Montana clinicals for Drexel nursing students

An address in Billings, Bozeman or anywhere else in Montana qualifies you for any Drexel online nursing program; the state sits on none of the exclusion lists.

Geography adds a twist. Montana borders three states on Drexel's NP exclusion list: Wyoming, North Dakota and South Dakota. A move across any of those lines could end your NP eligibility, because Drexel's list turns on where you live. Read moving during Drexel clinicals and email sara@drexel.edu before relocating, and see our Wyoming page if that's the direction you're heading.

Montana's approval rule, ARM 24.159.608, is aimed at pre-licensure schools from other states. Before one of their students sets foot in a Montana clinical setting, the program director sends the Board or its executive director a signed request with proof of approval and accreditation, preceptor and faculty details, a supervision plan, letters from Montana program directors confirming no local student loses a spot, and the program-facility agreement.

Graduate and RN-to-BSN programs skip all of that, according to the Board's FAQ. What remains is a license check: because you'll treat Montana patients, the school makes sure your license is current and good in Montana. Drexel's faculty would need Montana licenses only if they treated patients themselves; consulting by phone or video with you and your preceptor doesn't trigger it.

Montana joined the compact on January 19, 2018. Its RN licensing page tells nurses practicing on a multistate privilege issued by another compact state that a Montana license isn't required, and a Montana resident's own multistate license plainly meets the Board's condition.

Drexel's rule is the less settled part. Its compliance page treats a home-state multistate license as enough, while its program pages list a Pennsylvania license among the things to have before your first clinical course. Clinical Compliance verifies licenses through CastleBranch, so get its answer early; our Pennsylvania RN license guide lays out both positions.

Montana's metros are small: Billings is the largest, followed by Bozeman, Missoula and Helena. Billings alone hosts two large names, the combined Billings Clinic-Logan Health system and Intermountain Health's St. Vincent Regional. Missoula has Providence Montana's St. Patrick Hospital, and Benefis Health System rounds out the list. AANP rates Montana full practice, which keeps independent NP clinics in play.

Drexel's own pages warn that NP students may need to travel to reach a site, and in Montana that can mean real distance. The Drexel standard doesn't shrink with the map: a nurse practitioner, CNM or physician in a Drexel-approved specialty, board certified and at least one year in (preceptor requirements). Montana offers no preceptor tax credit or grant that we found.

We search the whole state, not just the largest towns, and we plan around drive times so each quarter's hours are realistic. Every preceptor we bring you already fits Drexel's list, and Drexel gets the preceptor's credentials and the site's contracting details together in one complete file. If a rural preceptor has to step back, we have the next option moving quickly.