Drexel clinicals in Pennsylvania, Drexel's home state

Students outside the state who want Pennsylvania hours should read the Pennsylvania RN license page first, because Drexel's two license statements treat nonresidents differently.

Under 49 Pa. Code § 21.373(c), a CRNP program may use three kinds of onsite preceptor: licensed advanced practice nurses, licensed physicians, and CRNPs holding both a license and certification. Drexel draws a tighter circle inside that one: NPs, CNMs and physicians in a specialty it approves, each board certified with at least a year of practice behind them. Physician assistants appear on neither list.

Pennsylvania also sets an hour floor. Section 21.369 wants clinical hours that meet national certification standards and total at least 500, and every Drexel NP track clears it, from 640 hours up to 1,140 for the emergency-specialization FNP. Totals by track are on Drexel clinical hours.

AANP rates Pennsylvania as reduced practice. Under § 21.251 and § 21.282a, a CRNP here works under a written, signed collaborative agreement with a Pennsylvania-licensed physician, and AANP notes that prescriptive authority needs agreements with at least two physicians. The arrangement lasts a whole career; full practice bills were introduced in 2025 but none had passed when research closed.

So your CRNP preceptor has a physician behind them for consultation and chart review, and that physician may be able to precept you too if their specialty fits your track.

Pennsylvania's own licensing rule is looser than Drexel's. Section 21.118 lets a nurse licensed in another state or in Canada, while studying in an accredited graduate program, do the program's required clinical work here without a Pennsylvania license, provided they are paid nothing beyond stipends, scholarships or awards. Since July 7, 2025, an active, unencumbered multistate license also covers RN practice in Pennsylvania.

Drexel asks for more. Its Clinical Compliance certification page accepts a Pennsylvania license or a multistate license tied to your state of residence, while its NP program pages call for Pennsylvania licensure before clinicals start. A Pennsylvania resident holding a Pennsylvania license meets both. Anyone else should get Clinical Compliance's answer in writing.

Pennsylvania systems ask for the same three checks: a state police record check, the Child Abuse History Clearance from the Department of Human Services and FBI fingerprints. Drexel orders them through CastleBranch and repeats the package yearly, well inside the state's 60-month renewal, and nursing homes and home health agencies may also cite the Older Adults Protective Services Act. Steps are on background checks and clearances.

No Pennsylvania tax credit or stipend for preceptors turned up in research. Drexel thanks its preceptors with the Clinical Faculty, Drexel University title, an end-of-term certificate showing the hours they precepted, and a 10 percent continuing education discount.

Philadelphia has the densest cluster of systems, including Penn Medicine, Jefferson, Temple, Main Line Health and CHOP, and most want an affiliation agreement with the school before they consider a student. Some route every request through the school, and at least one refuses NP requests outright; Philadelphia clinical sites sorts them out. Because the Board says it lacks authority over out-of-state schools, online students from elsewhere compete for these same sites.

Other regions run their own gates: Pittsburgh's UPMC and Allegheny Health Network use myClinicalExchange, Lehigh Valley Health Network uses InPlace, and Geisinger warns that onboarding can run past six weeks. The Board's rules in depth are on Pennsylvania NP clinical rules.

Pennsylvania is home ground for us. We look past systems that close their doors to NP requests, test each preceptor against both § 21.373 and Drexel's narrower list, and hand Drexel's contracting team the preceptor's CV, license and board certification with the site's agreement contact in one clean file. Drexel approves every placement; ours arrive complete and within its rules, and if a preceptor leaves mid-quarter we are already working on the replacement.