Clinicals in Ohio University's campus BSN and associate degree
In Ohio University's campus BSN and AAS programs, clinical experience comes built into the program: regionalized rotations in hospitals and agencies, faculty help finding the right places, and an assigned preceptor for seniors in NRSE 4212. The BSN semester plan counts 581.7 clinical clock hours in all. This page lays out that path and where we come in later, when you move to Ohio University's online programs and choose your own preceptor.
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The campus programs
The pre-licensure BSN (BS1221) runs at Athens and five regional campuses: Chillicothe, Eastern, Lancaster, Southern and Zanesville. It requires at least 121 semester hours, and the catalog asks for 80% (B-) or better in the listed nursing courses. Students are selected into the program and start as a group the following fall.
The Associate of Applied Science in Nursing (AA2343) is a four-semester program, with a three-semester LPN-to-RN advanced placement track. The undergraduate catalog places both at Chillicothe, Lancaster (from Spring 2027), Southern and Zanesville, while the availability paragraph on the School of Nursing's associate degree page names only Chillicothe, Southern and Zanesville. If you are counting on Lancaster, confirm with that campus. AAS nursing courses need a B- or better.
Both programs pair classroom teaching and simulation with clinical rotations away from campus, and both are listed under Ohio University's School of Nursing.
How campus clinicals are arranged
Ohio University's undergraduate catalog describes the BSN as on-campus lectures and simulation lab activities plus regionalized clinical experiences, and the program overview places them in hospitals and clinical agencies in the region. For the regional campuses, Ohio University's BSN page says faculty members will assist in finding the right places for you. Ohio University's program pages do not ask pre-licensure students to find their own clinical sites.
Transportation is your responsibility. The program overview says BSN students provide their own transport and that some sites may be about an hour's drive from campus. The associate degree page warns that some rotations need long commutes, and the Chillicothe AAS page refers to clinical partners at sites across Ohio, Kentucky and West Virginia.
Preceptors in pre-licensure programs also sit under a different rulebook from graduate ones: the Ohio Board of Nursing's pre-licensure rules in Ohio Administrative Code Chapter 4723-5, which come with the Board's own Preceptor Qualification Form.
Clinical hours, course by course
Ohio University's BSN semester plan converts credits to clock hours with a stated formula: credit hours times 3 clock hours times 14 weeks. Clinical time begins in the fourth semester and runs through seven courses.
| Semester | Course | Clinical clock hours |
|---|---|---|
| 4 | NRSE 2212 Foundations of Person-Centered Nursing Care | 52.5 |
| 5 | NRSE 3122 Person-Centered Nursing Care of Adults I | 105 |
| 6 | NRSE 3212 Psychiatric/Mental Health Nursing Care | 37.8 |
| 6 | NRSE 3222 Person-Centered Nursing Care of Adults II | 105 |
| 7 | NRSE 4122 Nursing Care of Women, Children, and Families/Caregivers | 75.6 |
| 7 | NRSE 4132 Population Health Nursing | 37.8 |
| 8 | NRSE 4212 Professional Nursing Practice Capstone | 168 |
| Total | 581.7 |
The same plan totals 1,582 program clock hours: 847 theory, 153.3 lab and 581.7 clinical. Ohio University's BSN page rounds this to over 1,500 hours of classroom, laboratory and clinical time. For the AAS, the catalog shows clinical components in NURS 1111, NURS 1211, NURS 2111, NURS 2121, NURS 2131, NURS 2211 and NURS 2221, but no public page totals the clock hours.
The NRSE 4212 senior preceptorship
The capstone pairs each BSN senior with one nurse. Ohio University's BSN page says each senior is assigned to work with a preceptor nurse for 168 hours in a hospital setting, and the catalog describes NRSE 4212 as person-centered care for adults with acute, chronic and complex physical health alterations.
The timing is worded two ways. The BSN page adds "(about one week)" after the 168 hours, while the semester plan spreads 168 clinical clock hours across the NRSE 4212 semester. The course syllabus and your clinical faculty give the real schedule.
Earlier courses show the range of settings a BSN student meets. NRSE 4122 covers childbearing and pediatric clients and their families or caregivers, and the BSN page describes community experience at local schools, home health agencies and local hospitals such as Nationwide Children's Hospital.
The mistake to avoid: contacting a hospital or clinic to arrange your own campus rotation. BSN and AAS rotations, including the NRSE 4212 preceptor, come through the program, so talk to your clinical faculty first.
After graduation: programs where you choose the preceptor
The picture changes once you are licensed and move into Ohio University's online programs. If you finish the AAS or the LPN-to-RN track and go on to the online RN-to-BSN, you log 31.5 clinical hours in NRSE 4585 and NRSE 4595, and Ohio University makes securing a preceptor your responsibility unless the site specifies otherwise. The RN-to-BSN page covers the Preceptor Agreement deadlines.
BSN graduates who later enter an online MSN, such as the MSN FNP, follow a different rule. Graduate students may name their own preceptors for faculty to approve, can turn to the Graduate Clinical Coordinator for help, and may have to use a large hospital system's own request process. The NP tracks also want two years of full-time RN work, or its equivalent, within the last five, so that search comes after at least two years of RN practice.
Knowing the clinical hours for each program early helps you choose a track whose practicums you can place near home.
Where we fit for campus students
While you are in the campus BSN or AAS, your clinical faculty and the program handle rotations, and that is the right route. Our work begins when you move to a program where you choose the preceptor. For RN-to-BSN students we find a qualified community site and capstone preceptor near home and prepare the Preceptor Agreement details. For MSN and DNP students we find preceptors that fit each practicum and have everything faculty review ready before the clinical packet deadline.
If you like to plan ahead, send us your campus, graduation term and the program you are weighing. Your placement advisor can map when that program's first practicum falls and when the search for it should start. Drop us a note in the form, or browse how it works first.
Questions Ohio University students ask
Do Ohio University BSN students have to find their own clinical sites?
Ohio University's public pages do not ask them to. The catalog describes regionalized clinical experiences, the BSN page says faculty at the regional campuses assist in finding placements, and seniors are assigned a preceptor for NRSE 4212. What campus students do need is their own transport to sites that can sit well away from campus.
What grade do I need in Ohio University BSN nursing courses?
The catalog asks for 80% (B-) or better in the listed BSN nursing courses, and the Chillicothe BSN page notes that the School of Nursing does not round points or percentages when setting final course grades. AAS nursing courses need a B- or better. Your course syllabus explains how clinical performance feeds into that grade.
Can LPNs join Ohio University's nursing programs?
Yes, through the three-semester LPN-to-RN advanced placement track within the Associate of Applied Science in Nursing, offered at the regional campuses the catalog lists for the AAS. Ohio University's pages do not list a separate practical nursing program. Once you hold an RN license, you can continue with Ohio University's online RN-to-BSN.
Does Ohio University's BSN include mental health clinical time?
Yes. NRSE 3212 Psychiatric/Mental Health Nursing Care, in the sixth semester of the BSN plan, carries 37.8 clinical clock hours alongside 4.2 lab hours. The AAS is different on paper: the catalog lists NURS 1221 Mental Health Nursing as 3.0 lecture with 0.0 clinical and 0.0 laboratory, so ask your campus how mental health practice is covered there.
Where do Ohio University nursing students do clinicals near Athens?
Ohio University does not publish a site list for BSN rotations. Its pages mention hospitals and clinical agencies in the region, local schools, home health agencies and hospitals such as Nationwide Children's Hospital. Hospitals close to Athens include OhioHealth O'Bleness Hospital and Memorial Health System's Athens Medical Campus; our Southeast Ohio guide describes the wider area.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-24
We check these pages against Ohio University's own catalog, program pages and Nursing Knowledge Center. Your syllabus, the Graduate Nursing Student Handbook and your faculty have the final word.
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