Delaware clinicals in a Sacred Heart University NP program
Sacred Heart University's FNP and PMHNP programs read "Yes" for Delaware on the September 2026 disclosures. Delaware's rules then ask a good deal of any school from another state: its Board of Nursing wants notice, agency agreements and preceptor licenses before a single student starts in a Delaware clinical facility.
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Tell us your Sacred Heart program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with the preceptor and site options that fit your course.
Delaware's answer in the disclosures
In September 2026, Sacred Heart's State Authorization page gives Delaware a "Yes" on every FNP and PMHNP line, and Sacred Heart's NC-SARA participation dates to January 11, 2017. Look at the page again before you enroll, since the catalog assigns that check to students.
| Sacred Heart track | Delaware | Setting | Hours required |
|---|---|---|---|
| MSN FNP | Yes | Online, precepted clinicals | 540 clinical |
| Post-master's FNP certificate | Yes | Online | 540 |
| MSN PMHNP | Yes | Online | 540, at least 100 of them in NU 572 with patients under 18 |
| Post-master's PMHNP certificate | Yes | Online | 540 |
| MSN CNL (non-NP) | Yes | Online | 420 (guide) or 400/500 (catalog) |
For the national picture, see our disclosures guide.
Delaware's Board hears from Sacred Heart first
Delaware's education rules for nursing (Regulation 1900 in Title 24 of its administrative code) speak to every program, making no split between pre-licensure and graduate study. A school based elsewhere that plans to use a Delaware clinical facility has to tell the Delaware Board of Nursing beforehand and send a packet before anyone is placed:
- Proof of approval from its own state's board, or of national accreditation
- The written agreement with each clinical agency it will use
- What it requires of clinical faculty and preceptors
- The faculty and preceptors involved, and the site each one covers
- A current Delaware or multistate license copy for each of them
A nearby clause makes each facility itself subject to Board approval ahead of student assignments, based on forms the school submits, with the option of a visit from Board representatives. Sacred Heart makes these filings. Your lever is speed: the sooner your preceptor's license copy and the facility's details reach Sacred Heart, the sooner Delaware sees a complete packet.
The preceptor definition, and a question to ask early
In Delaware's vocabulary, a preceptor is a licensed nurse educated to at least the BSN. Inside a Delaware facility, an online program's instructors and preceptors also need a license or privilege at or above the level of the role you are training for. An APRN preceptor fits that language and Sacred Heart's criteria at once.
Sacred Heart's FNP list also includes MDs, DOs and PAs; if one of them is your best Delaware option, ask the MSN Online NP Programs Clinical Coordinator how the Delaware packet will treat that person before you commit. For the PMHNP, the match is a PMHNP or a board-certified psychiatrist (MD or DO). Full criteria: preceptor requirements.
Full practice, and two different compacts
AANP rates Delaware full practice. On August 4, 2021 Delaware also enacted the APRN Compact, joining Utah, Wyoming, North Dakota and South Dakota in a group of five; the compact switches on only at seven, so it changes nothing yet.
The compact that governs your clinicals is the RN one. A compact member since January 19, 2018, Delaware honors a multistate RN license issued by any other member, and that license also satisfies Sacred Heart's requirement of an active, unencumbered license in the state where you train. Details sit in the RN license guide.
Wilmington, Dover and Seaford
About 588,000 Delawareans live in the state's share of the Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington metro, home to ChristianaCare and to Nemours Children's Health, a multistate pediatric system whose Delaware hospital is in Wilmington. Bayhealth and Beebe Healthcare are the other Delaware systems students name, and the Dover metro (about 195,000) and the Seaford area (about 277,000) complete the map. Each is a place to inquire, nothing more. Nemours is a logical inquiry for NU 606 or the under-18 hours in NU 572.
The Wilmington metro spans four states. A site across the line in New Jersey, Pennsylvania or Maryland brings that state's rules, so read the New Jersey guide or ask us before you cross.
Placement help sized for Delaware's paperwork
Delaware rewards a complete file, which is what we hand you: a preceptor who fits your Sacred Heart course, a current license copy ready for Sacred Heart and the Board packet, and the facility contact the Contract Request Form asks for. We keep a backup preceptor in view as well, because any change of preceptor means a new CRF and fresh clearance. Reach us through the contact form.
Questions Sacred Heart students ask
Must Delaware approve anything before a Sacred Heart student trains there?
Yes. Before a Delaware clinical facility is used, the Board of Nursing must hear from the out-of-state school and receive its agency agreements, preceptor requirements, names and license copies; the facility itself also needs Board approval ahead of student assignments. Sacred Heart handles those filings; you get the placement details to Sacred Heart early.
Can a Delaware physician precept my Sacred Heart FNP hours?
Sacred Heart accepts board-certified MDs and DOs with a year of primary care experience. Delaware's rules, though, describe a preceptor as a BSN-prepared nurse, so a physician preceptor is worth raising with the MSN Online NP Programs Clinical Coordinator before you commit. An APRN preceptor sidesteps the question.
Does Delaware's APRN Compact help me practice elsewhere after graduation?
Not yet. Five states have enacted it, Delaware in 2021 among them, and it activates only when a seventh joins. Until that happens, each state licenses its own NPs, so expect to need an NP license from the state where you will practice. For student hours, your RN multistate license is what counts.
Is there a Delaware tax credit for preceptors?
No Delaware preceptor incentive, tax credit or otherwise, appears in our state research. When a preceptor asks what they gain, point to the affiliate title, continuing education and library access Sacred Heart describes for its preceptors, collected on our preceptor page.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-25
We check these pages against Sacred Heart's own catalog, program pages and 2026-27 student guides. Your student guide, your academic advisor and your course faculty have the final word.
Sacred Heart asks you to secure your clinical placement. We make that the easy part.
Tell us your Sacred Heart program, your city and your next clinical course. We find preceptors who fit the course and prepare what your advisor, the NP clinical coordinator and the Contract Request Form ask for, early enough for the affiliation agreement.
- Preceptors matched to the course: primary care of adults, women and children for FNP, psychiatric care across the lifespan for PMHNP
- Preceptor CV, license, board certification and the site's contract contact ready before your week-10 deadline
- Close to home in any state where Sacred Heart's program meets licensure requirements, with New York's rule planned around
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