Questions Gonzaga nursing students ask us
These are the broad questions that come up before and during a Gonzaga practicum, each answered briefly with a link to the page that covers the topic in full. If yours is missing, ask your placement advisor through the form below or the chat button.
Get your placement plan
Tell us your Gonzaga program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with the preceptor and site options that fit your Gonzaga course.
Can I use a preceptor I already know?
Yes, as long as the person meets Gonzaga's criteria and the relationship leaves room for a fair evaluation. Gonzaga looks for a practicing ARNP, MD, DO or PA (other licensed providers are accepted in some states and tracks), a year or more of experience in the specialty you would be learning, a clean, active license in whichever state hosts the practicum, and proof of national board certification. A direct supervisor cannot be your preceptor, and Washington's rule for in-state programs also excludes immediate family.
Bring the name to us and we check it against the course before you submit. When your contact covers one course but not the next, we fill the gap so the semester plan still works. The full criteria are on the preceptor requirements page.
Can my practicum happen where I work?
Often, with conditions. Gonzaga's MSN FAQ allows practicum hours at your employer with faculty approval, as long as the preceptor is not your direct supervisor, the hours are kept apart from paid shifts, and the practicum runs on a different unit from your own. PMHNP students must look beyond the setting where they practice as an RN, though a different department of the same employer may qualify. The Post-Master's DNP has a parallel rule for project hours.
An employer site can move quickly because you already know the people and the systems. It can also blur lines. We help you confirm that the unit, the preceptor and the schedule meet each condition before the request goes in. See workplace practicum rules.
What if I move to another state during the program?
Talk to Gonzaga before you move. Its licensure disclosures caution that a mid-program move can change whether you stay eligible for licensure, and they ask you to reach your degree program first. Admission to the NP tracks depends on living in one of ten western states, and practicums follow your license, so even a move inside the ten changes where your preceptors must practice and which state steps apply.
Idaho and Montana are, like Washington, compact states inside Gonzaga's four-state site-visit region. A move to California brings a California RN license requirement and the BRN's rules for out-of-state programs. We restart the search in the new state as soon as Gonzaga confirms your plan. The ten-state rule page has more.
Typhon, CastleBranch or CORE: which one do I use?
It depends on when your cohort moved. Gonzaga's older setup used Typhon for weekly clinical logs and CastleBranch for compliance. In November 2024 Gonzaga announced a move to CORE, planning to bring all students into it by spring 2026 and to run clinical work on two platforms, CORE and CPNW. Preceptor evaluations for most practicum courses moved to CORE starting in Spring 2026.
Your course syllabus and Canvas site say which tool your cohort uses. Either way, CPNW stays in the picture, and hours count only once you are compliant there. Whichever log you use, enter each clinical day's encounters on the day you see the patients, as Gonzaga's packets ask. The CORE ELMS page explains what changed and what stayed.
Do you help BSN and Accelerated BSN students?
The Department of Nursing arranges BSN clinical rotations itself, in Spokane health systems, and the Accelerated BSN that begins in Summer 2027 runs its clinicals in Spokane as well. From the first clinical course, NURS 331, the department does the placing. The exception is the final practicum. NURS 495 (and NURS 468 in the legacy curriculum) pairs you with a registered nurse preceptor, and the legacy course describes it as a clinical setting of the student's choice, with faculty making the final call on each request.
We help with that capstone: finding a unit and an RN preceptor that match the setting you want, and preparing the details faculty need to review your request. The BSN capstone practicum page covers the course itself.
I live outside the West. Can Gonzaga still work for me?
For the nurse practitioner tracks, admission is limited to residents of Washington, Idaho, Oregon, Montana, California, Nevada, Utah, Alaska, Wyoming and Arizona. The Post-Master's DNP pages show no such residency list, and Gonzaga's disclosures mark Kansas and Tennessee for Post-Master's DNP admission only, alongside the discontinued leadership MSN. In the DNP, practicum time goes to indirect project work guided by an agency liaison, so the setting is often close to home.
If you are weighing the DNP from another state, confirm eligibility with Gonzaga before you apply. Once you are admitted, we look for a practice setting and a liaison near you. Each state guide sets out what Gonzaga's disclosures say about that state.
Questions Gonzaga students ask
Can I have three preceptors in one semester?
Gonzaga limits each student to two approved preceptors per semester, and only hours with an approved preceptor count. If a course needs a second preceptor to reach its hours or to cover a population, plan both at the request stage rather than adding one mid-term. Your placement advisor builds the semester around that limit.
Can a physician assistant precept my FNP hours?
Often, yes. The catalog lets FNP practicums run under an NP, a physician or a PA, except where state law insists on an MD or NP. The bigger constraint is Gonzaga's own: NP supervision must cover half or more of your FNP hours, so treat a PA as a complement to a nurse practitioner rather than a substitute.
Does Gonzaga pay preceptors?
Gonzaga's Preceptor Portal states that it is unable to pay preceptors. What it offers instead: a path to adjunct faculty roles, a signed record of precepting hours that can support board recertification, use of Gonzaga's DynaMed Plus subscription, and Preceptor of the Month and Preceptor of the Year awards. Clinicians can learn more on precepting a Gonzaga student.
How many clinical hours does a Gonzaga NP student need?
Count 660 if you read Gonzaga's 2026 FNP and PMHNP pages, which add the 60-hour NURS 601 health assessment practicum to 600 specialty hours. The 2025-26 catalog quotes only the 600. Both describe one plan; for any single course, the syllabus and the faculty teaching it fix the target, because ranges vary by document.
Can I start logging hours before the semester opens?
Hours logged ahead of the term's first day, over a university break or in the gap between semesters fall outside Gonzaga's rules. So do hours logged before faculty approve the site, before the affiliation agreement takes effect, or before CPNW shows you as compliant. Spend the weeks before the term on the site's onboarding.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-25
We check these pages against Gonzaga's catalog, FAQs, preceptor packets and Department of Nursing pages. Your course, the Graduate Nursing Student Handbook and Gonzaga's Clinical Placement Team have the final word.
Gonzaga asks you to find local preceptors first. Let us run that search.
Tell us your Gonzaga program, your practicum course and where you live and can travel. We find preceptors who fit the course and prepare the license, certification and site details your Practicum Site Placement Request needs, early in the semester before.
- Preceptors matched to the course: primary care across the lifespan for
NURS 661PtoNURS 664P, psychiatric care forNURS 661MtoNURS 663M, an agency liaison for the DNP - Credentials, license, board certification and site contact ready for your site request
- In Spokane, across Washington or wherever in the ten western states you are licensed
Start your placement plan
Your program, city and next practicum term is all we need to begin.