Finding an Idaho preceptor for your UC clinicals

Which UC programs can use Idaho

Idaho appears on no UC exclusion list, UC asks for no Idaho form, and the state is absent from UC's supplemental background check list. See how it compares on where UC allows clinicals.

How Idaho treats a student from an Ohio program

Idaho has no rule written for your situation. Its program-approval provisions, IDAPA 24.34.01.150 and section 54-1406 of the Idaho Code, concern schools that offer programs inside Idaho, and neither mentions clinical placements by a school elsewhere. For out-of-state and online schools, the board's page offers only a DOPL email contact, hp-licensing@dopl.idaho.gov. That's UC's conversation to have, so ask constateauth@uc.edu whether anything Idaho-specific applies before your term.

Once you're working, Idaho's rules are on your side. The board's rule at IDAPA 24.34.01.100.12.a lets a matriculated APRN student practice at the APRN level as part of the curriculum, provided the student is an RN licensed or privileged in Idaho and the program holds national accreditation. Section 54-1412 of the Idaho Code adds a licensure exemption for students of approved programs doing work incident to formal instruction.

Physician assistants can precept here, within limits

UC's PA list includes Idaho, which means a PA can be proposed, not that one will be approved: UC reviews each PA individually and caps their hours. On NP tracks, an NP in your population focus must still cover at least a fifth of the total. Midwifery is tighter, with PA time topping out at 20 hours, confined to ANW8006 and dependent on the program director's sign-off. PA preceptors covers the rules.

One Idaho policy deserves a question first. HP-BON-Education 1, adopted by the board in April 2024, sets a floor for clinical preceptors across all nursing programs: their license has to match or exceed the level of the credential the student is pursuing. The policy doesn't say how a PA measures against that for an NP student, or whether programs based outside Idaho fall under it, so check with your CSC before you build a term around a PA.

Your license in Idaho

Idaho's compact membership began January 19, 2018. Its APRN-student provision accepts either an Idaho license or the privilege to practice there, and a multistate license issued where you live, if that's a compact state, carries the privilege. That meets UC's requirement of an RN license valid where you train; see RN license for clinicals.

The 2024 policy also covers teachers: Idaho wants an Idaho RN license from anyone teaching nursing courses there, and an Idaho APRN license from faculty mainly responsible for APRN role and population courses. That's for UC to manage, not you.

Where UC students look in Idaho, and where we fit

AANP rates Idaho as full practice. Clinicians cluster in the Boise City metro, with smaller pools around Coeur d'Alene, Idaho Falls and Twin Falls. Kootenai Health in Coeur d'Alene, St. Luke's Health System and Saint Alphonsus Health System are large employers. Those names show where Idaho clinicians work; none is a confirmed UC site. Our research found no Idaho incentive for preceptors.

We search for Idaho NPs, physicians and, where UC agrees, PAs who fit UC's rules, then help you prepare the Preceptor Application. UC approves every preceptor. To begin a search, use the form on this page; how it works lays out our steps.