Spring Arbor clinicals in Missouri

01Missouri for each SAU track

SAU authorizes nursing in Missouri, and approval happens preceptor by preceptor. Faculty review each proposed clinician and site before every rotation, and under the 2023-24 catalog your forms are due four weeks or more ahead. Our clinical paperwork page lists the pieces.

02Collaborative practice and your preceptor

AANP files Missouri under restricted practice. An NP here never outgrows the need for a collaborating physician, and the state limits how many NPs a physician may collaborate with, how charts get reviewed and how controlled substances are prescribed. None of that stops an NP from precepting you, but it means the practice's physician is part of the picture.

The 2023-24 catalog lets a physician or a PA precept SAU's NP students, not only a certified NP. In a Missouri clinic, the collaborating physician may be as good a lead as the NP, so ask about both when you call.

03Rules for schools from other states

We found no Missouri State Board of Nursing requirement that out-of-state programs register or give notice before students train here. Its program rules, found at 20 CSR 2200-2, concern schools the Board itself approves. Under RSMo 335.081(6)(a), supervised students enrolled in approved nursing schools may practice without a Missouri license, yet the statute never says how programs from other states fit. SAU's online students are licensed RNs already, which makes the license question the one that counts.

04Where Missouri students look

Four metros carry most of the search: St. Louis, Kansas City, Springfield and Columbia. Systems to approach include CoxHealth in Springfield, MU Health Care in Columbia, SSM Health, Mercy and BJC HealthCare. Ask SAU which sites already hold an affiliation agreement before you cold-call a large system.

Both big metros cross state lines. A clinic on the Kansas side of Kansas City or the Illinois side of St. Louis is in a different state, with its own rules and license questions. Kansas and Illinois are both on SAU's authorized list, but talk to your program director before proposing a site outside Missouri.

05Licensing for Missouri clinicals

Missouri wrote the compact into law at RSMo 335.360 and following sections, effective July 20, 2017, and began honoring multistate licenses in January 2018. If Missouri is your primary residence, a Missouri multistate license covers you; if you live in another compact state, that state's multistate license does. RN license for clinicals has more.

06Why Spring Arbor students in Missouri choose us

We search Missouri for NP, physician and PA preceptors who fit your SAU track, including collaborating physicians who may take a student, and prepare the documents SAU faculty review. Our leads add to SAU's own help, the program director's volunteer list and your Student Success Coach, so you have more options sooner. Tell us your start term.