USU nursing clinicals in Delaware: open, with a notice rule
Every USU nursing program is open to Delaware residents, including the FNP. Delaware's difference is paperwork: its Board of Nursing must be notified, and sent your preceptor's name and license, before an out-of-state school uses a Delaware clinical facility. That makes an early, settled preceptor matter even more than usual.
Need a Delaware preceptor for a USU course?
Tell us your course, your term and where in Delaware you live.
What USU offers Delaware residents
| Program | Open to Delaware residents? | Clinical or practicum hours |
|---|---|---|
| MSN Family Nurse Practitioner | Yes | 540: FNP592, FNP594, FNP596, FNP597 |
| MSN Nurse Educator | Yes | 100 in MSN578 |
| MSN Health Care Leadership | Yes | 100 in MSN587 |
| RN-to-BSN | Yes | 90 in NUR378 and NUR499 |
| DNP (post-master's) | Yes | 1,000 post-baccalaureate |
USU's Board of Nursing list flags Delaware as a state that requires filings from programs with clinical or preceptor components. The FNP detail is on our FNP preceptor page, and the RN-to-BSN page covers the community practicum.
Delaware's notice rule for out-of-state programs
Delaware's nursing education standards (24 Del. Admin. Code 1900) say an out-of-state school must notify the Board before using a Delaware clinical facility. Before the first student arrives, it must also send:
- proof of program approval by its home board or national accreditation
- a copy of each written agreement it holds with a clinical agency
- its requirements for clinical faculty and preceptors
- the names of faculty and preceptors and the sites they're assigned to
- copies of their current Delaware or compact (multistate) licenses
Facilities need Board approval, granted on the strength of forms the school files, before any student is assigned there, and the Board may make a site visit. The standards cover every nursing education program alike, with no separate treatment for RN-to-BSN, graduate or pre-licensure programs. These are USU's filings, not yours, but they run on the details you and your preceptor supply.
How the rule meets USU's timeline
USU's catalog asks you to name at least three qualified preceptors six months before each clinical course, and the handbooks want every approval on file 16 weeks before it starts. In Delaware, a preceptor who confirms late squeezes USU's approvals and the state filing into the same shrinking window. Because the filing names each preceptor and site, ask your Clinical Placement Coordinator (CPC) what a mid-course preceptor change would involve.
One definition is worth raising early. In Delaware's rules, a preceptor is a validly licensed nurse holding at least a BSN. USU also accepts licensed MD or DO preceptors for FNP hours, provided at least 135 of your 540 hours are with an NP. If your Delaware lead is a physician, ask your CPC how the Delaware filing handles that before you build a rotation around them.
Licensing and practice in Delaware
Delaware put the Nurse Licensure Compact into effect on January 19, 2018; a multistate RN license issued in Delaware therefore covers clinicals in your home state, as USU requires. The notice rule asks for copies of your preceptor's Delaware or compact license, and USU separately requires FNP preceptors to be licensed in the state where the clinical happens.
The APRN Compact was signed into Delaware law on August 4, 2021, making Delaware one of five enacting states; the compact won't operate until seven states have enacted it. For now it changes nothing about an NP preceptor's license. AANP rates Delaware a full-practice state, and since USU wants at least 135 of your hours with an NP, Delaware's NPs are the first group to approach. Our RN license page covers compact licenses in more depth.
Where Delaware FNP students look, and where they can't
Among Delaware's larger systems are Nemours Children's Health, with its Delaware hospital in Wilmington, along with Beebe Healthcare, Bayhealth and ChristianaCare. They're examples of where FNP students search, not sites committed to USU students. USU never counts inpatient hours, so the target is outpatient family, pediatric or women's health practices. About 588,000 Delawareans live in the Delaware part of the Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington metro, with the Dover and Seaford areas to the south.
Crossing a state line needs care. Maryland is closed to USU for every nursing program, so its practices aren't an option. Pennsylvania and New Jersey are approved, but USU prefers home-state hours, and its ratio rule drops to one student per preceptor in New Jersey.
Why Delaware students choose us
A placement advisor searches Delaware for an NP or physician preceptor and outpatient site that fit your USU course, and helps you gather what USU's Office of Field Experience and Program Director review, early enough for USU's Delaware filing. USU and the Delaware Board have the final say, and we make sure what USU receives from you is complete in time for that filing. Start your search.
Questions USU students ask
Do I have to notify the Delaware Board of Nursing myself?
No. Delaware's rule puts the notice and filings on the out-of-state school, and USU's Board of Nursing list names Delaware among the states requiring these filings. Your part is supplying accurate preceptor and site details through USU's normal process, including the Appendix H Preceptor Information and Acknowledgement Form, early enough for USU to act on them.
Does Delaware's notice rule apply to USU's RN-to-BSN practicum too?
Because Delaware's standards cover every nursing education program, with no exception for RN-to-BSN or graduate study, assume the Board may need to know about the agency where you do NUR378 and NUR499. Ask your Clinical Placement Coordinator what USU files for RN-to-BSN placements in Delaware, and confirm your agency leader early.
Can I do USU FNP hours in Pennsylvania if I live in Delaware?
You can ask, because Pennsylvania is approved for USU's FNP, but USU encourages hours in your state of residence and says it can't promise another state's board will accept out-of-state hours. A Delaware multistate license covers Pennsylvania, which implemented the compact in July 2025. See our Pennsylvania page for that state's rules.
Will the APRN Compact let me practice as an NP beyond Delaware?
Not yet. Delaware enacted it in 2021, but only five states have, and it takes seven before the compact operates. Until then, an NP license works state by state. It also has no bearing on your USU clinicals, where the RN license rule and your preceptor's license in the clinical state are what count.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-23
We check these pages against USU's own catalog, handbooks and disclosures. USU's current handbook and your Clinical Placement Coordinator have the final word.
Six months out is USU's rule. We start now.
Tell us your USU program, your state and when your next practicum opens. We look for preceptors who meet USU's rules and help you build the packet the Office of Field Experience and Program Director review.
- Preceptors matched to the course: family practice, pediatrics, women's health, urgent care within USU's caps
- Appendix H, license, CV and board certification gathered the way OFE asks
- In person near you; telehealth only inside USU's 40-hour limit
Start your placement plan
A placement advisor replies with what a USU-ready preceptor and site look like for you.