UNCW clinical compliance: what goes in your file and when it is due
Before a UNCW DNP student sets foot in a clinical site, a compliance file in Castle Branch or Certiphi has to be complete and reviewed. New students finish it by July 15, then keep the background check, drug test and several health items current every year. This guide covers what goes in, how renewals work and how UNCW's other nursing programs handle the same step.
Get your placement plan
Tell us your UNCW program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with the preceptor and site options that fit your UNCW course.
What compliance means at UNCW
Compliance is the bundle of records UNCW keeps on file to show a clinical site that you are ready to be placed: a criminal background check, a drug screen, your RN license, CPR, health insurance, immunizations and a few signed forms. UNCW does not hold these records itself. Its DNP clinical handbook says the School of Nursing has outsourced storage and tracking to Castle Branch or Certiphi Screening, and the student pays for the package.
The file matters because it gates your first clinical day. The Graduate Clinical Coordinator's approval to begin at a site includes a review of your immunization, background check and drug testing submissions, and the handbook warns that hours logged before both course orientation and that approval may be disqualified. A preceptor who is ready and waiting still cannot take you until the file clears. The placement process guide shows where compliance sits among the other steps.
Castle Branch or Certiphi: which platform is yours
UNCW uses two vendors, and which one you use depends on your cohort. The DNP clinical handbook says the instructions and the platform for each cohort are posted in the Canvas overview course, so look there before you buy anything. A later line in the same handbook names only Certiphi Screening for items completed at admission; if the two lines seem to pull in different directions, the Canvas instructions for your cohort decide.
The platforms keep records for different lengths of time. Per the handbook, Castle Branch storage lasts for life and is included in the fee charged at the start of the program, while Certiphi keeps documents for seven years. Either way, the account comes to you from UNCW: the handbook's process map shows credentialing setup emails reaching incoming students around May 15.
The July 15 deadline, step by step
- Watch for the setup emailUNCW's process map shows credentialing account instructions going to new DNP students about mid-May. Open the account the week it arrives, because a few items take weeks, not days.
- Order the slow items firstThe background check searches every state you lived in over the past seven years and usually takes about ten working days. A two-step TB test also spans more than one visit.
- Upload everything by July 15The handbook sets July 15 as the deadline for all compliance items, unless UNCW gives a late admit a different date.
- Pass the drug screen before fall orientationThe DNP Student Handbook asks for a passing urine drug screen no later than two weeks before fall orientation, and again each year.
- Wait for the coordinator's reviewThe Graduate Clinical Coordinator reviews files after the July 15 deadline. You begin at a site only after course orientation has started and the coordinator has approved you.
What goes in the DNP file
The Fall 2025 DNP clinical handbook lists the same core items for every DNP student, whatever the concentration.
- Criminal background check
- 12-panel urine drug test
- Proof of a current RN license
- CPR certification from the American Heart Association or the American Red Cross
- Proof of current personal health insurance
- Physical and health history form, completed once on admission
- Immunization records: hepatitis B, MMR, varicella, Tdap, and seasonal flu during flu season
- An annual TB test (skin test, QuantiFERON, or a chest X-ray after a positive skin test or an allergy), with a two-step test on admission
- A signed handbook and confidentiality acknowledgment form
Three of these have their own guides here: the background check and drug screen, the immunizations and health requirements, and the RN license you need for clinicals.
Yearly renewals and site extras
Clearing once is only the start. The handbook calls background checks and drug screens an annual requirement for as long as you are in the program, with a yearly renewal fee, and the TB test and flu vaccine recur on their own cycles. Your RN license, CPR card and health insurance must stay current too, so fix any expiration date that lands mid-semester early.
Individual sites can ask for more. The handbook names proof of OSHA training, proof of HIPAA training, a digital photo, a physical exam from the last 12 months and your CV as possible extras, requested case by case. Its advice is direct: a student who does not want to complete a site's additional requirements should choose a different site. Hospital systems in North Carolina may also run their own student onboarding, which the immunizations guide describes.
Liability insurance and the costs you carry
DNP students need professional liability insurance for every clinical semester. The DNP Student Handbook says UNCW bills it to your student account each semester and that the charge may change, so you do not shop for a policy yourself. The MSN Nurse Educator handbook sets higher minimum coverage limits than the DNP handbook, and for BSN students the liability cost is covered in student fees.
The rest of the bill is yours: the compliance package, the drug screens and the background checks, per the clinical handbook. UNCW does not post what the Castle Branch or Certiphi packages cost. A policy marked new for Fall 2025 adds that the cost of any first aid or medical care a student receives is the student's responsibility, one more reason to keep health insurance active through summer practicums.
Sites that charge an honorarium follow a separate UNCW rule, explained on paid clinical sites.
How UNCW's other nursing programs handle compliance
Each program has its own handbook and its own dates. BSN and ABSN students meet one extra system: the clinical handbook says students create and pay for a myClinicalExchange account to meet the requirements of certain clinical partners. Novant Health, which runs NHRMC in Wilmington, is one of the systems that takes student rotation requests through myClinicalExchange.
| Program | Platform | Deadline or timing | Also note |
|---|---|---|---|
| DNP, all concentrations | Castle Branch or Certiphi, by cohort | July 15 for new students; background check and drug screen yearly | Liability insurance billed each clinical semester |
| MSN Nurse Educator and certificate | Certiphi | Account set up about three months before the practicum | Missing the published deadline means removal from NSG 588 |
| BSN Prelicensure and ABSN | Certiphi, plus myClinicalExchange for some partners | Before June 1 for August entry, November 1 for January entry | NHRMC online orientation certificate due July 1 (fall) or December 1 (spring) |
| RN-BSN (online) | Not named in public pages | Drug screen before the first practice experience, then yearly | License attestation for each 7-week course |
Why UNCW students line up placement and compliance together
Compliance and placement run on the same calendar, and spring is the time to line them up, before July 15. When we match you with a North Carolina preceptor, we find out what that site's onboarding asks for, whether that is an extra training module, a photo or a recent physical, and tell you at the match. Your file fits the site from the start instead of chasing it in August.
We then build the submission UNCW's Graduate Clinical Coordinator reviews: the preceptor's dated CV listing the site, the license number, the evaluation email, the agency's name, address and county, and the agreement contact. It arrives complete and early. The coordinator gives the final approval; our part is making sure what reaches them fits UNCW's rules the first time. Tell us your course and start term through the contact page or the form below.
Questions UNCW students ask
Do UNCW DNP students use Castle Branch or Certiphi?
It depends on your cohort. UNCW's DNP clinical handbook names both Castle Branch and Certiphi Screening and puts the cohort-by-cohort instructions in the Canvas overview course. The same handbook also refers only to Certiphi for items completed at admission, so follow the account email UNCW sends you and your Canvas instructions rather than buying a package on your own.
What happens if I miss UNCW's July 15 compliance deadline?
July 15 is the handbook date for every item, and the Graduate Clinical Coordinator reviews files after it. Approval to start at a site includes checking your background check, drug test and immunizations, so a late file can push back your first clinical day, and hours done before approval may be disqualified. If an item is delayed, tell the coordinator early.
Is the compliance package included in UNCW tuition?
No. The DNP clinical handbook says costs tied to compliance, drug screens and background checks are the student's responsibility, and renewals carry a yearly fee. Professional liability insurance is billed to your UNCW student account each clinical semester. UNCW does not post package prices publicly; you see the amount when you order through your cohort's platform.
Can a clinical site ask for more than UNCW's list?
Yes. UNCW's handbook lists proof of OSHA and HIPAA training, a digital photo, a physical exam from the last 12 months and a CV as possible site-specific extras. Hospitals may also run their own onboarding. The handbook's guidance is to pick a different site if you do not want to complete a site's added requirements.
Do UNCW BSN students need myClinicalExchange?
Some do. The Prelicensure and ABSN clinical handbook says students create and pay for a myClinicalExchange account to meet the requirements of certain clinical partners, on top of their Certiphi file. Compliance items are due before June 1 for August entry and November 1 for January entry, and the prelicensure clinical coordinator sends the account instructions.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-24
We check these pages against UNCW's catalog, handbooks and School of Nursing pages. Your course, your cohort's handbook and UNCW's Graduate Clinical Coordinator have the final word.
UNCW asks you to find your own North Carolina preceptor. Let us run that search.
Tell us your UNCW program, your practicum course and where in North Carolina you can travel. We find preceptors who fit the course and prepare the CV, license and agency details UNCW's Graduate Clinical Coordinator reviews, well before the deadline.
- Preceptors matched to the course: primary care, pediatrics and women's health for
NSGL 650toNSGL 653, adult and older-adult care for AGPCNP, psychiatric care for PMHNP - Preceptor CV with dates and site, license number and agency details ready for your submission
- In Wilmington, the Cape Fear region or wherever in North Carolina your clinicals can happen
Start your placement plan
Your program, city and next practicum term is all we need to begin.