CLINICAL & CAPSTONE INFORMATION

Students will complete group clinical rotations during 1st, 2nd, and 3rd semesters. Each group will be assigned to a clinical location, such as a long term care facility or hospital. Students within each group may also have an Intermountain Ambulatory Care rotation scheduled on regular clinical days.

All students will be required to comply with facility paperwork requirements, policies, and procedures for each facility as assigned. All clinical information will be emailed to students 4-8 weeks prior to starting clinical. Students MUST check their WSU email every day in the weeks leading up to the semester and during the semester.

During 4th semester, students will complete a capstone clinical rotation for NRSG 3350 which will be at least 135 hours of clinical experience with an RN preceptor. Your capstone may be scheduled first block (semester weeks 2-7), second block (semester weeks 8-14), or the entire semester depending on the facility. If you have a specific reason for needing one rotation or the other (i.e., medical issues, delivering a baby, surgery, or military requirements), you will be able to request a certain block.

Please do not attempt to find your own spot or recruit someone to be a preceptor. We must follow facility and area policies regarding this, and all placements must be authorized by WSU and the clinical partners through the proper channels. Please do NOT contact any clinical site directly (including unit managers, educators, or potential RN preceptors) regarding capstone placements. *If someone from a facility approaches you for a possible placement, please have them contact their facility student coordinator or nursingcapstone@weber.edu.

In the beginning of 3rd semester, you will receive an email from nursingcapstone@weber.edu with information on how to request your capstone preferences through a Google survey link. Please make sure to read this email thoroughly and follow all instructions. We will attempt to give you one of your first ten choices of units and first five choices of locations. However, many placements are at the discretion of the hospitals, clinical units, and preceptor availability, so not everyone is given their ideal choice.

Additionally, your capstone placement also depends on the following criteria:

• Professional conduct and communication with faculty, staff, and clinical partners
• Preparedness for certain clinical settings
• Clinical work experience
• Academic performance

High Acuity Placements:
If you have previous hospital or EMS work experience, you are eligible to request a high acuity placement (ICU, ER, NICU, L&D, Primary Children's Hospital). Our clinical partners require patient care experience in a hospital or EMS experience for these placements. Please be aware that being an LPN in a non-hospital setting is not considered hospital experience.

A letter of recommendation in PDF format is also required for high-acuity placements.
This must be from a nurse manager, director of nursing, charge nurse, unit nurse educator, or EMS manager who can speak to your hospital or EMS experience. Please do NOT submit letters from instructors, co-workers, physicians, or family members. You will NOT automatically get a spot in your first choice, even with a letter of recommendation.

*BTech & High Acuity – While WSU students on the BTech campus do not have to have hospital experience for high acuity placements, priority will be given to those who submit a letter of recommendation. You will receive more details about the capstone process in the beginning of 3rd Semester. 

COVID-19 Vaccines & Exemptions:
Some facilities do NOT accept COVID-19 vaccine exemptions. Currently, these facilities/units include Primary Children's Hospital (all units), University of Utah (NICU, HICU, BMT, BMT Clinic, SSTU), and some freestanding surgical centers. Facilities and units may change their policy at any time. If a facility requires the vaccine and does not accept a vaccine exemption, students with a COVID-19 vaccine exemption will be ineligible for placement in that department. Those with exemptions may need to apply for an additional exemption with the facility and need to follow testing and masking protocols specific to the unit. Sometimes this may include wearing an N95 mask and providing weekly negative COVID-19 test results to continue capstone hours. You may also need to get fitted for an N95 mask and provide approved N95 masks at your expense.

Things you can do to be prepared:
Make sure you are current on CPR, immunizations, and any other required documentation. If you are not compliant with Verified Credentials, MyClinicalExchange (HCA facilities only), Intermountain student portal, or other clinical documentation requirements, this will affect your placement. Until you comply with the requirements, your placement will be on hold, you will not be allowed at the facility, and you risk a grade deduction from your NRSG 3350 course.

Please understand you may be assigned to a preceptor who works any shift – including days, nights, weekends, and holidays. Your capstone schedule will NOT be arranged around work or personal schedules. You must work your preceptor's available shifts except for those that conflict with scheduled NCLEX Live Review class dates or Spring/Thanksgiving breaks.

RN Nurse Apprentice:
We have worked with some of our major clinical partners to coordinate the use of RN Apprenticeship hours in place of capstone hours – Intermountain, HCA/MountainStar, Holy Cross, University of Utah, South Davis Hospital, Utah State Hospital, and George Wahlen Ogden Veterans Home. No other apprenticeship sites are approved at this time.

If you are interested in applying for an RN Apprentice job, you may apply during your third semester for RN Apprentice JOBS, but you cannot apply for the RN Apprentice LICENSE until your 3rd-semester grades are posted and you are enrolled in your 4th-semester courses. Please see the Licensing Information webpage on the bulletin board for information on how to apply for an RN Apprentice License. Please do not email the capstone email address with questions about applying for the RN Apprentice license.
Please note:

• You are NOT obligated to apply for an RN Apprentice job.
• All NRSG 3350 coursework and expectations will be the same as a traditional capstone assignment.
• WSU Annie Taylor Dee School of Nursing is not responsible for any contracts or agreements made between students and facilities.
• WSU Annie Taylor Dee School of Nursing has no control over whether or not students get an RN Apprentice job.
• WSU Annie Taylor Dee School of Nursing cannot answer any questions about the RN Apprentice jobs. If you have questions about these positions, please contact the institution directly.

PLEASE DO NOT EMAIL FACULTY OR STAFF WITH QUESTIONS REGARDING CAPSTONE PLACEMENTS.
All capstone questions should be emailed to nursingcapstone@weber.edu ONLY after you have read all the information in the email THOROUGHLY that will be sent to you in the beginning of 3rd semester. We place over 200 students every semester, and all the information you need is in this document or will be emailed to you.

• Intermountain Health

  FACILITIES:
  McKay Dee Hospital, Logan Hospital, Layton Hospital, Intermountain Medical Center, LDS Hospital, Primary Children’s Hospital,The Orthopedic Specialty Hospital (TOSH), Park City Hospital, Alta View Hospital, Heber Valley Hospital, Cassia Regional Hospital, Bear River Valley Hospital, Utah Valley Hospital, American Fork Hospital, Orem Community Hospital, Riverton Hospital, Spanish Fork Hospital, Cedar City Hospital, Delta Community Hospital, Fillmore Community Hospital, Sanpete Valley Hospital, Sevier Valley Hospital, Garfield Memorial Hospital, St. George Regional Hospital, Ambulatory Rotations

  Intermountain Ambulatory Rotations: 

  All students should plan on attending ambulatory rotations at Intermountain during 1st, 2nd, and 3rd semesters. 

  New incoming students will receive an email – which will look like this – from Intermountain Healthcare several weeks before the semester starts to create an account in the student portal to complete their paperwork (also check junk/spam folder). Please create your student portal account within 5 days of receiving the email from Intermountain.

  Returning students should already have their paperwork done in the Intermountain Student portal. If you have already been to an Intermountain facility for clinical, your task list in the student portal may already be complete – please log in and check the IHC Portal to make sure all tasks are done.

  Students will receive an email asking for flu and covid vaccine status at some point during each clinical rotation. Please do not ignore this email – this is how they track this information and it must be completed to be in compliance.

  The Intermountain Student Portal is separate from Intermountain Computer Access. You will have two separate logins for each of these systems.

  Where to find Student Usernames in Portal (PDF)

  Intermountain Guidelines for Nursing Students (PDF)

  Intermountain Student Computer Access Instructions (PDF) 

  Icentra Nursing Student Tip Sheet (PDF)

  COVID-19 Medical or Religious Exemptions: All students seeking a COVID-19 vaccine medical or religious exemption must follow the instructions on the main SON Bulletin Board page to submit a request for exemption approval. Please start this process early to avoid delay of clinical rotations. Personal exemptions are not accepted. No additional exemption applications are needed for Intermountain rotations.

  For more help regarding Intermountain Portal access: 

  Intermountain Portal Access Assistance (doc)

• HCA / MountainStar & CommonSpirit

  FACILITIES:
  Ogden Regional Medical Center, Lakeview Hospital, St. Mark’s Hospital, Brigham City Community Hospital, Cache Valley Hospital, Lone Peak Hospital, Timpanogos Hospital, Mountain View Hospital, Holy Cross Davis

  Register and pay for MyClinicalExchange (MCE). You must have your MCE account created, paid for, and synced to VC by the due date indicated by the clinical coordinator. Please do not pay for MCE unless you are going to an HCA or CommonSpirit facility for clinical. You will get an email from adnclinical@weber.edu when it’s time to purchase and sign up for MCE before the semester starts.

  • Instructions to create and pay for MCE can be found here. Please follow the instructions exactly.
    • You must pay the MCE fee before we can assign you to a rotation. You can select 6-month access for $19.50 or 12-month access for $39.50.
    • When you register you must use your WSU EMAIL ADDRESS and select your cohort. Your cohort is the semester you graduate and your campus 
    • If you already have an MCE account from a different program, you can switch your account to WSU by going into the account settings and click on “change enrollment” and “add a school” and select the correct school, program, and cohort information.
  • You can link your VC and MCE accounts so that all your documentation from VC will transfer to your MCE. Here are instructions on how to link your accounts. There are two things that won’t transfer over (you must enter these manually in MCE):
    • TB – the renewal date should be a year from the date it was received. You can use the TB test you did for admission into our program. Make sure to upload both 2-step documents or your quantiferon (this does NOT transmit over). You must have an annual TB test. If this expires during your rotation, you must upload your new TB results to VC and MCE.
    • 3-4ID - this is only used for those going to an HCA facility and is their computer sign-on number. If you have never been issued a 3-4ID for HCA clinicals or work, please just enter N/A into that field. If you are going to a CommonSpirit facility, enter N/A.
  • Here are two videos that may help you with MCE:
    • MCE Student Overview of the Checklist
    • MCE Student Paperwork
  • One of our instructors made this video on how to access MCE.

   

  Once you have completed the steps above, our clinical coordinator will need to assign you to a rotation to open up the rest of the tasks. When these tasks open up, please log back into MCE to make sure you consent to each of the required documents for your hospital and completed all exams. 

   

  COVID-19 Medical or Religious Exemptions: All students seeking a COVID-19 vaccine medical or religious exemption must follow the instructions on the main SON Bulletin Board page to submit a request for exemption approval. Please start this process early to avoid delay of clinical rotations. Personal exemptions are not accepted.

• South Davis Community Hospital

  Student-Faculty On-Site Health Questionnaire (PDF) – required on 1st clinical day

  Preventing Abuse (PDF) – required on 1st clinical day

  Confidentiality Statement (PDF) – required on 1st clinical day

  Abuse Reporting and Investigation Policy (PDF)

  COVID-19 Medical or Religious Exemptions: All students seeking a COVID-19 vaccine medical or religious exemption must follow the instructions on the main SON Bulletin Board page to submit a request for exemption approval. Please start this process early to avoid delay of clinical rotations. Personal exemptions are not accepted.