Southeastern clinical compliance: what has to be on file before your first hour
Southeastern Louisiana University lets no graduate clinical hour begin until your health records, CPR certification and OSHA and HIPAA proof sit in the Graduate Nursing Office file beside the facility contract and preceptor papers. The catalog adds a background check plus drug and alcohol screening at enrollment, paid by you, and every clinical site can layer its own requirements on top.
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The clearance file that must be complete before hour one
The MSN consortium's student handbook names four things the Graduate Nursing Office must hold before any clinical or practicum experience starts: a current agency contract, a preceptor CV or resume dated within two years, the letter of agreement signed by you, your faculty member and the preceptor, and current proof of your clinical health requirements, OSHA and HIPAA compliance and other university documents. The first three belong to the placement, covered in the placement process. The fourth is the compliance file, and keeping it current is your job.
The handbook is plain about the stakes: without the required health evidence, a student may not stay enrolled in any clinical nursing course. A lapsed CPR card can cost you the seat.
What Southeastern's public documents require
- A background check at enrollment (2026-27 catalog), paid by you
- Drug and alcohol screening at enrollment, plus a baseline drug screen for every consortium student
- Program health and immunization requirements, on health assessment forms from the graduate nursing office
- Current CPR certification through every practicum course (BCLS in the consortium handbook)
- OSHA and HIPAA documentation on file before hours begin
- Anything a clinical agency adds, including its own criminal background check
Immunizations and health records: the only itemized list dates from 2018-19
For health requirements the consortium handbook sends you back to your home school, and Southeastern has not posted a current immunization list for MSN students. The single itemized list Southeastern has put online sits in its 2018-19 DNP Student Handbook, due before the project planning course (N803 then, NURS 8030 now).
| Item | What the handbook asked for |
|---|---|
| History and physical | Completed by a licensed physician or nurse practitioner |
| Tuberculosis | Negative PPD, a chest x-ray if positive, repeated every year |
| Syphilis screen | Negative VDRL or RPR |
| Measles, mumps, rubella | MMR titer |
| Hepatitis B | Documented positive surface antibody titer |
| Varicella | Antibody testing |
| Tdap | One dose |
| Medications | A list of prescription maintenance drugs |
| After an illness | A release from a physician |
| Health insurance | Proof every semester |
| CPR | American Heart Association course for health care providers, not expiring during the semester |
| OSHA | Yearly orientation or update covering fire prevention, safety, disaster and HIPAA |
| Licenses | Current, unencumbered RN and any APRN license, at admission and every year |
| Each semester | Confidentiality statement, a drug policy form and health insurance verification |
Treat the table as a picture of the evidence Southeastern has asked for, not as today's MSN checklist; your current list comes from the Graduate Nursing Office and course faculty. Tracking and background checks sorts out the old and current vendor names.
CPR, drug testing and background checks in detail
CPR has to stay current through every practicum course, according to the catalog. The consortium handbook uses the older label BCLS, and the 2018-19 DNP list named the American Heart Association provider course and asked that the card not lapse mid-semester. Renew before a term opens so one card covers the whole course.
Drug screening appears three times: the catalog's enrollment screen, its separate note that drug testing will be required, and the consortium handbook's baseline screen under your home school's policy. The old DNP handbook placed that policy in a School of Nursing Student Handbook that is not linked from any Southeastern page we found, so ask the Graduate Nursing Office for the version in force.
Background checks come in two layers. Southeastern screens you at enrollment through its vendor, and any agency that runs its own criminal background check can require that one too, at your cost. Pre-licensure students, by contrast, need a clear criminal background check from the Louisiana State Board of Nursing, as the BSN clinicals guide explains.
What clinical sites add to Southeastern's list
The catalog tells practicum students to meet other agency requirements. Each hospital or clinic keeps its own student file, separate from Southeastern's, and can ask for items the university never mentions.
- Ochsner Health: according to its clinical education page, schools submit graduate nursing requests through InPlace, and compliance is due soon after placement notices (July 15 for fall, December 15 for spring, May 15 for summer). Its InPlace guide keeps students out of every Ochsner campus until all compliance items are complete.
- Ochsner LSU Health in Shreveport and Monroe: according to its graduate student page, the school uploads compliance documents in InPlace.
- Both Ochsner systems ask for an active RN license for the state of the clinical or a compact license, and for the program's Louisiana State Board of Nursing approval.
- LCMC Health and CHRISTUS Health: an affiliation agreement between the school and the system has to be in place first, according to their student pages (LCMC's read from an archived copy).
Dress counts too. The consortium expects a white lab coat unless the setting makes it a poor fit, such as psychiatric or some pediatric sites, and a name tag in every consortium lab or practicum.
Laboratory fees and the other costs you carry
Southeastern's 2026-27 catalog says a laboratory fee is required for each Family Health course (NURS 6820, NURS 6830, NURS 6840), each Psychiatric/Mental Health clinical course (NURS 6910, NURS 6920, NURS 6930) and the Nurse Executive field studies and internship (NURS 6540, NURS 6550, NURS 6590). Health assessment, NURS 6070, carries one too. No entry prints an amount.
| Cost | Who pays | Amount published? |
|---|---|---|
| Background check and drug and alcohol screening at enrollment | You | No |
| An agency's own background check, where a site requires one | You | No |
| Clinical tracking system subscription, kept through every NP practicum semester | You | No |
| Laboratory fee on clinical courses | Billed with the course | Not in the catalog entries |
| A professional fee each semester and proctored testing fees for online courses | Billed by Southeastern | Not in the program entry |
| Emergency care after a blood or body fluid exposure at a site | The person receiving the care | Not applicable |
| Health insurance (2018-19 DNP list) and trips to Hammond for DNP or certificate orientation | You | Not applicable |
Ask the Graduate Nursing Office for current amounts before you budget a semester, then add whatever your site introduces. Our own pricing is on the cost page.
Timing compliance around the contract clock
Compliance items expire on their own schedules, while a new facility contract can take weeks to months. Plan the two together.
- Get the current list earlyAsk the Graduate Nursing Office for the health forms and screening checklist the term before your first clinical course, and book anything needing a lab draw or a dose series.
- Pull the site's list once a preceptor agreesA facility's requirements can differ from Southeastern's, and a hospital's compliance date can fall weeks before the semester.
- Clear both files before the termUpload Southeastern's items, complete the site's, and confirm with course faculty that everything is on file before you schedule an hour.
- Calendar the renewalsYearly tuberculosis screening and OSHA training, and a CPR card that could lapse mid-course, need dates across all three clinical courses.
Southeastern's clearance and a clinical site's clearance are two separate files. Clearing the university's list does not satisfy the hospital or clinic, and at least one large Louisiana system keeps students off its campuses until its own items are done.
How the placement desk keeps compliance from delaying your start
When your placement advisor confirms a preceptor, we pull that facility's student requirements, compare them with what Southeastern already holds for you, and hand you a short list of anything extra with its due date. We time the request so the site's deadlines and the facility contract fit your semester, and we stay on call if a preceptor drops and a new site brings a new list.
Because we check the facility's list before the name goes to your course faculty, a site that needs something unusual surfaces early, while there is still time to finish it or choose another preceptor. Send your program, next clinical course and part of Louisiana through the request form, and the search starts with the compliance picture in view.
Questions Southeastern students ask
Who pays for background checks and drug screens at Southeastern?
You do. The 2026-27 catalog says the background check and the drug and alcohol screening at enrollment are at the student's expense, and the consortium handbook puts the cost of any agency-required background check on the student too. No public Southeastern page prints a price, so ask the Graduate Nursing Office.
Can I begin clinical hours while one compliance item is still pending?
No. The consortium handbook bars any clinical or practicum experience until current health, OSHA and HIPAA documentation is on file in the Graduate Nursing Office, along with the contract, the preceptor's CV and the signed letter of agreement. Wait for course faculty to confirm the file is complete before logging an hour.
How much is the laboratory fee on NURS 6820?
The catalog entry for NURS 6820 says only that a laboratory fee is required and prints no amount, and the same line appears on the other Family Health and Psychiatric/Mental Health clinical courses. The Graduate Nursing Office can confirm the current figure before you register for the course.
Do Southeastern NP students need ACLS or only BLS?
Southeastern's public documents ask for current CPR certification, which the consortium handbook calls BCLS, and the 2018-19 DNP list named the American Heart Association provider course. None of them mentions ACLS. A site can ask for more than Southeastern does, so read the facility's requirements once your preceptor is confirmed.
Do I need my own liability insurance for clinicals?
Southeastern's public graduate documents do not list a student liability policy among the clearance items. Louisiana's nursing education rules require the written agreement between a program and a clinical agency to address liability insurance coverage, so the question is handled at the contract level. If a site asks you for individual proof, raise it with the Graduate Nursing Office.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-27
We check these pages against Southeastern's own catalog, program pages and consortium handbook, and Louisiana rules. Your course faculty, the graduate coordinator and your advisor have the final word.
Southeastern asks you to choose your preceptor. We find one near you.
Tell us your Southeastern track, where in Louisiana you live and when your next clinical course starts. We find Louisiana-licensed preceptors who fit the course, confirm whether the facility is already under contract with the university, and hand you what your course faculty need to approve it before the semester.
- Pediatric and women's health preceptors for
NURS 6820, adult and older-adult primary care forNURS 6830andNURS 6840 - Psychiatric preceptors for
NURS 6910toNURS 6930, with the child and older-adult focus each course sets - Across Louisiana, from the Northshore to Shreveport
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