Faculty site visits in Augusta University NP clinicals

What Augusta University publishes about visits

One sentence carries the public record. On the DNP program pages, faculty travel to the student, the preceptor and the clinical site is the stated reason for the two-state residence rule. Visits are therefore built into how the clinical courses run, not an optional extra.

Other published pieces show what faculty own. In its residency section, the DNP handbook says faculty assess each student's learning needs, write learning objectives for practice experiences together with the student, brief the preceptor or mentor, and answer for the evaluation of what the student learns. Policy CON31 requires a pass rating on every clinical objective, documented on each course's evaluation tools, which you can annotate and must sign.

The stakes are real. NP clinical courses are graded Satisfactory or Unsatisfactory, and under policy CON27 one unsatisfactory rating on the closing summative evaluation is enough to fail the clinical; the grades guide explains the knock-on rules.

Why distance and the two-state rule are linked

A visit that has to reach you, your preceptor and the site only works if the site is within reach of faculty. That is the logic behind limiting NP and certificate students to Georgia and South Carolina, and it is why the two-state rule matters the moment you start looking at sites.

Georgia adds a licensing layer. Its Board of Nursing says any faculty member or preceptor teaching in Georgia, whether physically present or teaching by electronic means, needs a Georgia or multistate license, and that only a nurse authorized as an APRN in Georgia may give clinical instruction in an APRN program. South Carolina's Board states in an archived FAQ that post-licensure programs fall outside its regulation.

Distance lands on you as well. Under policy CON14, getting to and from clinical agencies, plus any overnight stay, is at the student's cost. A site near home keeps your expenses down and makes a faculty trip easier to schedule.

Preparing the site

• Tell the office manager or site contact the date, so the front desk expects a visitor and nobody is surprised.
• Check the site's visitor, badge and parking rules; health systems often keep their own.
• Confirm your site documents are signed. Policy CON16 requires Augusta University and clinical affiliate documents, such as confidentiality agreements and a Student Applied Learning Experience Agreement, before rotations begin.
• Find a private room for any conversation about your performance, away from patients and staff.
• Know the site's designated clinical contact. Policy CON23 asks you to notify that person, along with your clinical instructor, before any absence.

Visit-ready placements from our desk

However your program approaches placement, we find preceptors in Georgia or South Carolina who welcome faculty involvement and have room for it in their schedule. Your placement advisor confirms at the outset that the preceptor is willing to host a visit, notes the site's visitor rules and the documents it needs, and keeps both sides current through the term. If a site's rules would make a visit awkward, such as tight limits on visitors, your advisor raises it before you commit, not halfway through the course.

Preceptors weighing your request can read what precepting involves, a page written for them. See how it works for the full process, or use the form below to start.