names a site's affiliation terms and liability coverage as things that can shape a student's progression. Read how Bradley's agency agreement works before you promise a hospital preceptor a start date.

Northwestern Medicine: one application, a monthly committee

Northwestern Medicine runs an APRN/PA/MSN/DNP Clinical Student Placement Application for its north and northwest suburban sites, among them Huntley, Lake Forest and Grayslake, McHenry, Woodstock and its ambulatory locations. A committee reviews applications once a month, and the page asks you to allow at least four to eight weeks for an answer.

Two conditions come before the clinical fit. Northwestern places students only from schools that hold a current affiliation agreement with it, and its own employees get priority over outside students. The page also notes that requests usually outnumber openings, so an application is no promise of a spot.

Other Northwestern pages point elsewhere. The west suburban form (Central DuPage, Delnor, Kishwaukee, Valley West) is not meant for APRN students who need patient care hours, and the downtown Northwestern Memorial page covers pre-licensure students. The Chicago preceptor guide has more on the metro area.

Rush, the VA and systems with no posted NP route

Plenty of systems post nothing for graduate NP students. Rush's clinical rotation page describes undergraduate rotations with contracted schools at Rush Oak Park, with term request dates for those students, and no APRN route turned up. When a system is silent, the preceptor's manager or the system's education office is where to ask, and the answer tends to turn on whether an agreement with Bradley exists or can be signed in time.

Federal facilities deserve the same early question. Bradley's 2017 webinar used the VA as its example of a site with its own agreement, which usually means more time on the paperwork side before a first clinical day.

Planning a hospital placement against Bradley's calendar

Count backward from the day your practicum course opens. A hospital placement has to clear the system's review and Bradley's approval before a single hour counts, and Bradley allows no hours before the semester starts.

1. Fix the course and termName the NUR course and its term, then find the packet deadline: midterm of the semester before, per Bradley's welcome sites. The deadlines page sets out the full calendar.
2. Ask about the agreement firstBefore your preceptor signs anything, check with the Office of Online and Distance Education whether Bradley already has an agreement with the system or needs a new one.
3. Open the system's requestStart the application or portal request as early as the system allows. At Advocate that includes the three-way agreement when your preceptor works for an outside employer.
4. Send Bradley's packetSubmit the DocuSign packet with the preceptor's details, and keep the system's decision and Bradley's approval together in one folder.
5. Finish onboardingHospitals often add their own steps. Bradley's 2017 webinar noted that some sites order a fresh background check if Bradley's is older than a year.