Kent State NAHSL practicums: two leadership placements and a capstone seminar

NURS 64292 NAHSL I: four courses first, then your first leader

You reach NURS 64292 only after NURS 60014, NURS 60020, NURS 60024 and NURS 60315, and registration needs special approval and full clinical compliance. Kent State lets RN-to-BSN students count up to 9 graduate credits toward both degrees, with NURS 60014 and NURS 60020 named for the NAHSL path, which can shorten the road to this course.

Your preceptor holds a master's degree, with an MSN preferred, and ideally sits a level or two higher than the job you have today. A staff nurse or charge nurse might look toward a nurse manager; a manager might look toward a director. Healthcare administrator is one of the preceptor roles on Kent State's recruiting page.

NAHSL I counts as your first practicum, so your coordinator lends a hand with the search in the prior term and the required orientation meets well before it. Our finding your own preceptor guide sets out who does what in that search.

Looking beyond your own unit

Kent State nudges NAHSL students to search beyond their own unit and even their own employer. This is encouragement, not a ban; the only published workplace ban belongs to the PMHNP. Kent State publishes no rule on direct supervisors or relatives as preceptors, so raise any reporting-line overlap with your practicum faculty before you ask. Every Kent State preceptor also needs approval from their employer and practice setting, so a leader at another organization gets that sign-off before your first day.

The two practicums work best when they differ. You might spend NAHSL I in a hospital department and NAHSL II in a community or ambulatory organization, or move from operations to quality work, so the seminar term draws on two views of leadership. The practicum at your workplace page compares the rules across concentrations.

Why NAHSL students choose us

We search for leaders rather than bedside clinicians: managers, directors and executives with master's degrees who sit a level or two above your role, outside your own reporting line, in the state where you live. For each one, we set out degree, title, license and organization details the way your practicum faculty and concentration coordinator review them. When an organization bars students from contacting its staff directly, we follow the steps your GSN Canvas course sets out for that agency.

We plan both placements in one pass, so the second leader is lined up before the seminar term, and we help you shape a project scope each leader can agree to. If an organization is new to Kent State, we tell you early so the college can arrange its affiliation agreement. Use the form on this page to start; how it works shows the steps.