Finding a Vermont preceptor for UC clinicals

Which UC programs work in Vermont

Vermont isn't one of the seven states UC excludes, which leaves most programs open. The usual residency limits hold for three tracks.

Vermont's own rule on who precepts

Vermont's Board answers the precepting question in its FAQ. For an APRN student, the preceptor is either an APRN or a physician. Either way, they need a Vermont license that's active and unencumbered, practice experience matching your role and population, and a direct working relationship with the program's faculty. PAs are excluded for APRN students, and UC's PA exception skips Vermont too, so the two rulebooks agree.

UC then stacks its own requirements on top: a graduate degree of master's level or above, national certification, one or more years in the role and, on NP tracks, a fifth of your hours with an NP in your population. A New Hampshire NP who crosses the border to see patients needs that Vermont license for your hours there. UC's preceptor requirements covers UC's side.

AANP counts Vermont as full practice. Newer NPs, those short of 24 months and 2,400 practice hours, still work under a collaborative agreement with a physician or APRN licensed in Vermont. UC's one-year minimum is a separate test.

State approval, and a grant that has ended

Under the Board's rules in force since May 11, 2023, running a nursing education program in Vermont takes Board approval, unless it's an online-only program the Agency of Education has approved. Nothing we located, whether rule, FAQ or statute, addresses programs from other states placing students at Vermont sites, and the student exemption in 26 V.S.A. 1583(2) refers to Board-approved programs. UC lists no Vermont form, so any site question about approval belongs with your CSC.

The state's Nurse Preceptor Incentive Grants were funded once, for fiscal year 2023. They went to nurses at Vermont's critical access hospitals who precepted students from Vermont's own nursing schools, so a UC student's preceptor was never in scope, and we found no sign of the grants after 2023.

Licensing, and the New Hampshire border

Vermont joined the Nurse Licensure Compact on February 1, 2022. Board Rule 4.1 lets a nurse practice on another compact state's active multistate license, needing a Vermont license only after making Vermont their primary residence. That keeps you inside UC's licensing rule for clinicals; see RN license for UC clinicals.

The Lebanon-Claremont area straddles Vermont and New Hampshire, and Southwestern Vermont Medical Center belongs to New Hampshire-based Dartmouth Health. Both states are open to UC, but New Hampshire adds a supplemental background check and Vermont doesn't. The site's state decides which rules you meet.

Where to look, and how we help

University of Vermont Health leads the list of Vermont systems in our research. Its hospitals include Central Vermont Medical Center and Porter Medical Center as well as UVM Medical Center, and Rutland Regional Medical Center is another large name. Greater Burlington, the largest metro, has about 228,000 residents. Our research shows no UC agreement with any of them.

UC students planning Vermont clinicals come to us because we search for APRN and physician preceptors who satisfy the Board's rule and UC's at the same time, then prepare the details your CSC reviews. UC approves every preceptor and site, and it sees a candidate already checked against both rulebooks. Share your track and term through the contact form.