The "Cleared for Clinical" email, and why nothing starts without it
At Sacred Heart University, the last step before any clinical day is an email: "Cleared for Clinical/Observation", or "Cleared for DNP project" for DNP work. It arrives only when compliance, an approved preceptor and a confirmed affiliation agreement are all in place. No email means no clinical, and hours logged without clearance are deleted.
Reach clearance with fewer loose ends
We deliver a preceptor, a ready packet and the site's contract contact, so the three conditions move together.
What the email is
The "Cleared for Clinical/Observation" email is Sacred Heart's final clearance to attend a clinical experience. The Clinical Placement Compliance Coordinator sends it, and the MSN guide is blunt about what happens without it: if you do not receive the email, you cannot attend. The guide sets the rule in capital letters, FINAL CLEARANCE and ONLY, and means both.
It is a different message from the approval email the MSN Online NP Programs Clinical Coordinator sends after reviewing your preceptor. That earlier email lets you submit the Contract Request Form; only the clearance email lets you walk into the site. Keeping the two apart in your head prevents the most expensive mistake on this page. The whole route between them is on the placement process page.
The three conditions behind it
The guide ties final clearance to three things being true at the same moment:
- Full compliance with every Student Practice Requirement in your Health Account, from the physical exam, TB test and CPR card to the RN license for your clinical state, liability insurance and a flu vaccine by November 1. The Health Account and compliance page covers each item.
- An approved preceptor, through the academic advisor and, for NP students, the NP clinical coordinator, as set out on preceptor approval.
- A confirmed affiliation agreement with the site, explained on affiliation agreements.
Clearance waits for the slowest of the three. A flawless preceptor packet cannot outrun an unsigned contract, and a signed contract cannot outrun an expired CPR card. Track all three at once, not one after another.
What happens without it
Sacred Heart treats clinical time without clearance as time that does not count. The MSN guide says hours logged at a rotation attended while non-compliant, or with a preceptor or site that is not approved, will be deleted from the student's E*Value portal, and the student also receives a program warning.
Compliance lapses carry a consequence of their own. Students who miss published compliance due dates are removed from the clinical course and the rotation. In a 16-week NP course with fixed hour targets, even a week or two lost this way is hard to make up, which is why clearance deserves the same attention as the search itself.
Starting a few hours early with a willing preceptor before the email arrives is the costliest mistake: those hours are deleted, and a program warning can follow.
Changes of site or preceptor
Clearance belongs to one site and one preceptor. If either changes, the MSN guide tells you to notify Clinical Placement immediately, submit a new Contract Request Form and wait for an updated clearance letter before returning. Adding a second preceptor or another site is a change to report as well. Let your course faculty know about any pause, so the missing days are explained on your record.
Log the old site's hours correctly in E*Value up to the day of the change, and keep your Health Account current, because a new site may ask for items the old one did not. Sites can require a background check from within the past three to twelve months, a drug screen, fingerprinting or their own facility background check.
Clearance in the hybrid and DNP programs
The hybrid FNP/DNP uses the same final-clearance criteria. Its observation hours need clearance too, and the NU 552 observation site needs a current affiliation agreement with Sacred Heart. Hybrid students finish compliance 30 days ahead of their first NU 552 class and renew it annually. The FNP/DNP guide also reminds students that compliance applies even when their clinical hours happen at their place of employment.
DNP project work has its own version. Students need a "Cleared for DNP project" email in NU 810 and NU 820, after the project site's Contract Request Form, the practice site paperwork and Sacred Heart IRB approval are in place. The post-master's DNP applies the same final-clearance criteria as the hybrid program, and its students record their project implementation hours in E*Value much as NP students log clinical time.
Watching for the email
Keep a close eye on your SHU email, where Sacred Heart's clinical offices write to students. The guides expect replies to clinical and compliance emails within 48 to 72 hours, so a missed follow-up question can hold clearance back. Save the email where you can find it quickly; a site coordinator may ask to see that the school has cleared you.
If your course start is near and no email has come, check the three conditions one by one: is every Health Account item approved and unexpired, did the NP coordinator's approval arrive, and has the contract coordinator raised any problem with the agreement? Your academic advisor can tell you which condition is still open. Only after the email arrives should you set a first day with your preceptor.
How we get you to clearance sooner
Clearance is three tracks running side by side, and we keep all three moving. Your placement advisor delivers a preceptor packet ready for approval, the site's contract contact so the agreement starts early, and a list of anything the site itself adds to your Health Account. We also keep your program's deadline and compliance renewal dates in view with you, so nothing expires quietly between courses. At every point you know which condition is still open.
If a preceptor leaves after you are cleared, we find the replacement and prepare the details for the new form right away, so the updated clearance can begin without a gap in your search. See preceptor dropped out for how that works, or start with the form below.
Questions Sacred Heart students ask
How long after the Contract Request Form does clearance arrive?
Sacred Heart's public sources give no set time. Clearance follows the last of three items: a confirmed affiliation agreement, full Health Account compliance and an approved preceptor. When the site already has an agreement and your compliance is complete, the wait is mostly the contract confirmation; with a brand-new site it can run for months.
Does clearance carry over to my next clinical course?
Sacred Heart's guides tie clearance to a site and a preceptor, and online FNP students set up each next placement by week 10 of the course before it. If you are staying at the same site with the same preceptor, ask your academic advisor or check your Clinical Requirements Blackboard organization for whether a new clearance letter is issued.
Who sends the Cleared for Clinical email?
The Clinical Placement Compliance Coordinator. That role is separate from the MSN Online NP Programs Clinical Coordinator, who approves NP preceptors, and from the Clinical Contract & Compliance Coordinator, who handles the affiliation agreement. The who does what page maps every role in a Sacred Heart placement.
What if my compliance lapses in the middle of a course?
MSN NP students must stay fully compliant for the rest of the program, whenever they finish their hours. A lapse, such as an expired CPR card or a missed annual background check, puts you out of compliance, and the guide removes students who miss compliance due dates from the course and rotation. Renew each item well before it expires.
Do hours count if my preceptor signs them before I am cleared?
No. A preceptor's signature cannot stand in for clearance. The MSN guide says hours from a rotation attended while non-compliant, or with an unapproved preceptor or site, will be deleted from your E*Value portal. Wait for the email, then log from your first cleared day.
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 University MSN and Post-MSN Certificate Online Programs Student Guide, 2026-2027
- Sacred Heart University FNP/DNP Hybrid Nursing Program Student Guide, 2026-2027
- Sacred Heart University PM-DNP Hybrid Nursing Program Student Guide, 2026-2027
- Sacred Heart University RN-BSN and RN-BSN-MSN Student Guide, 2026-2027
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
Start your placement plan
Program, city and clinical start is all we need to begin.