Nevada: green on Rivier's guide, strict about clinicals
Rivier University's State Guide gives Nevada a green light across its graduate programs, NP tracks included. Nevada's own rules are strict: an online program needs Board approval before clinical instruction happens in the state, and anyone caring for Nevada patients needs a Nevada license. Bring the Program Director in before any Nevada preceptor is asked.
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Rivier's State Guide entry for Nevada
| Program | Color | Rivier's meaning |
|---|---|---|
| FNP, MSN or certificate | Green | OK to accept |
| PMHNP, MSN or certificate | Green | OK to accept |
| Nursing Education, MSN or certificate | Green | OK to accept |
| Leadership | Green | OK to accept |
| DNP | Green | OK to accept |
| RN-BSN | Green | OK to accept |
| ASN/BSN pre-licensure | Yellow | Call the program director |
Green is Rivier's word on enrollment; Nevada's Board has its own say about clinicals, below. The guide has no AG-ACNP column, and the State Guide page explains the colors.
NAC 632.703 and programs taught online
Nevada regulates schools that run any part of a program inside its borders. NAC 632.703 asks such a school to file a Board report, attach its accreditation or home-state approval, show it meets Nevada's nursing statute and code, and keep filing annual reports. Internet and other nontraditional programs face a harder line: Board approval comes first, before any clinical teaching in the state, and whoever teaches for the school in Nevada needs a Nevada license.
The regulation treats graduate and pre-licensure programs alike. And the Board's September 1, 2026 roster of outside schools approved for clinicals-only operation in Nevada holds nothing but ADN and BSN pre-licensure programs. Put the question of how Rivier handles Nevada placements to the Clinical Practicum Coordinator and Program Director before your search begins, because this rule turns on the program, not on you.
Rivier's green means Rivier can enroll you; Nevada's Board decides whether an online program may teach clinicals in Nevada. Settle both before you sign up a preceptor.
A Nevada license, whatever else you hold
Nevada has stayed out of the Nurse Licensure Compact, so compact licenses issued elsewhere stop at its border. A Board practice decision goes further, requiring a Nevada license for anyone practicing nursing on or caring for patients located in Nevada, and it names nursing education involving direct patient contact among the activities covered. Rivier's Handbook points the same way: an RN license in the practicum state.
The single-state license also bears on your Nashua visits, whether nine FNP intensive days, PMHNP weekends or ten AG-ACNP days. An older Rivier form wanted FNP students on campus to carry New Hampshire licensure, so ask the Program Director what applies now (RN license for practicum). Nevada has not enacted the APRN Compact.
How Nevada supervises precepted clinicals
Precepted clinicals in Nevada follow a Board practice decision from 2005. Under it the school's faculty stay in charge of each experience and can be reached by phone, the preceptor is physically present and oversees two students at most, and each preceptor receives an orientation plus written objectives from the school.
The on-site rule shapes your calendar most. If your preceptor works a clinic only certain days, those are your clinical days, and FNP and PMHNP students must still fit 250 hours inside each practicum semester. Build the schedule around the preceptor's real presence from week one.
Full practice, Las Vegas and Reno
AANP puts Nevada in its full practice group. Schedule II drugs are the carve-out: a newer NP gains that authority after two years (or 2,000 clinical hours), and before then only a protocol signed off by a physician allows it. Rivier's two-year minimum for FNP and PMHNP preceptors happens to match that milestone.
Southern Nevada's Las Vegas metro holds about 2.4 million people; Reno and Carson City anchor the north. Among the large employers are The Valley Health System, Dignity Health, which has Henderson and Las Vegas hospitals, Renown Health, the University Medical Center of Southern Nevada (an academic medical center), and HCA's Sunrise Health System, each setting its own student terms. California and Oregon are red on Rivier's guide; Arizona and Utah have their own pages, such as Arizona.
Why Nevada students choose us
Nevada leaves little room for loose ends, and thoroughness is what we do best. We confirm Nevada licensure for every preceptor, build your clinical calendar around the days that preceptor is on site, and prepare the Preceptor Request Form package on Rivier's four-month timeline. We stay with you until the semester's hours are done. Contact us.
Questions Rivier students ask
Is Nevada open to Rivier FNP students?
Rivier's State Guide lists Nevada as green for the FNP, so Rivier can accept Nevada residents. Nevada's Board separately regulates online programs that want to run clinicals in the state, so confirm with the Program Director how a Nevada practicum would be handled before you start recruiting a preceptor.
Why does the Board's approved list matter to me?
Nevada's list of out-of-state schools approved to run only clinicals in the state, updated September 1, 2026, shows pre-licensure programs only. Because NAC 632.703 applies to programs taught online, ask Rivier how it treats Nevada placements before you invest time in a Nevada site.
Can my Nevada preceptor have other students?
One other, at most. Nevada's 2005 practice decision caps a preceptor at two students at once and requires on-site presence during supervision. If your preceptor already teaches someone, sort out whose days are whose before you agree to the placement.
Could I do my clinicals in California instead?
California is red on Rivier's State Guide for every program listed, the NP tracks included, meaning Rivier reports prohibitive barriers there. Keep your plans on the Nevada side, and ask the Program Director before considering any site across the California line.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-26
We check these pages against Rivier's own Nursing Student Handbook, program sheets, catalog, academic calendar and State Guide. Your program of study, your course faculty, your Program Director and the Clinical Practicum Coordinator have the final word.
Rivier asks you to identify a qualified preceptor. We make that the easy part.
Tell us your Rivier track, where you live and which semester your next practicum starts. We find preceptors who meet your track's rules, check early whether the site can contract with Rivier, and prepare everything the Preceptor Request Form asks for, well ahead of August 1 and December 1.
- Preceptors matched to the track: an MD, DO or FNP in outpatient family practice for
NURS 511, a psychiatrist or PMH-certified NP forNURS 521, a hospitalist or intensivist forNURS 638P - Preceptor license, credentials and CV ready for the Preceptor Request Form, with the site's contact details for the contract
- In your own area, in New Hampshire or any state Rivier's State Guide accepts
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