USU's FNP in Louisiana: board approval, licensed faculty, your preceptor
Louisiana residents can enroll in every admitting USU nursing program, including the FNP. Louisiana is strict with out-of-state programs: the Louisiana State Board of Nursing (LSBN) must approve their clinicals in advance, and their faculty who teach in the state need Louisiana licenses. USU's Board of Nursing list records approval for its MSN-FNP graduate clinical experiences in Louisiana.
Need a Louisiana preceptor for a USU course?
Tell us the course, the term and your part of Louisiana.
USU programs for Louisiana residents
| Program | Open in Louisiana? | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| MSN Family Nurse Practitioner | Yes, with LSBN approval on file | 540 (FNP592, FNP594, FNP596, FNP597) |
| MSN Nurse Educator | Yes | 100, teaching residency (MSN578) |
| MSN Health Care Leadership | Yes | 100, leadership residency (MSN587) |
| RN-to-BSN | Yes | 90 (NUR378, NUR499) |
| DNP | Yes | 1,000 post-baccalaureate |
One detail to check: USU's September 2026 state authorization disclosure shows a Louisiana 'valid till' date of August 1, 2026, which has passed. That may be a stale entry rather than a lapse, but ask your Clinical Placement Coordinator to confirm Louisiana's status is current before you set up a site.
What LAC 46:XLVII.3539 asks of out-of-state programs
Louisiana's rule applies to undergraduate and graduate programs administered from outside the state. Such a program writes to LSBN no later than six months before any Louisiana course or clinical experience, with a letter of request naming the clinical agencies and units and enclosing its catalog, curriculum and syllabi, exam pass data, faculty qualification forms and a clinical facility survey form. The program needs national nursing accreditation, regional accreditation and approval from its home state. LSBN grants approval for a maximum of three years, renewable by petition.
After approval, graduate students are reported through the Board's clinical experience spreadsheet, due within two weeks after the experience starts. Each week, at minimum, faculty must confer with the student and preceptor, and each semester or quarter they must make at least one site visit; a faculty member may supervise at most nine APRN students per clinical day.
These duties are USU's, and USU has the approval on file. Because the request names clinical agencies and units, ask your coordinator whether a new site needs anything further from Louisiana before you commit to it.
Faculty with Louisiana licenses, preceptors with Louisiana licenses
Out-of-state programs may have faculty teach in Louisiana only if each one holds a graduate degree in nursing, has two or more years of clinical practice and is currently licensed in Louisiana as an RN or APRN. That limits which USU faculty can teach you there, and arranging it is USU's job.
Your preceptor has a parallel rule from USU: a license, active and unencumbered, issued by the state that hosts the clinical, and for you that state is Louisiana. USU also wants board certification for NPs, at least a year of experience and the employer's permission to precept. See our preceptor requirements page.
Collaborative practice and who precepts
AANP classes Louisiana as reduced practice: For at least one element of their practice, Louisiana NPs must work under a collaborative agreement with a physician that the state regulates. USU takes a board-certified NP or a licensed MD or DO, but at least 135 of your 540 hours must be with an NP, and a certified nurse-midwife counts only for women's health. No Louisiana preceptor incentive appears in our research, so USU's own benefits, on our page for preceptors, are what a preceptor gets.
Your license: a compact state since 2019
The Nurse Licensure Compact took effect in Louisiana on July 1, 2019; the APRN Compact has not been enacted there. USU requires an active, unencumbered license in your state on file and in any state where you do clinicals, with liability insurance active in that same state. Details are on our license page.
New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Lafayette, Shreveport
New Orleans-Metairie (about 971,000 people) and Baton Rouge (about 889,000) are the two big metros, with Lafayette (about 424,000) and Shreveport-Bossier City (about 383,000) behind them. Large systems in the state include Baton Rouge General, Willis-Knighton Health, FMOL Health, LCMC Health and Ochsner Health. They're examples of where students look, not sites set up for USU, and their outpatient and primary care practices are the target, since inpatient hours never count.
USU's catalog expects you to travel anywhere in Louisiana at your own expense. Sites in Texas, Arkansas or Mississippi are out of state for you: request only, with no promise from USU that a licensing board will accept them.
Why Louisiana students choose us
We look for a preceptor and outpatient site in your part of Louisiana that suit your USU course, help you put together the packet OFE and your Program Director review, and search again if a preceptor withdraws. The approvals belong to Louisiana and USU, and your part of the file reaches them complete. Tell us your course.
Questions USU students ask
Is USU approved for FNP clinicals in Louisiana?
USU's Board of Nursing disclosure, updated May 2026, lists Louisiana approval for MSN-FNP graduate clinical experiences. Louisiana approvals last up to three years and are renewed by petition, and one Louisiana date in USU's newer state authorization disclosure has already passed, so confirm the current status with your Clinical Placement Coordinator.
Does Louisiana's six-month rule mean I must name my site six months ahead?
Louisiana's six-month notice applies to the program's approval request, not to each student. USU has its own six-month rule, though: the catalog says to submit at least three qualified preceptors 6 months before each clinical course, and the handbooks want approvals on file 16 weeks ahead. Build your plan around USU's timeline, set out on our deadlines page.
Will a USU faculty member visit my Louisiana clinic?
Louisiana requires out-of-state program faculty to visit precepted sites at least once per semester or quarter and to confer weekly with preceptor and student. USU's handbook describes virtual site visits unless an in-person visit is required, and elsewhere mentions a summative in-person visit, so ask your course faculty how visits will run in Louisiana.
Can I use my Louisiana employer as a clinical site?
USU allows it for the FNP if you disclose it in writing to your Clinical Placement Coordinator and clinical instructor, keep clinical hours separate from your normal duties, and aren't paid by the site during those hours. The site still needs an Affiliation Agreement with USU. More on our page about clinicals at your employer.
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
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