Gonzaga faculty site visits: at your clinic or in Spokane
Each Gonzaga NP practicum course includes a site visit from clinical faculty, and where it happens depends on where you live. Students in Washington, Idaho, Oregon and Montana host the visit at their clinical site; students in Alaska, Arizona, California, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming add an on-campus day in Spokane next to an immersion. FNP visits are graded on the OSCE rubric, and PMHNP visits may be virtual.
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.
Where your visit happens, by state
Gonzaga's MSN FNP page and catalog set the geography: "Students residing in Washington, Idaho, Oregon, and Montana also have at least one site visit from a clinical faculty during each practicum course." Everyone else in the ten admission states follows a second rule: "Students living outside of this four-state region are required to arrange for an additional on-campus day in conjunction with one of the immersions during each practicum course in order to complete the faculty site visit requirement."
| Where you live | Where the visit happens | What you arrange |
|---|---|---|
| Washington, Idaho, Oregon, Montana | At your clinical site | A date that suits faculty, preceptor and clinic |
| Alaska, Arizona, California, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming | On campus in Spokane | An extra day beside an immersion, in each practicum course |
| PMHNP students | In person or by telehealth, per the PMHNP packet | The format, confirmed with PMHNP course faculty |
The FNP packet places the Spokane day just before or after the immersion, so one trip can cover both. Travel to Spokane is your own expense, so budget the added day along with the immersion itself; the guide to Spokane immersions covers the immersion schedule.
What the visit is: the graded middle contact
The site visit is the second of Gonzaga's three points of contact, the mid-semester conference among you, your preceptor and your clinical faculty member. For FNP students, the FNP Clinical Faculty Packet sets its terms: the visit is "graded using the OSCE rubric," you see "at least 3-4 patients," and "The site visit must be done in-person."
That makes the visit an assessment rather than a social call. The OSCE rubric links it to the objective structured clinical examinations you sit at immersions, where you take a focused history and exam on a model patient, build a differential and most-likely diagnosis, and present a plan of care. At a site visit you do the same with real patients while faculty observe.
Clinical faculty also grade your SOAP notes through the course, so the visit sits beside your written work in their picture of your progress. A strong visit and steady notes reinforce each other.
Hosting a visit at your clinic (WA, ID, OR, MT)
For students in the four-state region, the visit comes to you, which means you, your preceptor and the clinic set the stage. Start early: a faculty member may be covering students spread across a wide region, and a clinic needs notice to book suitable patients.
- Tell your preceptor at the outsetExplain before the semester that a Gonzaga faculty member will visit mid-term and watch you work with patients.
- Propose dates in the first weeksOffer faculty several clinic days that fall near the middle of the course.
- Line up enough patientsWork with the preceptor and front desk so the day's schedule gives you at least three or four patients to see.
- Clear the visitor with the siteAsk whether the clinic needs visitor paperwork or a badge for faculty, and settle it before the day.
- Prepare as you would for an OSCEReview the course objectives and your recent SOAP notes, and be ready to present each patient and your plan.
Gonzaga's clinical faculty compliance rules require visiting faculty to hold a license in each state where they make site visits, on top of their Washington RN and ARNP licenses. That piece is Gonzaga's to manage, not yours.
The Spokane day for the other six states
If you live in Alaska, Arizona, California, Nevada, Utah or Wyoming, your practicum stays in your own state, but the site visit requirement is met in Spokane. You arrange an extra on-campus day tied to one of the immersions in each practicum course. FNP students already travel for six immersions, including a three-day visit paired with each of NURS 651P through NURS 654P, so the added day attaches to one of those trips.
Plan it when you book travel for the immersion: arrive a day early or stay a day later, confirm the date with course faculty, and tell your preceptor you will be away. The day in Spokane adds nothing to your practicum hours, so check that the trip leaves your clinic schedule at home on track.
Ask your clinical faculty member how your preceptor takes part in the mid-term contact when the visit is held on campus, since the Washington rule behind it has faculty confer with preceptor and student together. Before you travel, ask your preceptor for a few lines on your progress, and share faculty feedback with them when you return.
PMHNP site visits: each specialty course, sometimes by telehealth
Gonzaga's PMHNP pages set a visit in each specialty practicum. The 2026 PMHNP course objectives page says the student "is required to have a site visit from a clinical faculty each semester" and notes that "There are no site visits in 683M," the extension course. The catalog frames it as at least one site visit in each of the three specialty practicum courses.
The format is where Gonzaga's sources differ. The PMHNP packet allows an in-person visit or a "Virtual Clinical site visit, observing the student with patients via telehealth system." The MSN PMHNP web page repeats the FNP rule that students outside Washington, Idaho, Oregon and Montana add an on-campus day in each practicum course. Ask your PMHNP course faculty which applies to you, and if a telehealth visit is approved, confirm your site's platform allows a faculty observer.
The guide to PMHNP practicum courses sets out the populations each course needs, which shapes the patients you line up for the visit.
Why Gonzaga students choose us for a visit-ready placement
A site visit tests the placement as much as the student. The preceptor has to welcome a faculty observer, the clinic needs enough patients on the day, and the schedule has to flex for a Spokane trip if you live outside the four-state region. We check all of that when we match you, and we brief the preceptor on the visit before they commit.
Our search stays inside your state and your Gonzaga course, and we then gather the preceptor's license, certification, site contact and schedule for the site placement request. Approval rests with Gonzaga's faculty; we make certain the request they review is whole and the site is ready to host a graded visit. Send your state and practicum course through the form below.
Questions Gonzaga students ask
Does moving states change where my Gonzaga site visit happens?
It can. The visit location follows where you reside: at your clinic in Washington, Idaho, Oregon or Montana, and in Spokane for the other six admission states. A move also affects where you can precept, since practicums take place where you are licensed, and Gonzaga asks students who relocate mid-program to contact their program. Raise it with faculty before you move.
Can a site visit be rescheduled if my preceptor is out that day?
Gonzaga's public documents do not describe rescheduling, so contact your clinical faculty member as soon as you know. Because the visit is graded and belongs to the practicum course, move it to another clinic day in the same term rather than letting it lapse. Keeping a second possible date in reserve from the start makes any change easier.
What should I wear and bring to a faculty site visit?
Gonzaga's packets ask students to follow the university dress code and the site's own, and to wear the Gonzaga name badge. Bring your written goals, the course objectives and anything faculty asked for in advance. The visit is graded on the OSCE rubric with real patients, so be ready to present each patient and your plan clearly and briefly.
Do Post-Baccalaureate DNP students have more site visits?
Current Post-Baccalaureate DNP FNP students, in a program Gonzaga has closed to new applicants, have at least three faculty site visits according to the program page, with the same Spokane day for students outside the four-state region. PMHNP students in that program have a visit each semester. Post-Master's DNP students work on indirect project hours and have no required campus visits.
Is the Spokane site visit day the same as the immersion?
No. The immersion is its own requirement with its own activities, including OSCEs. Students outside the four-state region add a separate on-campus day, placed before or after an immersion, to meet the site visit requirement for each practicum course. Book travel for both at once so one trip covers the immersion and the visit day.
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.