Spring Arbor clinicals in Maryland

01SAU programs in Maryland

Authorization gets you started; approval still happens rotation by rotation. SAU faculty review each preceptor and site, and under the 2023-24 catalog the clinical agreement, affiliation and preceptor verification forms are due four weeks or more before the course begins. The paperwork page lists what to collect.

02NP rules and the preceptorship tax credit

Maryland gives NPs full practice, with one condition at the outset: every new NP attests to an 18-month mentoring relationship, with a physician or a certified NP as mentor. For SAU's NP tracks, the 2023-24 catalog is open to certified NPs, physicians and PAs, so all three are fair to approach.

The Nurse Practitioner Preceptorship Tax Credit (Md. Code, Tax-General §10-739) lets NPs and physicians who teach NP students without pay claim a Maryland income tax credit. The preceptorship has to be Board-approved and community-based, sited where the Maryland Department of Health (MDH) has flagged a health workforce shortage, and a preceptor needs three or more rotations of at least 90 hours each. The law is set to run until June 30, 2030. It is drafted with NP students of Board-recognized nursing programs in mind, so whether an SAU rotation qualifies is for the preceptor to check with MDH. Don't promise it.

03Maryland and schools based elsewhere

Health Occ. §8-301(d)(2) exempts graduate students in accredited APRN programs from Maryland licensure for the advanced practice nursing they do within the program. Separately, Maryland's higher education commission asks online schools from other states to register, but COMAR 13B.05.01.02 carves out SARA members, and SAU says it is NC-SARA approved.

Think ahead to licensure, too. MBON has to have reviewed and approved an NP program before it will certify that program's graduates for advanced practice. If you intend to practice as an NP in Maryland, check whether your SAU track appears on MBON's approved list; if it doesn't, the school files the approval form, not you.

04Where Maryland students look

The Baltimore-Columbia-Towson area is the biggest market, with the Maryland suburbs of Washington close behind and Hagerstown and Lexington Park much smaller. Large systems include MedStar Health, Luminis Health, the University of Maryland Medical System, LifeBridge Health and Johns Hopkins Medicine. Ask SAU whether a site already has an affiliation agreement before you pitch it.

One boundary deserves care. SAU's state list doesn't mention the District of Columbia at all, so a site across the DC line needs written confirmation from SAU first.

05Licensing for Maryland clinicals

Maryland put the nurse compact into effect in January 2018. Its regulation at COMAR 10.27.01.03(B) lets an RN working on a multistate privilege practice in Maryland, following Maryland law. A Maryland multistate license works, and so does one from another compact state if that is where you have your primary residence. Details are on RN license for clinicals.

06Why Spring Arbor students in Maryland choose us

We look for Maryland preceptors who meet your track's rules and, when a preceptor asks about the tax credit, point them to MDH for a firm answer. We also get your documents ready before SAU's four-week mark, so faculty can decide on approval with everything in hand. Start with the form.