Kent State BSN clinicals: school-arranged rotations and the senior capstone
Kent State arranges clinicals for its pre-licensure BSN and Accelerated BSN students. Earlier courses run as scheduled clinical sections at partner facilities, and for the senior capstone, NURS 40045, each student is matched with an RN preceptor by faculty and staff from Kent State and the hospital. What stays in your hands is planning: compliance, schedules, grades and knowing what the capstone expects.
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Who arranges BSN clinicals at Kent State
The College of Nursing does. No Kent State source asks BSN students to find their own preceptors or sites. The college works with providers and hospitals to match preceptors, rotations are scheduled by cohort, and the capstone preceptor for NURS 40045 is assigned by university and hospital faculty and staff. Every capstone student is paired with both a preceptor and a faculty member.
Earlier clinicals run as scheduled Clinical Laboratory sections at local facilities, mostly in the community around each campus. If you repeat a course, clinical seats go out by published priority on a space-available basis. Kent State describes a network of more than 750 clinical partners, most of them Northeast Ohio systems.
This is the reverse of Kent State's graduate programs, where students identify their own preceptors with coordinator support. If you are already an RN, the RN-to-BSN guide and the programs hub are where your path continues.
Clinical courses from first rotation to senior year
| Course | Credits | Clinical hours a week | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
NURS 20030 Foundations of Nursing Interventions | 5 | 5.2 | First adult clinical on the Traditional route |
NURS 20040 Fundamentals of Nursing | 8 | 4 | First clinical on the Accelerated, Foundational and LPN/Allied Health routes |
NURS 30035 Nursing of Adults Across the Lifespan | 9 | 8 | Acute, chronic and rehabilitation settings |
NURS 30010 Parent and Newborn Nursing | 4 | 4 | Junior level |
NURS 30020 Health Care of Children | 4 | 4 | Junior level |
NURS 40020 Community Health Nursing | 4 | 3.2 | You arrange your own transportation |
NURS 40030 Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing | 4 | 4 | Senior level |
NURS 40010 Nursing of the Critically Ill | 4 | 4 | Senior level |
NURS 40045 Integration of Leadership and Management in Nursing | 6 | 9.5 | Capstone immersion with an RN preceptor |
Clinical shifts can last 6 to 12 hours, a length the BSN handbook lists among its physical standards. Traditional and Foundational students take no more than two clinical courses a semester; Accelerated and LPN/Allied Health students may take three unless they earn below a C in a nursing course. Skills work runs alongside in NURS 20020, NURS 40036 Senior Competency Laboratory and NURS 35050 Advanced Medical Surgical Simulation, and NURS 40092 Nursing Practice Internship is an elective guided by a clinical preceptor, open with special approval.
When clinicals start on each BSN route
- Traditional Entry (Kent, Geauga, Salem, Stark and Trumbull campuses):
NURS 20030in Semester Four, then one or two clinical courses each term untilNURS 40010and theNURS 40045capstone in Semester Eight. - Foundational Entry (Kent Campus):
NURS 20040in the Second Summer and the capstone in Semester Eight. Admission to the nursing sequence requires CNA certification. - LPN and Allied Health (Kent Campus):
NURS 20040in Semester Five, with Semester Eight pairingNURS 40010andNURS 40030with the capstone. - Accelerated Second Degree (Kent Campus and Northeast Ohio sites):
NURS 20040in the first semester, three clinical courses in the first summer, and the capstone in the fourth term, in as few as 15 months.
Traditional and Accelerated students are admitted by campus and finish at that campus. The BSN handbook allows a switch only after two consecutive semesters in the sequence, with a 3.200 GPA and no NURS failures, so pick your campus with its clinical communities in mind.
The NURS 40045 capstone and your RN preceptor
NURS 40045 Integration of Leadership and Management in Nursing is a 6-credit practicum immersion in your senior semester, carrying 9.5 clinical contact hours a week. Kent State's Become a Preceptor page describes 144 hours of one-on-one work with an RN preceptor, while another page of the preceptor guidebook says 120. Your capstone syllabus and course coordinator settle which figure applies.
The published preceptor standards differ too. The recruiting page asks for an RN whose license is active and unrestricted, whose employer approves, and who has at least six months of practice for BSN-prepared nurses or twelve for diploma and ADN nurses. The guidebook's undergraduate page asks for 24 months, and an older capstone syllabus says 2 years. The assignment is made for you, but it helps to know who qualifies.
Your preceptor supervises all medication administration, verifies your hours log, and evaluates you at midterm and at the end of the course. An older syllabus also required every hour by Monday of week 14, with missed time made up hour for hour, so check the current syllabus for this term's rule.
Capstone hours follow your preceptor's schedule, shift pattern included. For the Akron evening and weekend Accelerated cohort, Kent State says capstone placement depends on preceptor location and shift availability.
Accelerated BSN cohorts and clinical sites
The Accelerated Second Degree BSN runs three cohorts. The Daytime cohort takes four semesters and admits in fall, spring and summer. Its clinicals generally run 7:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., may fall on weekends, and rotate across Northeast Ohio, mainly Summit and Cuyahoga counties, with Mahoning, Stark, Trumbull or Portage possible.
The Evening and Weekend Akron cohort takes five semesters and starts in the fall of even years, next in Fall 2026. Most of its clinicals are at one Akron hospital, with NURS 30020 at a children's hospital and NURS 40020 spread across Summit County. The Evening and Weekend Cleveland cohort starts in the fall of odd years, next taking applications for Fall 2027, and works with two Cleveland health-system partners.
Accelerated and LPN/Allied Health clinicals cannot be done in any other area or state. An accelerated student who fails a course leaves the accelerated concentration but may continue in the traditional program.
Compliance and progression rules that can stop a rotation
BSN compliance is tracked in Castlebranch: immunizations, the physical, CPR, insurance and background checks. Lose compliance partway through a term and you are barred from clinical until it is restored, with every missed day recorded as unexcused. Background checks cover both BCI&I and the FBI, with fingerprints, and some agencies want them renewed every year. The clinical compliance policy page walks through each item.
Grades gate every level. You need at least a C in each science and NURS course, C or better in sophomore courses to reach the junior level and in junior courses to reach the senior level, and a 2.000 GPA each semester. A grade below C in a clinical course blocks the next level. One NURS course may be repeated once, on a seat-available basis; failing two NURS courses, or one twice, ends the sequence, and two withdrawals count as one failure.
Clinical and lab courses more than a year old may have to be repeated after a stop-out, so plan any break with your advisor first. On site, you wear the official embroidered white tunic, blue pants, white scrub jacket and college name tag, or street clothes or scrubs where an obstetric, community or psychiatric agency directs.
How we help BSN students, and where RNs go next
Because Kent State arranges your clinicals, our role for BSN students is planning. We help you understand what the NURS 40045 capstone expects of you and your preceptor, map compliance renewals against your rotation calendar, and plan around shift patterns, commutes and the community health course that needs your own transportation.
The bigger search comes after licensure. Kent State's graduate programs make identifying a preceptor the student's responsibility, and that is the work we specialize in. RNs heading back for a degree can start with the RN-to-BSN guide, then compare graduate options such as the MSN FNP or the BSN to DNP route. When you move on to graduate study, we can begin that preceptor search two terms ahead of your first practicum. Send a planning question with the form below.
Questions Kent State students ask
Do Kent State BSN students find their own clinical placements?
No. Kent State arranges BSN clinicals. Earlier courses run as scheduled clinical sections at partner facilities, and for the NURS 40045 capstone the preceptor assignment comes from Kent State and hospital faculty and staff. Student-found preceptors are a graduate-program rule at Kent State, not a BSN one.
How many hours is the Kent State BSN capstone?
Kent State's Become a Preceptor page describes NURS 40045 as 144 hours of one-on-one work with an RN preceptor, while another guidebook page says 120. The catalog lists 9.5 clinical contact hours a week for the 6-credit course. Your capstone syllabus is the authority for your term.
Can I choose my own capstone preceptor or hospital?
Kent State's published process has faculty and staff at the university and the hospital make capstone assignments, so expect to be placed rather than to choose. In the Akron Accelerated cohort, capstone placement follows preceptor location and shift availability. Share any scheduling limits with your course coordinator early.
Can I do Kent State BSN clinicals near home in another state?
Not as a rule. The BSN is an in-person program, Kent State says Accelerated and LPN/Allied Health clinicals cannot be done in any other area or state, and Traditional clinicals happen mostly in each campus's community. For licensure, Kent State's disclosure table lists five places where the BSN is not met: California, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania and American Samoa.
What happens if my compliance lapses during a BSN semester?
You cannot attend clinical until it is fixed, and the missed days count as unexcused absences. Castlebranch tracks the items, including immunizations, the physical, CPR, insurance and background checks. Some agencies also ask for a fresh background check every year, so watch your renewal dates before each rotation.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-24
We check these pages against Kent State's own catalog, handbooks and program pages. Your MSN or DNP handbook, your syllabus, your practicum faculty and your concentration coordinator have the final word.
Kent State says the preceptor search is yours. We make it the fastest part of your practicum.
Tell us your Kent State concentration, where you live and which semester your next practicum starts. We find preceptors who fit the course and prepare everything your practicum faculty and coordinator review before they approve.
- Preceptors matched to the course: primary care for
NURS 61292, acute care forNURS 61092, psychiatric care forNURS 61592, women's health forNURS 66192 - Credentials, license and site details ready for your practicum faculty and coordinator
- In your own community, in Ohio or wherever you live and hold your RN license
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