North Carolina clinicals for UC nursing students

UC programs open to North Carolina students

UC's seven closed states don't include North Carolina, so graduate clinicals can happen here. Residency is the only program-level barrier: three UC options accept Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana residents alone.

The North Carolina Board and licensed students

The North Carolina Board of Nursing takes no position on post-licensure graduate programs from any state. It doesn't approve or turn them down, and it places RN-to-BSN and doctoral programs outside its reach as well. Rule 21 NCAC 36 .0233, which governs clinicals for programs based elsewhere, is about unlicensed students: their North Carolina clinical agency files a request 30 days ahead. That filing isn't yours.

One Board instruction does land on graduate students. If you hold neither a North Carolina license nor a multistate license, contact the Board's Licensure Department through its Email Us form to learn what you need before clinicals begin. The same FAQ mentions SARA, which North Carolina joined in June 2016, as a path that can open field placements there to students of participating colleges.

PA preceptors and physician agreements

North Carolina appears on both of UC's PA lists. UC weighs each PA individually and limits the hours, so plan around an NP, who must supervise a fifth or more of your NP-track hours in your population focus. Nurse-midwifery students get 20 PA hours at most, all in ANW8006. PA preceptors explains how UC decides.

Every North Carolina NP keeps a physician agreement for as long as they practice, and NP licensure is handled by a joint subcommittee drawn from the nursing and medical boards; AANP calls that restricted practice. None of it changes what UC checks in a preceptor, including an unencumbered North Carolina license.

Atrium's fee, UC's extra check and Novant's award

UC's Clinical Planning page names Atrium Health / Charlotte-Mecklenburg as a site whose affiliation agreement includes an administrative fee. UC collects it from you and passes it to the site; none of it goes to the preceptor. The amount sits in that agreement, so get the current figure from your CSC before you commit, and see UC clinical site fees.

North Carolina is also on the handbook's list of states requiring a supplemental state-specific background check, which the handbook counts as your expense along with fingerprinting. Background check and drug screen has UC's process.

UC chose Novant Health in Winston-Salem as its out-of-region 2026 preceptor Organization Award winner. That's UC recognizing Novant as a precepting organization; it isn't a placement agreement, and it doesn't mean a Novant preceptor is waiting for you.

Where North Carolina students search

Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia is the largest metro, with Raleigh-Cary next and Greensboro-High Point and Winston-Salem after. Duke Health, ECU Health, UNC Health, Novant Health and Charlotte-based Atrium Health, part of Advocate Health, are large systems; treat them as places to ask, not promises.

A clinic across the line in South Carolina is a South Carolina clinical, where UC's position on PAs is unsettled; see South Carolina. Tennessee, on the western border, is closed to UC graduate clinicals.

Licensing, and why UC students choose us here

Multistate RN licenses have been honored in North Carolina since January 19, 2018, while the APRN Compact has not become law there. UC wants the license current and unrestricted in the clinical state; see RN license for clinicals.

North Carolina gives you the full preceptor mix UC allows, PAs included, and we use all of it. We search statewide for NP and physician preceptors, add PAs where UC may accept one while keeping your NP hours above the one-fifth line, and flag Atrium sites early so the fee is known before you commit. UC approves every preceptor and agreement, and your packet arrives complete. Get in touch.