Gonzaga's clinical systems, one guide at a time

Updated September 25, 2026 · Reviewed by the Gonzaga Preceptor placement team

Gonzaga's clinical process rests on a few named pieces: the local providers you approach first, the Practicum Site Placement Request that faculty approve, an active affiliation agreement, CPNW clearance, and the logs and evaluations that follow. Each guide below handles one of them, drawn from Gonzaga's catalog, FAQs, preceptor packets and Department of Nursing pages, and each one points out where Gonzaga's own documents disagree.

Get matched Chat now

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.

Gonzaga's clinical systems, one guide at a time. Gonzaga's clinical process rests on a few named pieces: the local providers you approach first, the Practicum Site Placement Request that faculty approve, an ac — Every Gonzaga Department of Nursing clinical guide in one place: finding preceptors, the site request, CPNW, hours, immersions, licenses and states.

Where Gonzaga keeps the working detail

Credits, hour totals and grading rules come from the catalog. Day-to-day clinical detail sits in the Graduate Nursing Student Handbook that enrolled students receive, in the FNP and PMHNP preceptor guides on the Preceptor Portal, and in each syllabus. Gonzaga has moved its clinical tools into CORE, so older documents still mention Typhon and CastleBranch.

Where Gonzaga's public pages stop, our guides say who holds the answer, most often course faculty or the Clinical Placement Team. New to all of this? Read the placement process first. Still deciding where your practicums can happen? The ten-state rule comes next.

Placement and approval

Clinical placement processHow a Gonzaga NP practicum comes together, in order: local preceptors, the site request, faculty approval, the agreement, CPNW, hours, site visit, evaluation.Identifying local preceptorsWhat Gonzaga means when it asks students to engage local providers first: who can precept each track, where to look, and what to bring to the first call.Clinical Placement TeamWho handles what in a Gonzaga placement: the Clinical Placement Team, the Director of Clinical Placement, the Graduate Clinical Coordinator and course faculty.Site placement requestWhat Gonzaga's Practicum Site Placement Request covers, what to have ready before you submit, how faculty review it, and what has to follow approval.Affiliation agreementsWhy every Gonzaga practicum site needs an active affiliation agreement before hours count, how existing and new sites differ, and what health systems require.Preceptor requirementsWho can precept a Gonzaga nursing student: ARNP, MD, DO or PA, a year in the clinical area, a license in your state, plus the FNP, PMHNP and DNP rules.FNP 50% NP hours ruleGonzaga FNP students must log at least half their hours with a nurse practitioner. How the rule works, where states want an MD or NP, and how to plan the mix.Two preceptors per semesterGonzaga caps NP students at two approved preceptors a semester. How to plan a pair, split the hours, and what to do when a preceptor leaves mid-term.Practicum where you workGonzaga allows practicum hours at your employer with faculty approval: no direct supervisor, hours apart from paid work, another unit. PMHNP and DNP rules too.When clinical hours countWhen Gonzaga practicum hours count: not before the semester, not in breaks, only with your approved preceptor, not past the course end date. The risks, explained.Three points of contactGonzaga's three points of contact under WAC 246-840-533: the start-of-term call, the faculty site visit, the end evaluation, and how you coordinate all three.Faculty site visitsGonzaga faculty visit FNP students at their clinic in WA, ID, OR and MT; the other six states add a Spokane day. The OSCE rubric, PMHNP telehealth visits.Gonzaga's Preceptor PortalWhat Gonzaga's Preceptor Portal holds: the FNP and PMHNP preceptor guides, course objectives, evaluations, the DNP liaison checklist, and preceptor benefits.

Hours, logs and evaluations

Clinical hours by programGonzaga's MSN FNP and PMHNP count 660 clinical hours on current pages and 600 in the catalog. See each figure's source, the course ranges and DNP hours.What counts as a clinical hourWhat Gonzaga counts as an FNP or PMHNP clinical hour: patient time, documentation, preceptor consults, the 15% PMHNP observation cap and the schedule rule.Typhon clinical logsHow Gonzaga NP students log clinical hours in Typhon: weekly entries, same-day data, the faculty audit of hours and age groups, and the move into CORE.CORE ELMSCORE ELMS at Gonzaga nursing: what it replaces (Typhon, CastleBranch and more), the spring 2026 switch, CORE plus CPNW, and evaluations through CORE.Preceptor evaluationsHow Gonzaga preceptor evaluations work: the end-of-semester form, CORE emails from Spring 2026, the web forms, self-evaluations and the permanent record.Practicum extension coursesGonzaga's NURS 683P and NURS 683M practicum extensions: finishing FNP or PMHNP hours after the didactic courses, repeatable credits and progression plans.Your first clinical courseWhen your first Gonzaga clinical course falls: NURS 601 in year 2 of the MSN, NURS 661M in year 3 for PMHNP, NURS 700 for the DNP, and when to start looking.Grades and progressionGonzaga graduate nursing grades: B expected but C coded in prerequisites, the 3.00 GPA and probation, the DNP B rule, Incompletes and the five-year limit.

Courses and immersions

NURS 600 and 601: health assessmentHow Gonzaga's NURS 600 and NURS 601 work: 60 precepted primary care hours, two Spokane immersions, who can supervise, and how to plan the load.FNP practicum coursesGonzaga's FNP practicums, NURS 661P through 664P and the NURS 683P extension: hours by course, primary care settings, every age group, and preceptors.PMHNP practicum coursesGonzaga's PMHNP practicums, NURS 661M to 663M and the NURS 683M extension: populations by course, who can precept, hour ranges and the observation cap.Spokane immersionsGonzaga's on-campus nursing immersions in Spokane: six for FNP, five for PMHNP, OSCEs, when they start, and how to plan travel around your practicums.DNP practicum coursesGonzaga's Post-Master's DNP practicums, NURS 700 to 704 with the NURS 760 to 763 seminars: establishing a practicum site, the proposal and 1,000 hours.DNP agency liaisonWhat Gonzaga's DNP agency liaison does: the online checklist, who can and cannot serve, three contacts a semester, and the end-of-course evaluation.Online graduate calendar 2026-27Gonzaga's 2026-27 online graduate calendar for nursing: fall, spring and summer dates, A and B sessions, full-term practicums, and the breaks between.Student systemsGonzaga's student systems for online nursing students: ZagWeb, myGU, ZagMail, Canvas, Foley Library and the IT Help Desk, plus the clinical tools.

Clearance, licenses and states

CPNW clearanceHow CPNW (Clinical Placements Northwest) clearance works for Gonzaga nursing students: the hour gate, partner health systems, lead times and CORE.CastleBranch complianceWhat Gonzaga nursing students upload to CastleBranch, the background check and 10-panel drug screen, who reviews the file, and the move to CORE ELMS.Immunizations and health recordsThe immunizations, TB screening, BLS card and health records Gonzaga nursing students keep for practicums, plus site extras like Idaho fingerprinting.RN license for clinicalsWhich RN license a Gonzaga NP student needs where they precept: compact states among the ten, plus the Oregon, Alaska, California and Nevada rules.The ten-state ruleGonzaga admits MSN FNP and PMHNP students from ten western states only. The rule in Gonzaga's words, where clinicals happen, and what a move means.California BRN approvalGonzaga is on the California BRN list of out-of-state NP programs for Family and Psych/Mental Health. What that covers and what California clinicals need.State authorization and disclosuresGonzaga's NC-SARA membership and nurse practitioner licensure disclosures: states marked Meets or Does not meet, and states Gonzaga cannot accept from.Nursing accreditationGonzaga nursing accreditation explained: CCNE for the BSN, MSN and DNP through June 30, 2030, WABON state approval, NWCCU, and what clinical sites ask.

Questions Gonzaga students ask

Where is Gonzaga's graduate nursing handbook?

Gonzaga's catalog refers students to a separate Graduate Nursing Student Handbook for the MSN and DNP programs. It is given to enrolled students rather than posted publicly, so request deadlines and the full compliance list come from there, your course and the Clinical Placement Team.

Which Gonzaga pages matter most before a first practicum?

The site request, the affiliation agreement and CPNW clearance, because no hour counts until all three are in place. The site placement request and CPNW guides cover them.

Why do Gonzaga's hour figures differ between pages?

Newer program pages count 660 hours, adding the 60 in NURS 601 to the 600-hour practicum block the catalog lists. Per-course ranges also differ. The clinical hours guide shows each figure with its source.

ProcessClinical placement processHow a Gonzaga NP practicum comes together, in order: local preceptors, the site request, faculty approval, the agreement, CPNW, hours, site visit, evaluation.Ten statesThe ten-state ruleGonzaga admits MSN FNP and PMHNP students from ten western states only. The rule in Gonzaga's words, where clinicals happen, and what a move means.HoursClinical hours by programGonzaga's MSN FNP and PMHNP count 660 clinical hours on current pages and 600 in the catalog. See each figure's source, the course ranges and DNP hours.GuideGonzaga nursing programsEvery Gonzaga University nursing program with practicum hours: MSN FNP and PMHNP, the Second MSN, the Post-Master's DNP and the BSN options.GuideGonzaga programs by stateStudying with Gonzaga from your state? Fifty state guides: the ten-state rule for NP tracks, site visits, licenses, board rules and the DNP.

Last checked 2026-09-25

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 661P to NURS 664P, psychiatric care for NURS 661M to NURS 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.