Current Students

Graduate rotations

All students are placed by their respective track’s Clinical Placement Coordinator in collaboration with track lead(s) and track faculty. Many factors are taken into consideration, including:

  • preceptor availability
  • the learning environment provided by the clinical site
  • your previous clinical experience
  • track-specific experiential requirements, and
  • assessment of your strengths and areas for growth.

All clinical placements are made at the sole discretion of the faculty and staff of the program.

Name tags

Undergraduate students are required to purchase a name tag from Mastermark/Spectra. The name tag is worn with your nursing uniform and must include the following:

Line 1: First name, Last Initial
Line 2: Graduate Student
Line 3: UW School of Nursing

Place your order by emailing orders@spectrastamps.com or calling 1.800.237.9351. Identify yourself as a UW School of Nursing student and provide a shipping address.

The name tag costs approximately $15. Mastermark/Spectra will call you after the order is placed to collect payment information.

Dress code & appearance

Uniform

You are expected to wear business-professional attire appropriate to the standards of the site, a white lab coat (if appropriate; these are not usually used in pediatrics or mental health sites), and a UW School of Nursing name tag identifying you as a graduate student. Check with your site about their expectations before the quarter starts.

The white professional jacket for women and men is available through the UW Bookstore, various uniform stores, and online. Graduate students may opt for a knee-length lab coat.

Appearance

Hair, jewelry, and accessories must be worn so that they do not fall onto the patient during examination and do not cause any safety risk to yourself or your patients.

Dress codes for most clinical sites do not permit backless or open-toed shoes in compliance with OSHA regulations.

Scents

Because perfumes, colognes and other scents, including lingering cigarette smoke, can cause significant airway distress to people with asthma, allergies, or chemical sensitivities, students are urged to minimize the use of scented products while at clinical sites.

Transportation to clinical sites

Transportation, including the cost of transportation (gas, bus far, ferry fees), to and from the clinical site is your responsibility. You may use your own car or public transportation.

You will likely attend clinical sites in the greater Seattle metropolitan area as well as adjacent counties. Clinical assignments are based on providing you with a variety of clinical experiences throughout the program, which sometimes requires travel time outside the Seattle area.

Due to limited spaces in clinics for clinical rotations, access to the clinical site from your local address or other needs cannot be taken into consideration when assignments are made.

Site requirements

In addition to meeting UW School of Nursing compliance requirements, you must also meet all clinical site requirements. Before your first clinical rotation date, sites may ask you to complete:

  • paperwork
  • mandatory orientations
  • computer training
  • fingerprinting
  • drug screening*
  • evidence of military draft registration

Note the deadline for each site; some require forms to be submitted well in advance of your rotation. If your site is not listed, contact your preceptor directly for more information. Failure to complete site requirements may cancel your clinical placement.

Drug Screening

If a clinical site requires drug screening, the cost is the responsibility of the clinical site and/or student. The UW School of Nursing does not pay for drug screening and will not administer, receive, or review drug testing results.

If a clinical site requires drug screening, the date of the drug screening will be included in the student’s clinical passport without results or other information.

Clinical passport

Many clinical sites, including Evergreen Medical Center, Swedish Medical Center, and Virginia Mason Medical Center, require quarterly verification of your compliance status (including immunization history) using the Clinical Passport. If any of your compliance items have lapsed or are outstanding, you cannot go on-site.

Please email nscomply@uw.edu if you are enrolled in a clinical site that requires the Clinical Passport.

Observation only visits

Students and SoN faculty/instructors attending clinical sites for observation purposes, site visits, data collection, research projects, etc. must meet the clinical site’s requirements in addition to the SoN requirements.

If you have any questions about student compliance, please email nscomply@uw.edu.

Employment at clinical sites

Please review the School of Nursing memorandum Clinical Placements of Graduate Students at a Clinical Site Where They are Employed if you are currently employed by a clinical site that you will also attend for a clinical rotation.