Studying with ETSU from Louisiana
Louisiana is one of three states where East Tennessee State University (ETSU) rates even its BSN as not meeting requirements, and the MSN and DNP get the same answer on the university consumer information pages. The College of Nursing lists Louisiana as not yet determined. Louisiana's board then layers on its own requirement: outside schools file a formal approval request months ahead.
Training in Louisiana?
Tell us your parish, your ETSU program and your next practicum. We plan around Louisiana's long lead time from the start.
What ETSU says about Louisiana
| ETSU page | Program | Result for Louisiana |
|---|---|---|
| College of Nursing MSN page (September 2025) | BSN and MSN | Not yet determined |
| College of Nursing DNP page (April 2026) | ETSU DNP and joint DNP | Not yet determined |
| University consumer information (June 2025) | MSN and DNP | Does not meet |
| University consumer information (July 2024) | Joint DNP | Not determined |
| University consumer information (June 2025) | BSN | Does not meet |
Louisiana gets no yes anywhere in ETSU's disclosures. The College has not reached a finding, and the university tables mark the BSN, MSN and ETSU DNP as short of Louisiana's licensure requirements, leaving only the joint DNP open. Compare every state on ETSU's licensure disclosures.
Louisiana's approval rule for out-of-state programs
Louisiana's rule is LAC 46:XLVII.3539, and it applies to graduate NP students as much as to undergraduates. Before a school headquartered outside Louisiana runs any course or clinical experience in the state, the Louisiana State Board of Nursing (LSBN) has to say yes.
The request comes from ETSU, not from you, and the board wants it half a year before the start date. It names every agency and unit you would train in, and it travels with a thick packet:
- ETSU's curriculum, the course syllabi and the catalog
- a survey form describing each clinical facility
- qualification forms for the faculty involved
- NCLEX and specialty certification pass results
- proof of Tennessee approval, regional accreditation and a national nursing accreditation the LSBN accepts
An approval lasts as long as three years and can be extended by petition. Duties continue afterward: for each graduate student, the board's clinical-experience spreadsheet is owed within the experience's first two weeks. ETSU's own review of such placements is described on clinicals outside Tennessee.
Six months is the board's minimum for the school's request, so a Louisiana preceptor found weeks before term is too late for a new request covering that term.
Faculty rules that reach back to Tennessee
The rule reaches ETSU's teaching team as well. Instructors from an out-of-state school who teach in Louisiana must hold Louisiana licensure as an RN or APRN, have earned a nursing graduate degree, and bring two or more years of clinical nursing practice.
Supervision is spelled out too. Faculty check in with each student and preceptor every week, travel to the site once or more per term, and in approved APRN preceptorships oversee no more than nine students on any clinical day. All of that falls on ETSU, so the College's answer on a Louisiana placement counts for more than any preceptor's yes.
Practice, preceptors and Louisiana sites
Louisiana NPs practice with a physician collaborator written into a state-regulated agreement, which is why AANP rates the state reduced practice. Physicians and NPs alike can supervise you, and the Intent Form covers either.
New Orleans and Baton Rouge lead the state's metros, ahead of Lafayette and Shreveport-Bossier City. NP students there tend to know Willis-Knighton, Ochsner, Baton Rouge General, FMOL Health and LCMC. They illustrate the search; none is presented as open to ETSU students. Our research turned up no Louisiana preceptor incentive.
License, applying and relocating
Louisiana's compact participation began July 1, 2019, so a Tennessee multistate license extends your RN practice privilege there, satisfying ETSU's license rules for both the MSN and the DNP. Louisiana has not joined the APRN Compact. See the RN license for clinicals.
Louisianans weighing ETSU need the LSBN's view before applying, a check ETSU requires. Enrolled students moving to Louisiana continue only with the LSBN's permission and must report the move to the College and the records office; see moving during your program.
Why ETSU students in Louisiana choose us
Louisiana punishes a late start, so we start early. We map your ETSU course sequence against the six-month window, find an NP or physician in your parish whose patients fit the course, and gather the agency, unit and preceptor details both the school's request and ETSU's Intent Form need, raising the contract on day one.
Approval of your preceptor rests with ETSU's clinical faculty, the credential check with student services. What we deliver is complete and aligned with ETSU's rules before it reaches either. Reach us through the contact form.
Questions ETSU students ask
Can ETSU students do NP clinicals in Louisiana?
Only if ETSU secures LSBN approval under LAC 46:XLVII.3539 and signs off on the placement itself. ETSU would send that request half a year ahead, listing each agency and unit. ETSU's university pages also say the MSN and DNP do not meet Louisiana's requirements, so ask the College first.
Is ETSU's BSN accepted for licensure in Louisiana?
The university BSN page, tables updated June 2025, says it does not meet Louisiana's requirements, and the College lists Louisiana as not yet determined. BSN clinicals are College-assigned, LPN to BSN placements never leave Tennessee, and RN to BSN students living elsewhere could be asked to do their hours in Tennessee.
Does my Tennessee compact license cover RN practice in Louisiana?
Yes, for RN practice: Louisiana entered the NLC in mid-2019. Keep that license unencumbered, because ETSU requires it of every license you hold. Advanced practice is a separate matter, and Louisiana has not adopted the APRN Compact.
Who submits the Louisiana clinical experience spreadsheet for graduate students?
The program, as the rule is written: an approved out-of-state school sends the LSBN's spreadsheet no later than two weeks into a graduate student's clinical experience. Your part is giving the College accurate site and preceptor details early.
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.