NRSE 4026 R.N. Practicum: the RN to BSN clinical at ETSU
In the online RN to BSN at East Tennessee State University (ETSU), every course is online and asynchronous except one: NRSE 4026 R.N. Practicum, taken in your final semester. If your full-time job is in direct patient care, ETSU lets you complete it where you already work. If you do not, you work with the College of Nursing to set up a clinical, and living outside Tennessee can change where it happens.
Need a site for NRSE 4026?
Tell us your job, city and final-semester term. We look for a practicum site and RN preceptor near you.
Where the practicum sits in the track
The RN to BSN runs three semesters of continuous enrollment, with a single summer admission each year and a February 15 application deadline. General education can be finished at any point along the way. NRSE 4026 comes last, in the final semester, and it is the only part of the track that is not online.
ETSU's 2025 articulation plan with Northeast State Community College shows one version of the term order. Your own sequence depends on transfer credit, so confirm it with your advisor.
| Term | Nursing courses |
|---|---|
| Summer | NRSE 3010 Pharmacology in Nursing, plus general education |
| Fall | NRSE 3200, NRSE 3510 and NRSE 3525 |
| Spring (final) | NRSE 4355 Healthcare Systems and Informatics in Nursing (4), NRSE 4620 (3), and the R.N. Practicum, listed there as NRSE 4062 (5) |
Dual Degree students, who begin BSN courses at ETSU while still in a partner college's ADN program, finish the same way, with the R.N. Practicum in the final semester after they graduate and pass the NCLEX-RN.
Route one: your current employer
ETSU Online's rule is specific: RNs working full time in direct patient care may complete the final-semester practicum at their current employer. That keeps the setting, the schedule and the people familiar, and it spares you a search.
Two words in that rule carry weight. Full time and direct patient care are both conditions. ETSU's pages do not address RNs who work part time in direct care, so if that describes you, ask the College before you count on the employer route.
Even at your own workplace, the College has to clear the arrangement, and ETSU publishes no RN to BSN steps for doing it. Ask early which unit and preceptor you would use and what paperwork your employer will want to see. Working where you work covers the wider question of clinicals at your own employer.
Route two: setting it up with the College
RNs who are not in direct patient care work with the College of Nursing to set up a clinical. ETSU's wording covers any RN whose current job sits outside direct patient care.
ETSU publishes no steps, forms or timeline for this route, and the Preceptor Intent Form on its site lists only graduate courses. Contact the College at the start of the track rather than the start of the final semester, so there is time to find a site and put any agreement in place before the term begins.
NRSE 4026 clock hours are not published on the web either. Ask course faculty for the hour requirement early, since it decides how many shifts or days you need and how the practicum fits around your job. The same applies to any site or preceptor requirements the course sets.
Living outside Tennessee
Here ETSU's RN to BSN page adds a caution rooted in state regulation: if you live in another state, the practicum hours may have to happen at a Tennessee agency or institution. The rest of the track is online, so this can be the one part that brings you into Tennessee.
Several nearby boards take a hands-off view of out-of-state RN to BSN programs. Virginia's board says it does not regulate out-of-state or post-licensure programs, Kentucky's says RN to BSN programs are outside its jurisdiction, and North Carolina's lists RN to BSN among the programs it does not oversee. Those positions do not override ETSU's own rule, so ask the College how your state is handled before you plan around a local site.
The wider picture, including the College's case-by-case review for graduate students, is on clinicals outside Tennessee.
NRSE 4026 or NRSE 4062
ETSU's RN to BSN and Dual Degree pages call the course NRSE 4026. The 2025 Northeast State articulation plan lists the R.N. Practicum as NRSE 4062, with 5 credits. ETSU does not reconcile the two numbers anywhere on its site.
Register for the number shown in your own catalog year and Degree Works audit, and use it on any paperwork a site asks you to sign. This site could not open the 2026-27 undergraduate catalog's program page, so look up the number and credits there yourself.
ETSU's curriculum office also lists a substantive BSN curriculum revision effective fall 2026. Ask your advisor whether it changes anything in the RN to BSN sequence or the practicum. The track as a whole, from admission to credit rules, is described on the RN to BSN program page.
Before your first practicum day
Your license comes first. RN to BSN students show a license, reviewed under the College's Clinical Health Requirements Policy, and an encumbered or revoked license means withdrawal. A new ADN graduate can start with one semester of BSN coursework while still unlicensed, provided they pass the NCLEX-RN during that semester, long before the practicum.
ETSU's undergraduate catalog also requires Clinical Health Requirements for BSN students, including drug screening and background checks through vendors the College specifies, and gives clinical partners the final say on whether a student meets them. Clearance by the College does not bind a facility, which can still turn a student away. Ask which items apply to the RN to BSN. Requirements live in ProjectConcert, which lists a due date and current status beside each item; see clinical health requirements.
Why ETSU RN to BSN students choose us
If your own employer can host you, the path is short. When it cannot, because you work outside direct patient care, part time or outside Tennessee, we search your own community for a practicum site and RN preceptor that fit the course, gather the details the College asks for, and flag any agreement early so it can be in place before your final semester starts. You keep working while we do the calling and the follow-up.
The College approves the placement; we make sure what reaches it is complete the first time, and we stay on call if the site or preceptor changes before your hours are done. Tell us your job, your city and your final-semester term with the contact form.
Questions ETSU students ask
Can I do the ETSU RN to BSN practicum at my job?
Yes, provided you are a full-time RN in direct patient care. ETSU Online says those RNs may complete the final-semester practicum at their current employer. RNs not in direct patient care work with the College of Nursing to set up a clinical instead. If you work part time in direct care, ask the College which route applies.
How many clinical hours is NRSE 4026?
ETSU does not publish clock hours for NRSE 4026 on its web pages, so the 2026-27 undergraduate catalog and your syllabus are the places to confirm them. Ask course faculty for the hour requirement before your final semester, since it sets how many days you need at the site.
Do I need to find my own preceptor for NRSE 4026?
At your own employer, the site is settled, though you still need the College to clear the arrangement. If you are not in direct patient care, ETSU says you work with the College to set up a clinical. ETSU does not describe who finds the preceptor in that case, so ask at the start of the track.
Is NRSE 4026 the same course as NRSE 4062?
Both numbers are used for the R.N. Practicum. ETSU's RN to BSN and Dual Degree pages say NRSE 4026, while a 2025 articulation plan with Northeast State lists NRSE 4062 at 5 credits, and ETSU does not explain the difference. Register under the number in your catalog year and Degree Works audit.
I live in Virginia. Can I do the RN to BSN practicum there?
Possibly, but ETSU cautions that students who live outside Tennessee may need to do the clinical part in Tennessee, at an institution or agency there. Virginia's Board of Nursing says it does not regulate out-of-state or post-licensure programs, so the deciding rule is ETSU's. Ask the College of Nursing before you line up a Virginia site.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-25
We check these pages against ETSU's own catalog, College of Nursing pages, plans of study and ProjectConcert guides. Your plan of study, your syllabus, your course faculty and the graduate clinical coordinator have the final word.
ETSU asks you to lead the preceptor search. We make it the fastest part of your program.
Tell us your ETSU concentration, where you live and which semester your next practicum starts. We find preceptors who fit the course's patient population and prepare everything your Preceptor Intent Form and ProjectConcert entry need.
- Preceptors matched to the course: young and middle adults for
NRSE 5012, older adults forNRSE 5014, women forNRSE 5022, children forNRSE 5024, psychiatric care forNRSE 5405 - Credentials, license numbers, certification dates and the site's patient mix ready for faculty approval
- In your own community, in Northeast Tennessee or wherever ETSU approves your clinicals
Start your placement plan
Program, city and semester is all we need to begin.