Samford NP clinicals in the District of Columbia
Samford accepts District residents into its NP tracks, and its licensure disclosure lists DC among the jurisdictions where those tracks meet requirements. Because the District is not a Nurse Licensure Compact member, a rotation inside DC calls for a DC RN license even when your multistate license already covers Maryland and Virginia. Our research recorded no District rule aimed at out-of-state programs, which leaves Samford as the place to confirm your plan.
Plan a DC-area rotation
Tell us whether you live in DC, Maryland or Virginia, your Samford track and your next clinical course.
What Samford publishes for DC
The District appears unstarred in the September 3, 2025 NP disclosure, and the out-of-state applicant tables on Samford's NP pages do not include it. Samford's older State Authorization list also places the District in all three of its columns.
| Samford program | DC applicants | Samford's licensure finding |
|---|---|---|
| FNP MSN (BSN or ADN entry) | Accepted | Meets |
| PMHNP MSN (BSN or ADN entry) | Accepted | Meets |
| FNP or PMHNP DNP | Accepted | Meets |
| FNP and PMHNP post-graduate certificates | Accepted | No disclosure names them |
| Nurse Anesthesia DNP | No bar; only the first two semesters are online | Meets |
| Online RN to BSN | Accepted | Meets (BSN disclosure) |
The license question for DC rotations
NCSBN's compact site counts 43 member jurisdictions, and the District is not one of them; neither NCSBN's DC page nor the DC Board of Nursing mentions membership. A multistate license from Maryland, Virginia or Alabama therefore does not carry into DC, and practicing there takes a DC RN license unless some other basis applies.
Samford's handbook wants your RN license current and unencumbered both where you practice and in any state or jurisdiction hosting a rotation. Three common cases follow:
- You live in DC and train in DC: your DC license covers both tests.
- You live in Maryland or Virginia and want a DC clinic: add a DC RN license to your multistate one.
- You live in DC and want a Maryland or Virginia clinic: a DC license stops at the District line, so you need a license from that state too.
The DC Board of Nursing sits within DC Health's Health Systems and Preparedness Administration and licenses RNs and APRNs alike. Our RN license requirements page compares compact status across Samford's accepted states.
Full practice and who precepts in the District
AANP's fact sheet on the District describes full practice: NPs assess and diagnose patients and prescribe drugs and treatments under their own authority, and DC law classes them as primary care providers. Only the Board of Nursing regulates NP licensure there. To qualify, an NP brings national certification, a finished NP program and an RN license, then keeps up 15 hours of continuing education in each two-year cycle.
For you, full practice means an NP preceptor in DC can host your hours with no physician agreement in the picture. Samford applies the Alabama Board of Nursing's APRN preceptor definition, which also admits physicians, and approves each preceptor; see preceptor requirements for what is public.
Out-of-state program rules and incentives
When our state research was checked in September 2026, it had logged no District rule governing programs from elsewhere that send students into DC, and official sources showed no DC tax credit or other incentive for preceptors. A gap in research is not a clearance. Samford's handbook points students planning clinicals away from Alabama to that jurisdiction's nursing board and education department, and cautions that Samford may refuse a clinical rotation request over local rules, so confirm with your program coordinator and the DC Board of Nursing.
Alabama's preceptor tax credit covers only rural, underserved Alabama rotations, so it has no reach in the District.
Where DC NP students look
The Washington-Arlington-Alexandria metro, home to 6,465,724 people in the 2025 Census estimate, spans DC, Virginia, Maryland and West Virginia. Well-known District hospitals include Howard University Hospital, Children's National, two MedStar hospitals (Washington Hospital Center and Georgetown University Hospital), Johns Hopkins Medicine's Sibley Memorial and The George Washington University Hospital. Their student placement pages were outside our research, so treat them as landmarks only, never as sites that take Samford students.
Samford takes no NP applicants from West Virginia, so a clinic on the metro's West Virginia edge is a question for your program coordinator. Maryland and Virginia have their own guides.
Why Samford students in DC choose us
A DC student trains a long way from the Southeast, where Samford holds most of its affiliation agreements, so the connections Samford's NP pages call essential matter even more. Your placement advisor finds a preceptor inside the District or just beyond it, suited to the FNP clinical courses or NURG 788 through NURG 790, and checks the license each side of the line requires before any introduction. Begin with the form below.
Questions Samford students ask
I live in Maryland and want a clinical in DC. Which license do I need?
A Maryland multistate license covers Maryland and the other compact states, but the District sits outside the compact. Samford's handbook requires a license in each place you rotate, so add a DC RN license before your first DC clinical day, and allow time for the application.
Is there a DC preceptor tax credit for precepting a Samford student?
None turned up in official sources when our research was checked in September 2026. Alabama's credit applies only to rotations in rural, underserved parts of Alabama, so it does not extend to the District either.
Can a DC nurse practitioner precept me without a physician involved?
Yes, as far as DC practice goes: the District is full practice and treats NPs as primary care providers. Samford still approves each preceptor through its own process, using the Alabama Board of Nursing's APRN preceptor definition and the rules in the NP Clinical Manual.
Does Samford accept NP applicants who live in the West Virginia part of the DC metro?
No. West Virginia is one of the 16 states Samford does not accept NP applicants from, based on where the applicant lives or where the only license was issued. Residents of DC, Maryland and Virginia are all eligible to apply.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-25
We check these pages against Samford's own program pages, plans of study, the 2026-27 Graduate Nursing Student Handbook and Alabama rules. Your course, your program coordinator and Graduate Student Services have the final word.
Samford says connections are essential. We are the connection.
Tell us your Samford track, where you live and when your next clinical course starts. We find preceptors near you who fit the course and prepare the details Samford needs to approve the rotation, including a new affiliation agreement where one is needed.
- Preceptors matched to the course: adult primary care for
NURG 723, family practice across the lifespan forNURG 724, psychiatric care forNURG 788 - Preceptor, license and site details ready for your clinical rotation request
- In your own community, anywhere Samford accepts you and your RN license is valid
Start your placement plan
Program, city and start date is all we need to begin.