Section 246-840-531 - Clinical and practice experiences for students in approved nursing education programs(1) All nursing programs preparing students for licensure shall provide faculty planned clinical or direct patient care experiences based on program outcomes and goals. (a) The number of clinical or direct patient care experience hours must be: (i) At least three hundred hours for licensed practical nursing education programs;(ii) At least five hundred hours for associate degree nursing education programs;(iii) At least six hundred hours for bachelors of science in nursing education programs;(iv) At least five hundred hours for masters level nurse practitioner nursing education programs;(v) At least one thousand hours for doctoral of nursing practice nurse practitioner programs.(b)Observation of licensed or qualified health care professionals practicing a technical skill or therapy may be included in the calculation of student clinical hours. Observation is reserved for care or therapy situations, which students are not qualified to deliver;(c) Skill practice labs must not be counted towards clinical practice hours.(2)(a) All postlicensure nursing education programs shall have faculty planned practice experiences for students based on program outcomes and goals. Practice experience examples include, but are not limited to: Indirect and direct patient care, patient or population teaching, population interventions, student nurse teaching or the teaching of nursing students, leadership and change projects, research, accessing client or population data for the purpose of doing quality assurance or improvement projects, informatics, thesis or dissertation development and defense.(b) The number of practice hours must be equivalent to programs of similar type: (i) At least one hundred hours for registered nurse to bachelor's degree programs; and(ii) At least one hundred hours for graduate nursing education programs.(3) Faculty shall organize clinical and practice experiences based on the educational preparation and skill level of the student.(4) Faculty shall plan, oversee, and evaluate student clinical and practice experiences.Wash. Admin. Code § 246-840-531
Adopted by WSR 16-17-082, Filed 8/17/2016, effective 9/17/2016