UNC Wilmington nursing from Utah, a state with a placement rule
Utah is one of the few states whose rule for out-of-state nursing programs reaches every kind of program, so a UNCW practicum, practice experience or DNP project in Utah would first need the school to satisfy the state. Nobody outside UNCW can currently see whether it has. For NP students the answer is simpler: their clinical hours happen in North Carolina.
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 R156-31b-609 asks of a school from another state
Utah Admin. Code R156-31b-609 governs any nursing program based elsewhere that wants to send students to Utah facilities for clinical or practicum experience. Before the first placement, the program has to satisfy both DOPL, the state's licensing division, and its nursing board. The rule makes no exception for graduate or post-licensure programs.
- Approval from the program's home-state nursing board, plus accreditation by a federally recognized nursing accreditor.
- Program-employed faculty who meet the accreditor's and home state's standards and belong to a college or university.
- Face-to-face supervising faculty and all preceptors holding a Utah or compact-state license in good standing.
- A written plan for picking and overseeing faculty, preceptors and sites.
- A report to the Board each year by August 1, counting students placed in Utah facilities and confirming licensure and accreditation.
UNCW's standing in Utah is unconfirmed
When checked in September 2026, Utah's licensing website returned an access error, and no published roster of schools from other states cleared for Utah placements turned up. So whether UNCW currently meets R156-31b-609 cannot be read from anything published. That uncertainty touches exactly the programs that can place outside North Carolina: an educator practicum in Salt Lake City, RN-BSN practice experiences at a hospital in Provo, or a leadership DNP project at an employer in Ogden.
Ask UNCW's State Authorization office before you enroll, and again before you commit to a site. Online programs outside North Carolina compares Utah with the other states that have rules like this.
Your UNCW options, seen from Utah
| UNCW program | Open to Utah residents? | Does Utah's rule reach it? |
|---|---|---|
| MSN Nurse Educator and Post-Graduate Certificate | Yes, online, on a Utah multistate license | Yes, when the practicum site is in Utah |
| RN-BSN | Yes, with a license in your resident state | Probably, since the practice experiences happen in Utah; ask UNCW |
| DNP Post APRN and Nurse Executive Leadership | Yes, with a North Carolina or compact RN license | Yes, when the project site is in Utah |
| DNP FNP, AGPCNP, PMHNP; PMHNP certificate | Coursework yes, clinicals no | No: clinical hours are in North Carolina only |
Two compacts, one board inside Commerce
Utah's nurses gained multistate licenses in January 2018 under the Nurse Licensure Compact, so a Utah multistate license satisfies UNCW's North Carolina or compact wording while Utah remains your home. The state went further in 2022, enacting the APRN Compact with a March 24 signing; five states have now done so, and it starts operating only after a seventh joins. AANP lists Utah as full practice, and licensing sits with DOPL inside the state's Commerce department.
HCA's MountainStar Healthcare, University of Utah Health and Intermountain Health are the big systems, reaching from St. George in the south to Ogden in the north, with Salt Lake City and Provo-Orem-Lehi between. Any of them is the kind of setting an educator practicum or leadership project might use once the approval question is settled.
The NP route runs through North Carolina
UNCW's DNP Student Handbook for 2025-26 says FNP, AGPCNP and PMHNP students complete clinical and practicum hours in North Carolina only, and their preceptors practice in that state. A Utah address does not keep you out of the concentration, but each practicum means weeks on the ground in North Carolina, and orientation and intensives bring you to Wilmington as well. The details are on the North Carolina clinical rule page.
Where our service fits for Utah students
NP students get our full North Carolina search: preceptors and sites fitted to the UNCW practicum course, confirmed with enough notice to arrange travel, and every detail UNCW's Graduate Clinical Coordinator needs in one complete submission. Educator students get help lining up a Utah or compact-licensed nurse-educator preceptor who meets UNCW's standards, once UNCW confirms a Utah practicum can go ahead. Use the form below to tell us your program and start session, or read how it works first.
Questions UNCW students ask
Has UNCW satisfied Utah's R156-31b-609?
That could not be confirmed. Utah's licensing site blocked access when checked in September 2026, and no published roster of approved schools from other states was found. Because the rule covers every program type, ask UNCW directly before planning an educator practicum, RN-BSN practice experience or DNP project in Utah.
Who can precept a UNCW nurse educator student in Utah?
Two sets of rules stack. Utah wants each preceptor used by a program from outside the state to be licensed, in good standing, either in Utah or in a compact state. UNCW adds a master's degree or higher, three years of teaching experience, and employment at the education or practice site where the hours are completed.
Does the APRN Compact help UNCW NP students in Utah?
Not yet, and not for clinicals. Utah enacted the APRN Compact in 2022, but it only begins operating once seven states have joined, and five have so far. UNCW's NP clinical hours are completed in North Carolina whatever compact you hold, so the RN multistate license is the one that matters now.
Could I do UNCW NP clinicals at a Salt Lake City clinic?
No. UNCW's handbook limits FNP, AGPCNP and PMHNP clinical and practicum hours to North Carolina, with North Carolina preceptors. Hours at a Utah clinic would not count toward a UNCW practicum, even with an excellent preceptor. You can study online from Utah and travel east for each practicum.
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.