Telehealth and virtual hours in an SAU practicum

01What SAU publishes, and what it doesn't

We read through SAU's program pages, its online FAQ, its clinicals blog and the 2023-24 Graduate Catalog. None of them sets a limit on telehealth hours, says telehealth is allowed, or says it is excluded. Anyone quoting a percentage or a cap for SAU is quoting something SAU has not published.

That silence cuts both ways. It does not mean virtual visits count, and it does not mean they don't. It means the decision sits with your program faculty, who approve every preceptor and site and oversee the rotation, and who may answer differently for different courses.

02The SAU rules that still apply to a virtual visit

Even without a telehealth rule, several published SAU requirements bear on any virtual hours you hope to count.

• What an hour is. The 2023-24 catalog counts actual time caring for or working with a patient, typically one patient an hour.
• Who supervises. The NP practicum is arranged with a local preceptor, a certified NP, physician or PA, approved by program faculty.
• Where care happens. SAU's nursing programs lack authorization in four states (Alabama, Arizona, Louisiana, New York), and in Washington only residents may do practice experiences.
• Your license. The catalog ties clinical work to an unrestricted RN license held where you practice.

Simulation is a separate question again. SAU's NP teaching uses iHuman virtual patient cases, according to its faculty job posting, but nothing SAU publishes treats those cases as clinical hours.

03Questions to ask faculty before you count a virtual hour

• Can patient encounters by video count toward my practicum hours, and is there a limit for this course?
• Do phone-only visits count differently from video visits?
• Must my preceptor be in the room with me, or can we both join remotely?
• Does it matter if the patient is in a different state from me?
• How should virtual encounters be marked in my log?
• Does the answer differ for my track or for later practicum courses?

Ask by email so the reply is on record, and save it with your hour log. If a later course has a different faculty member, ask again rather than assuming the first answer carries over. Clinical hour logs covers record-keeping in general.

04Why PMHNP students ask this most

Many psychiatric practices see some patients by video, so PMHNP students are the most likely to be offered a mixed schedule. The 2023-24 catalog already tells PMHNP students to plan on several placements across the practicum, which makes it common to end up with one setting that is partly virtual.

If a psychiatric preceptor offers you a blend of in-person and video sessions, get faculty's answer on how the video portion counts before you settle the schedule. Changing a plan before the paperwork goes in is far simpler than rebuilding hours at the end of the semester. The PMHNP practicum page covers the course itself.

The same caution applies to other tracks. An FNP or AGPCNP preceptor in a busy primary care practice may run some follow-up visits by video, and a pediatric practice may do the same for certain checks. Ask before those visits go into your log.

05How we handle virtual options

Our search is for in-person placements near where you live, because that is what SAU's wording about a local preceptor points to. If a practice we find mixes in-person and telehealth sessions, we tell you up front so you can raise it with faculty before any paperwork goes in.

Our searches are for in-person preceptorships, and any virtual element goes to faculty as a question first, since only they can approve it. If you want to see where the search sits among the other stages, how it works lays them out, and SAU's preceptor requirements covers who qualifies.

If faculty do allow some virtual time in your course, we can factor that into the search, for example by noting which practices offer it. The approval, and the rule about how much counts, still comes from SAU.