Professional liability insurance for SAU clinicals

01What the catalog asks for

Proof of professional nursing liability insurance is one of the items on SAU's clinical compliance list. The 2023-24 Graduate Catalog asks for coverage that lasts for the entire enrollment period, at a stated minimum, in both its MSN and DNP sections. Certificate students meet the MSN list, so the requirement reaches them as well.

The coverage limits sit in the catalog's compliance section, but that catalog dates from 2023-24, and SAU's current catalogs can't be read publicly, so the figures may have changed. Ask your program for the current minimum in writing and buy to that.

Insurance is one item among several. Everything else SAU asks you to clear, from screenings to vaccines, sits on our clinical compliance page.

02Why the whole enrollment matters

Most compliance items are pinned to your first practicum. Insurance is different: the catalog asks for coverage across the entire enrollment, not only the clinical semesters. A one-year policy therefore has to be renewed on time for every year you remain in the program.

SAU's practicum courses also stretch across semesters. In the 2023-24 catalog, the FNP practicum NUR 680 runs over three semesters and the PMHNP and PNP-PC practicums over two. A lapse partway through leaves a compliance gap in the middle of patient care, and the catalog says gaps like that can delay your program or lead to academic withdrawal.

Line the policy dates up with your course plan. If the program will run past a renewal date, note that date the day you buy, and put a reminder a month ahead of it. Course numbers here come from the 2023-24 catalog, so confirm the current numbers in Brightspace or with your advisor.

03Who pays, and what SAU doesn't say

You pay. The catalog assigns the student every cost linked to clinical agency requirements, and no SAU page says the university supplies liability coverage for online graduate students.

SAU also doesn't say whether it carries any institutional policy that extends to students, and it doesn't recommend a carrier, so compare policies against the minimum your program gives you. If you want certainty, ask your program whether any SAU policy exists and whether you still need your own; the catalog wording assumes you do.

A clinical site can have its own insurance expectations. If a hospital's onboarding asks for a certificate, send the same proof you gave SAU, and ask the site whether its minimum is different from SAU's.

04Questions to ask before you buy

Put these to the insurer before you pay

• Does the policy cover you as a student in a graduate clinical practicum, and not only in your paid RN job?
• Does it fit the role you will practice in: NP student, nurse educator intern, or DNP practicum?
• Do the limits meet SAU's current minimum, as your program states it?
• Do the policy dates run through your whole enrollment, with renewal before any gap?
• Can the insurer issue a certificate in your name to give SAU and your clinical site?
• Does it cover practice in the state where your clinical site sits, if that differs from where you work?

Get the answers in writing and keep them with the policy. If an answer is unclear, ask your program whether the policy will satisfy SAU before you pay for it.

05Does your employer's policy count?

Possibly not. An employer's policy is written around the job you are paid to do, and your role as a student at another site may sit outside it. SAU hasn't said whether employer coverage satisfies its requirement.

If you plan to do clinical hours at your own workplace, the question gets sharper. Ask your employer's risk or compliance office whether its policy covers you as a student, and ask SAU whether it will accept that proof. Our employer clinical site page covers the rest of that arrangement.

If you are a certificate student already working as an NP, the same question applies to the malpractice coverage you hold today. When in doubt, a personal student policy that names your practicum role removes the uncertainty.

06Where the proof goes and when

Proof is due before your first practicum starts, and the nursing department expects your file with it to stay up to date. SAU doesn't name a compliance-tracking system, so submit through whatever route your program gives you and keep your own copy.

Send renewed proof as soon as each renewal is issued, before the old policy ends. When your preceptor paperwork is heading in for the four-week deadline, make sure the policy on file covers the whole semester of that rotation. The documents themselves are covered on our clinical paperwork page.

If you switch insurers partway through the program, have the new policy start on or before the day the old one ends, and send SAU the new certificate before the changeover. The catalog's whole-enrollment wording is best met by a record with no gaps, not even a weekend.