West Virginia clinicals for Sacred Heart University NP students
Sacred Heart University's disclosure table, current to September 2026, lists West Virginia as "Yes" for every FNP and PMHNP program. West Virginia splits oversight by level: the RN Board handles pre-licensure schools, while graduate programs look to the Higher Education Policy Commission, which asks for approval in just two situations.
Get your placement plan
Tell us your Sacred Heart program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with the preceptor and site options that fit your course.
The RN Board or the Policy Commission?
West Virginia's Board of Registered Nurses regulates pre-licensure programs only. A school from another state that prepares first-time RNs files an approval application with the Board before its students use West Virginia facilities. Schools offering advanced degrees are sent elsewhere: to the state's Higher Education Policy Commission (WVHEPC), and to their national accreditor.
The Commission's nursing education and workforce office lists the two cases in which a graduate or APRN program from another state needs WVHEPC approval for clinicals:
- The school is not an NC-SARA participant, or
- The school places ten or more students at one West Virginia site
Sacred Heart joined NC-SARA on January 11, 2017, which leaves only the site count, a number Sacred Heart tracks rather than you. Post-licensure programs such as the RN-BSN sit outside the RN Board's reach altogether.
The West Virginia rows
| Program | West Virginia | Delivery | Clinical hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| MSN FNP | Yes | Online | 540 |
| Post-master's FNP certificate | Yes | Online | 540 |
| MSN PMHNP | Yes | Online | 540 |
| Post-master's PMHNP certificate | Yes | Online | 540 |
| BSN-to-DNP FNP | Yes | Hybrid | 1,000 post-baccalaureate (guide) |
The Clinical Nurse Leader reads "Yes" in all states too. The catalog puts rechecking on you, so do it before enrolling or relocating; the disclosures guide explains the table.
Your license depends on where you live
WVHEPC's clinical rotation guide ties the license to residence. Graduate and APRN students who call West Virginia their primary residence train on a West Virginia RN license; students living elsewhere use a multistate license. West Virginia has recognized those since January 19, 2018, and every bordering state (Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky) is a compact member now, Ohio since 2023 and Pennsylvania since July 2025.
Sacred Heart's rule lands in the same place: an active RN license with no encumbrance for each state where you do clinical practice, and it has to appear in your Health Account. More in the RN license guide. LPNs answer to a separate West Virginia board, which does not affect RN students.
Collaborative agreements and your preceptor
AANP rates West Virginia reduced. An NP's first three years of prescriptive practice run under a collaborative agreement with a physician, and a Schedule II narcotic prescription can cover no more than three days. Expect FNP preceptors who are early in practice to have a collaborating physician on record.
The teaching credential is Sacred Heart's call. Primary care rotations need a year of experience from the MD, DO, PA or APRN, plus board certification unless the preceptor is a PA; psychiatric rotations need a PMHNP or a psychiatry-certified MD or DO. See preceptor requirements.
Charleston, Huntington, Morgantown, Martinsburg
West Virginia's population is spread across small metros, so searches spread out too. The 2025 Census estimates give Charleston about 200,200 people and Morgantown about 142,000. Huntington-Ashland spills into Kentucky and Ohio, with about 185,400 of its residents in West Virginia, and Hagerstown-Martinsburg shares the Eastern Panhandle with Maryland, about 157,500 on the West Virginia side. Students tend to check Marshall Health Network, WVU Medicine and Vandalia Health, whose members include Davis Health, Mon Health and CAMC; none is a confirmed Sacred Heart site. Research recorded no West Virginia preceptor incentive.
Why West Virginia students choose us
Your placement advisor searches from your county outward, across the Kentucky, Ohio or Maryland line when that is the shorter drive, and sends each preceptor's CV, license and certification ready for Sacred Heart's NP coordinator, along with the site's contracting contact for your Contract Request Form. Send your county through the contact form.
Questions Sacred Heart students ask
Does Sacred Heart need WVHEPC approval for my West Virginia clinicals?
Only in two cases, per the Commission's nursing office: a school outside NC-SARA, or ten or more students at one West Virginia site. Sacred Heart is an NC-SARA member, leaving the ten-student threshold as the one open question, and Sacred Heart's clinical staff are the ones who count.
Can an Ohio nurse near Huntington train in West Virginia?
License-wise, yes. Ohio has been part of the compact since the first day of 2023, so a multistate license from Ohio covers West Virginia sites, which matches what WVHEPC's guide expects of students living outside the state. Sacred Heart still approves the preceptor and contracts with the site.
Does the RN Board's out-of-state application apply to my RN-BSN?
No. The Board's application covers out-of-state pre-licensure programs, and it does not regulate post-licensure education. Your RN-BSN clinicals follow Sacred Heart's own timeline: route a proposed preceptor's CV and RN license through your academic advisor a full nine months ahead of your first clinical practice course.
Are there enough NP preceptors outside Charleston and Morgantown?
Research gives no preceptor counts, but it does show a spread-out state with two cross-border metros. Build a list that includes Huntington and the Eastern Panhandle, and begin well ahead, because contracting a site new to Sacred Heart may take nine months.
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
Start your placement plan
Program, city and clinical start is all we need to begin.