What is a WGU Appropriate  Clinical Site?

A health site that offers a learner sufficient direct patient care learning opportunities across the lifespan, with diverse populations related to the course task requirements in D224 and D225.


Students must work with  a  BSN Prepared Nurse employed by appropriate clinical sites in their local community, as available, in the provision of direct care across the 4 Spheres of Care. 

Appropriate Health Facilities

**Inpatient hospital settings are not appropriate for D224 or D225 field experience hours. **

Utilize the link in the title below to access a PDF Copy of Appropriate Sites

RN-BSN Appropriate Field Experience Sites for Each Sphere of Care

• Sites must be appropriate outpatient, community-focused sites.

o Procedural sites are not appropriate (i.e., surgery center, endoscopy, cath lab, radiology, etc.)

o In-patient, acute care, hospital settings are not appropriate.

• The site must agree to engage in an affiliation agreement with WGU and accept the student.

• There must be a BSN (preferred) or higher Degree RN (MSN, NP, DNP) who provides direct patient care to facilitate the field experiences.

• You must be able to discuss and explain the experiences for one or more spheres of care appropriate for the course.

**NOTE: Recommendations are made in the table below based on the typical spheres of care provided at such sites. It is best to discuss with

your course instructor and preceptor the spheres of care actually provided at the site during the direct patient care.

For questions on specific sites or appropriateness of activities please contact:


D224 – globalpophealthD224@wgu.edu

D225 – professionalpractice@wgu.edu

Establishing an Affiliation Agreement 

NOTE: This is a legal contract negotiation process and can take 4 to 6 months to fully execute. Plan accordingly to avoid delaying your degree progression.

The WGU Contract Outreach Team will work with the Clinical Site Contract Administrator to negotiate an Affiliation Agreement.  The Contract Administrator is different from your preceptor.  The Contract Administrator is a contact from the potential clinical site who has authority to approve and sign agreements and/ or the liaison between WGU and the potential clinical site. The negotiation of these agreements take time as they go back and forth several times before they are signed by both WGU and the Clinical Site.

All placements will require an Affiliation Agreement between WGU and the Clinical Site. 


Fully Executed Affiliation Agreement

Once the agreement is complete, the WGU Contract Outreach Team will notify the Placement Support Coordinator if there are any additional site-specific requirements or onboarding. 

Students will be notified , by Clinical Learning and Placement Support, of any additional site-specific requirements  once the agreement has been fully executed and approved for student placement. These requirements might include additional site-specific onboarding, orientation, or compliance-related items such as a Drug Screen or Physical Exam. 

Site-Specific Requirements

Depending on the Agreement that WGU has with your Clinical Site, there may be additional requirements for you to complete. 

Clinical Learning and Placement Support will guide you through the steps required for placement at your chosen Clinical Site. Every site has different requirements, and requirements often change. 



Please note that many of these requirements or 3rd party sites have additional student fees associated with them.