USU nursing from Kentucky: no board approval step, a firm preceptor license rule
Every admitting USU nursing program is open to Kentucky residents, including the 540-hour FNP. According to the Kentucky Board of Nursing, programs from other states can run clinicals in Kentucky without its approval, but nurses who precept online APRN students there are expected to hold a Kentucky APRN license.
Looking for a Kentucky preceptor for a USU course?
Tell us your course, your term and your county.
What a Kentucky address opens at USU
| Program | Open to Kentucky residents? | Clinical hours |
|---|---|---|
| MSN Family Nurse Practitioner | Yes | 540 across 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 disclosure records no extra Kentucky clinical filing or state-specific approval. From here on, this page covers the FNP; its four 135-hour practicums are covered in our FNP preceptor guide.
KBN's position on out-of-state programs
The Kentucky Board of Nursing (KBN) is direct about this. It doesn't approve out-of-state nursing programs and says they don't need its approval, even when a program with no Kentucky presence runs clinicals in the state. KBN approves only prelicensure programs that start in Kentucky, and it covers graduate programs only when they lead to licensure, as the FNP does.
KBN also cites KRS 314.101, an exemption for nurses from other states doing clinical rotations in Kentucky through a SARA institution, and USU takes part in NC-SARA. The exemption doesn't replace USU's own license rule, covered below.
So the gates that matter are USU's own. The Program Director approves your preceptor, the Office of Field Experience sends the site an Affiliation Agreement, and an OFE Approval Letter must arrive before your first hour. The placement process page takes them in order.
The license your Kentucky preceptor must hold
Where the program is an online MSN or DNP preparing APRNs, KBN says nurses who precept in Kentucky must hold an active, unencumbered Kentucky RN license and Kentucky APRN license. A preceptor who lives in another compact state needs only the Kentucky APRN license.
The Louisville and Cincinnati metros both reach into Indiana, and Cincinnati into Ohio, so an NP living across a state line may precept at a Kentucky clinic only with that Kentucky APRN license. Ask before their name goes to USU. USU agrees in principle: it wants every FNP preceptor licensed wherever the clinical is held.
Kentucky falls in AANP's reduced-practice group. Unless the Board grants an exemption, qualifying NPs maintain a pair of physician agreements covering prescriptions of controlled and non-controlled drugs. On USU's side, the person signing your Appendix H can be a nationally certified NP or a physician (MD or DO) on the site's staff; an NP must supervise 135 or more of your hours, and PAs aren't among USU's listed preceptor types. See preceptor requirements.
Louisville, Lexington, Northern Kentucky, Bowling Green
Kentucky's main metro areas are Louisville (about 1.1 million Kentucky residents), Lexington-Fayette (535,000), the Kentucky side of Cincinnati (475,000) and Bowling Green (197,000). Large systems FNP students look at include UK HealthCare, Norton Healthcare, UofL Health, Baptist Health and St. Elizabeth Healthcare. Consider them a picture of where students search; none has agreed to take USU students.
Aim at outpatient primary care. USU never counts inpatient hours, and its site guidance for FNP592 lists family practice, internal medicine and primary care settings, health departments included; the state agency is the Kentucky Department for Public Health, within the Cabinet for Health and Family Services.
Licensing for your own hours
NCSBN's table dates Kentucky's Nurse Licensure Compact implementation to January 19, 2018. It hasn't enacted the APRN Compact, which needs seven states and has five.
USU wants your RN license active and unencumbered in two places, Kentucky as your state on file and wherever you log clinical hours, and your liability coverage should sit in that same state. Hours in Indiana or Ohio would be a request, and USU says it can't promise another state's board will accept them. Telehealth hours, capped at 40, need patients located in Kentucky. More in RN license for clinicals.
How we help Kentucky students
A placement advisor searches your part of Kentucky for a preceptor and outpatient practice that suit your USU course, confirms the preceptor's Kentucky licensing early, and helps you assemble the Appendix H form and site details the Office of Field Experience reviews. If a preceptor withdraws, we search again. USU makes every approval. Send us your course and county.
Questions USU students ask
Does USU need Kentucky Board of Nursing approval for FNP clinicals in Kentucky?
No. KBN says it doesn't approve out-of-state nursing programs and doesn't require them to seek approval, even for clinicals held in Kentucky. What KBN does require is that nurses precepting online APRN students in Kentucky hold a Kentucky APRN license. USU's own approvals, from the Program Director and the Office of Field Experience, still apply to every preceptor and site.
Can an NP who lives in Indiana precept me at a Louisville clinic?
Possibly, if they hold a Kentucky APRN license. KBN says nurses precepting online APRN students in Kentucky need one, and a preceptor living in another compact state needs only that APRN license rather than a separate Kentucky RN license too. USU's own rule adds that the preceptor needs a license in the clinic's state. Check both before the Appendix H form goes to USU.
Can I do part of my USU FNP hours in Ohio?
You can ask. Ohio is open to USU's FNP, but USU encourages clinicals in your state of residence and treats other states as requests. It also says it can't promise another state's board will accept those hours toward APRN licensure. You'd need a license valid in Ohio, and your preceptor would need an Ohio license. Our Ohio page covers that state's rules.
Do Kentucky's prescribing agreements change what USU expects of my preceptor?
No. The two physician agreements Kentucky NPs keep for prescribing shape how your preceptor practices, not USU's criteria. USU still needs at least 135 of your 540 hours with a board-certified NP, allows a licensed MD or DO employed by the site for the rest, and caps each preceptor at two students, counting other schools' NP students.
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.