BSN clinicals at NAU: formats, campuses and the sites the college assigns
Northern Arizona University places its pre-licensure BSN students: the college assigns clinical sites, and students arrange their own transportation and housing to reach them. What changes between formats is the campus, the pace and how the clinical hours are spread, from weekly clinical days in the Traditional format to one concentrated final semester in the Global BSN. This guide sets out each format's clinical courses and the rules that keep you in them.
Get your placement plan
Tell us your NAU program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with the preceptor and site options that fit your course.
NAU assigns the sites; you get yourself there
The May 2022 undergraduate handbook, the newest one NAU has posted, requires nursing majors to secure their own transportation and housing to the clinical sites where they are assigned. The 2026 acceptance letters restate it: because the program has a rural emphasis, you provide your own transportation to clinical settings, and lodging and meals during clinicals are yours to cover as well.
Your say over scheduling grows as you progress. First-semester Traditional and Compressed students cannot request days or times for classes or clinicals; from the second semester on, requests are considered when placements are made. Expect 10 to 20 hours a week of skills labs and clinicals, with first-semester clinicals set at 10 hours a week.
Travel is part of the plan from the start. NAU's What to Expect page sends Flagstaff students to Prescott Valley, Cottonwood, Kingman and Tuba City, and Accelerated students go to sites around the state, sometimes for several weeks at three to five days a week.
Formats and where they run
The catalog names three BSN formats, plus the American Indian Program pathway and a separate Accelerated plan for students who already hold a bachelor's degree. The campus column follows the catalog, except for the Accelerated row, which follows the college pages.
| Format | Campuses | Length | Start terms |
|---|---|---|---|
| Traditional | Flagstaff Mountain, Pima Community College-West (Tucson), Yuma | Fall and spring semesters, summers off | Fall, spring |
| Compressed | Flagstaff Mountain, NAU-North Valley (Phoenix), Tucson, Yuma | 16 consecutive months | Fall, spring, summer |
| Global (GBSN) | Flagstaff Mountain, NAU-North Valley; clinicals at partner sites statewide | Four semesters, 16 months | Summer and fall 2026 cycles published |
| American Indian Program | Flagstaff | Follows the Traditional curriculum | Fall only |
| Accelerated (ABSN) | NAU-North Valley | 12 months, year-round | Summer, fall, spring |
NAU's pages disagree on some of these details. The FAQ places the Traditional and Compressed formats in Flagstaff and Yuma and leaves out Tucson, one BSN page lists Compressed at Flagstaff and Tucson only, and the Traditional length reads as two years in the catalog but five semesters in the FAQ, wording that predates the 2025-26 curriculum. Catalog text still puts the Accelerated plan in Flagstaff. Check the program page for your start term, and see the college and campuses guide for the wider picture.
Clinical courses and hours by format
NAU's catalog prints no clinical hours for BSN courses. The May 2022 handbook sets a floor of 45 clock hours per unit of lab or clinical practicum, and that ratio reproduces the Global BSN's published 405-hour final semester exactly, so the totals below apply it. Only the Global figure is NAU's own number.
| Format | Clinical courses | Clinical hours |
|---|---|---|
| Traditional and Compressed | NUR 338L, NUR 428L, NUR 438L (Clinical Practice I to III, 3 units each); NUR 451 Preceptorship (4 units) | About 585 (inferred) |
| Global | Immersions NUR 343, NUR 363, NUR 383, NUR 443; then NUR 448L and NUR 460 in the final semester | Up to 405 in the final semester (NAU's figure) |
| Accelerated | NUR 357L, NUR 358L, NUR 380L, NUR 441L, NUR 453L; NUR 454 Preceptorship | About 495 (inferred) |
The Clinical Practice courses are graded pass or fail, while the preceptorships, NUR 451 and NUR 454, carry letter grades. NUR 419 brings advanced simulation into the last semester of the Traditional, Compressed and Global formats, but it runs as simulation rather than at a clinical site. Global students take semesters one to three online and come to an NAU campus once a term for a four-day immersion of skills and simulation labs.
These course numbers date from the 2025-26 catalog, which cut the nursing major to 63 units in four semester blocks. Numbers in older NAU documents, such as NUR 225L or NUR 334L in the 2022 handbook, belong to earlier curricula.
The final-semester preceptorship
Every format ends beside a working nurse. In the Traditional and Compressed formats, NUR 451 puts you at a healthcare agency with a precepting RN, usually for three twelve-hour shifts a week, so the real total can run past the 45-per-unit minimum.
The Global BSN front-loads coursework and puts almost all patient care in the last semester: up to 405 hours at a partner facility through NUR 448L and NUR 460, the Clinical Nurse Residency-preceptorship. Its partner regions cover the state, with an emphasis on rural and medically underserved areas: Flagstaff, Sedona, Prescott, Cottonwood, Page, Winslow and Tuba City in the north; Tucson and Sierra Vista in the south; Lake Havasu City, Bullhead City, Parker and Yuma in the west; the Phoenix metro; and Show Low, Globe, Safford, Springerville and Eagar in the east.
American Indian Program students train in Indian Health Service facilities and at hospital and community sites near the Navajo Nation, then complete the final preceptorship in their own community, on the reservation or anywhere in Arizona. Accelerated students close with NUR 454. The rural and tribal clinicals guide covers those settings for graduate students.
Clearing the document list before day one
Clinical documents go into Typhon, the college's tracking system, where you also log clinical experiences and complete evaluations. The 2026 acceptance letters list what must be uploaded: a physical exam, American Heart Association BLS Provider CPR (the only card accepted), an Arizona DPS fingerprint clearance card, liability insurance, a drug screen and background check through Certiphi, immunizations, HIPAA and bloodborne pathogen training, the Academic Integrity module and the Handbook Acknowledgment form.
Immunizations cover hepatitis B, MMR, TB screening (a two-step skin test or a blood test in the first semester, then yearly), Tdap within ten years, varicella and a flu shot by October 1 each year. NAU does not require the COVID-19 vaccine, but if a site does and you cannot attend, NAU offers no other way to earn that clinical credit.
Late paperwork can cost the seat itself: the letters warn that missing items forfeit your place. The 2026 deadlines were April 1 for Compressed Summer, August 9 for Traditional and Compressed Fall, August 7 for Accelerated Fall and September 30 for the Global BSN. Your Typhon portfolio stays open to you for five years after graduation. The Typhon and Exxat guide compares the undergraduate and graduate sides.
The Global BSN letter asks for the non-IVP health sciences student category when you apply for the fingerprint card; graduate NP programs list the IVP card instead.
Rules that decide whether you stay in clinicals
The May 2022 handbook sets the progression rules. You need a C or better, or a pass, in every required nursing course, a combined exam average of 78% to pass a course, and a pass in both its theory and clinical parts. A score below three on any section of the clinical evaluation form fails the clinical course.
Attendance is watched closely. More than one tardy, or any no-call, no-show, starts a student contract; three tardies or a second no-call, no-show can fail the course. After a failure you may retake the course once, only if a seat is open, and a second nursing course failure leads to dismissal. The 2026 acceptance letters ask you to acknowledge a current handbook that NAU does not post publicly, so confirm these rules with your campus program coordinator.
Looking past the BSN to NP study
At the graduate level the model shifts. NAU's FNP Clinical Guidelines encourage students to suggest their own preceptors, and the student files the FNP Preceptor/Agency Green Form for a placement they have arranged or would like NAU to request. The placement process guide walks through each stage.
If an NP degree is on your horizon, a few BSN habits pay off later. The MS Advanced Practice asks for a public health nursing course, didactic and clinical, and an undergraduate research course, each passed with a B or better, and NAU recommends three to five years of practice before applying. The nurses and providers you work beside in those years are natural first people to ask about precepting.
NAU nursing graduates choose our desk at that stage because we run the preceptor search end to end: preceptors near home who fit the NAU course, checked against Arizona's rule, with CV, license and certification collected and the site's approval confirmed before the Green Form goes in. Tell us your graduation term through the form below, or start with how it works.
Questions NAU students ask
Can NAU BSN students choose their own clinical site?
Not in the way graduate students can. The college assigns BSN clinical sites. First-semester Traditional and Compressed students cannot request days or times, and from the second semester your requests are considered. The American Indian Program comes closest to a choice: its final preceptorship can be in your own community, on the reservation or anywhere in Arizona.
Do I need a car for NAU nursing clinicals?
Plan on it. NAU's acceptance letters say that, because of the program's rural emphasis, you provide your own transportation to clinical settings. Flagstaff students travel to places such as Kingman and Tuba City, and Global BSN partners stretch from Page to Sierra Vista, so reliable transportation matters in every format.
Can I work while in NAU's Accelerated BSN?
NAU asks Accelerated BSN students to keep paid work to no more than 16 hours a week and to avoid work commitments for at least eight hours before class or clinicals. The program runs year-round for 12 months at North Valley, with clinical stretches of three to five days a week at sites around the state.
Where does the Global BSN final semester take place?
At a partner facility, drawn from regions across Arizona with an emphasis on rural and medically underserved areas. The current college page caps that semester at 405 clinical hours; a June 2025 version described it as a 10-week practicum instead. Earlier semesters bring you to an NAU campus once per term for a four-day immersion.
Can I go straight from NAU's BSN into its NP program?
Nothing NAU publishes forbids it, though the graduate admissions page advises gaining three to five years of nursing experience first and notes that faculty may interview applicants. The MS Advanced Practice also admits only nurses holding an RN license, Arizona or multistate, so the NCLEX comes before any NP application.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-27
We check these pages against Northern Arizona University's own catalog, program pages and published nursing documents. Your program coordinator and course faculty have the final word.
- Northern Arizona University College of Nursing: what to expect
- Northern Arizona University College of Nursing: Global BSN
- Northern Arizona University College of Nursing: accepted Traditional BSN students
- Northern Arizona University College of Nursing: American Indian Program
- NAU Undergraduate (BSN) Student Handbook, May 2022 (archived)
NAU welcomes a preceptor you arrange. We arrange one close to home.
Tell us your NAU track, your town and your next practicum. We line up preceptors who fit the course and Arizona's preceptor rule, confirm the site's approval, and gather the CV, license and certification the Green Form needs, well before NAU's cutoff.
- Preceptors matched to the course: all-ages family primary care for FNP, psychiatric settings for PMHNP
- License, experience and certification checked against the rule NAU applies, before the Green Form goes in
- All three FNP practicums planned together, near home instead of a long drive away
Start your placement plan
Track, town and next practicum is all we need to begin.