UNC Wilmington nursing programs for West Virginia residents
West Virginia splits nursing oversight between two bodies. Its RN board regulates programs that lead to a first license, and graduate programs look to the state's higher education commission, whose approval step targets schools outside NC-SARA and large groups of students at one site. UNCW belongs to SARA, which lets its online students outside the NP tracks plan a West Virginia practicum. NP students train in North Carolina.
Plan your UNCW practicum from West Virginia
Include your UNCW program, your county and the term your practicum starts.
Two West Virginia offices, two sets of rules
The Board of Registered Nurses keeps its program work to prelicensure schools; an out-of-state school of that kind applies to the Board before its students set foot in a West Virginia facility. For advanced-degree programs, the Board's advice is to check with WVHEPC, the state's Higher Education Policy Commission, and with the program's own national accreditor.
The commission's nursing education and workforce office keeps a clinical rotation guide for programs based elsewhere. It names two triggers for commission approval of APRN or graduate clinicals: a school that has not joined NC-SARA, and a program placing a group of ten or more students at one site. UNCW joined SARA on February 8, 2017, so only the group-size trigger could ever apply.
Licensed practical nurses answer to a separate board, which plays no part in UNCW's programs. The state authorization guide covers UNCW's SARA status in more depth.
Setting up a West Virginia practicum, step by step
- Check your programEducator programs (the MSN and the certificate), the RN-BSN, and the Post APRN and Nurse Executive Leadership DNPs follow your license. The NP concentrations do not.
- Check your licenseThe commission's guide ties your license to your home: a West Virginia RN license if you live in West Virginia, a multistate license if you live elsewhere.
- Find the site and preceptorEducator students pick one site to carry both practicum courses, plus a preceptor there with a West Virginia license, at least a master's degree and three years of teaching.
- Get UNCW's approvalUNCW's approval of the site and preceptor must be in place five or more weeks before an educator practicum, and a site new to UNCW also signs an agreement. Talk the plan through with UNCW before enrolling.
UNCW programs for West Virginia residents
| UNCW program | Where it happens | License you hold |
|---|---|---|
| DNP FNP, AGPCNP or PMHNP; PMHNP Post-Doctoral Certificate | North Carolina, with North Carolina preceptors | A West Virginia multistate or NC RN license |
| MSN Nurse Educator; Nurse Educator certificate | A West Virginia education or practice site | Your West Virginia license |
| RN-BSN | Practice experiences, often at work | An active license in your resident state |
| DNP Post APRN; DNP Nurse Executive Leadership | A DNP project where you are licensed | A West Virginia multistate or NC RN license |
The online programs guide sets out each program's location rule in more detail.
NP practice and health care in West Virginia
West Virginia is a reduced practice state on AANP's map. Prescribing, for NPs, depends on a collaborative agreement with a physician over a three-year span, and a Schedule II narcotic order can cover no more than three days. The state's compact start date was January 19, 2018.
For an educator practicum or leadership project, the big employers are WVU Medicine; Vandalia Health, whose members include CAMC, Mon Health and Davis Health; and Marshall Health Network, with Charleston, Huntington, Morgantown and the Martinsburg area as the population centers. Public health work could also run through the state health department's Bureau for Public Health. Research found no West Virginia preceptor incentive program.
For UNCW NP students: clinical hours in North Carolina
West Virginia's graduate rules never reach UNCW's FNP, AGPCNP or PMHNP students, because their practicum hours are North Carolina hours by UNCW's rule, supervised by North Carolina preceptors. See the North Carolina clinical rule for the handbook wording, and the NC AHEC guide for short-term student housing while you train.
Why West Virginia students choose us
Our work starts from UNCW's rules, not a generic checklist, and that is what West Virginia students value. NP students get a North Carolina search sized to their travel, and the Graduate Clinical Coordinator receives a file with nothing missing. Educator students get a West Virginia search for a nurse educator who fits every line of UNCW's preceptor profile. Reach us through the contact page.
Questions UNCW students ask
Does West Virginia require approval before a UNCW graduate practicum?
Only in two cases, per the commission's rotation guide: the school is outside NC-SARA, or the program sends a group of ten or more students to one site. UNCW is a SARA member. The RN board itself deals with prelicensure schools. Check your plan with UNCW before enrolling.
Can I count UNCW FNP hours at a clinic in Morgantown or Charleston?
No. The handbook's location rule sends every FNP, AGPCNP and PMHNP hour to North Carolina, so a West Virginia clinic, however close to home, adds nothing to your total. Your West Virginia multistate license still meets UNCW's license condition for admission.
Which license do I need for an educator practicum in West Virginia?
It depends on where you live. A nurse whose primary residence is West Virginia uses a West Virginia RN license, and someone living in another state brings a multistate license. For admission, UNCW's educator programs take a home-state license from distance students who are not working in North Carolina during the program.
Can I take UNCW's RN-BSN from West Virginia?
Yes. West Virginia nurses can enroll, since UNCW opens the RN-BSN to most states. You study on your West Virginia license, and the program's practice experiences, which carry no fixed hour count, can fit into your current job.
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.