CastleBranch: compliance for Olivet's current-curriculum students
Olivet Nazarene University's Current Curriculum MSN handbook, revised 8/31/26, sends clinical compliance and the background check through CastleBranch. The New Curriculum handbook names a different vendor, so the first job is knowing which handbook governs your enrollment. This page helps you tell, then covers what CastleBranch holds and how to keep it current across six FNP clinicals.
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Which Olivet students use CastleBranch
The Current Curriculum MSN Student Handbook is the edition for students already enrolled. Olivet revised it on 8/31/26 and made it effective for the August 31, 2026 start. It routes the clinical compliance items through CastleBranch and names the background check there specifically. Students under this handbook include FNP and PG-APRN students working toward the NRSG 665A to NRSG 665F clinicals and Education track students heading for NRSG 658 and NRSG 634.
The New Curriculum handbook, created the same month for new starts, names Verified Credentials QualifiedFirst for the same job. Olivet publishes both, and neither names the start dates it governs. Treat that as a genuine conflict: follow the handbook version you were given, and confirm with your advisor if there is any doubt. New-curriculum students have their own QualifiedFirst guide.
The vendor follows the handbook, not the calendar. Confirm your handbook version with your advisor before you buy a compliance package.
How to tell which handbook is yours
Your advisor has the final word, but the course numbers on your plan are a reliable clue, because the two curricula number the same parts of the program differently.
| Marker | Current Curriculum (CastleBranch) | New Curriculum (QualifiedFirst) |
|---|---|---|
| FNP clinical courses | NRSG 665A to NRSG 665F, six courses | NRSG 636C to NRSG 639C, four courses |
| FNP Immersion | NRSG 685 | NRSG 688 |
| Education practicums | NRSG 658 (30 hours) and NRSG 634 (120 hours) | NRSG 604 (30 hours) and NRSG 620 (120 hours) |
| Role development course | NRSG 627 (FNP) or NRSG 629 (Education) | NRSG 635 (FNP) or NRSG 615 (NEL) |
| Requirements course enrollment | You self-enroll in Canvas before the role course | Olivet enrolls you automatically by email invitation |
| Compliance vendor | CastleBranch | Verified Credentials QualifiedFirst, verified in Project Concert |
If your plan shows NRSG 665 clinicals or NRSG 627, that points to the current handbook. The new vs current curriculum page sets the two programs side by side course by course.
What your CastleBranch record holds
The current-curriculum handbook sends through CastleBranch the same compliance items that the new handbook sends through QualifiedFirst, and it names the background check among them. In practice your record carries the background check and drug screen, the physical, TB, titers, Tdap, flu, BLS, health insurance and your RN license, plus malpractice insurance if an FNP site asks for it.
Because both handbooks list the same items, the more detailed wording in the new handbook is a useful guide: in-person American Heart Association BLS, a drug screen that includes THC and clears 2 to 4 weeks before the practicum, and uploads showing your name, demographic details, result and date. Where your Current Curriculum handbook words something differently, its wording governs your record.
The full list with renewal timing sits on the clinical compliance page.
Enrolling yourself in the requirements course
Current-curriculum students take one step that new-curriculum students skip: they enroll themselves. The handbook tells you to self-enroll in the Canvas clinical or practicum requirements course before your role course, which is NRSG 627 for FNP and PG-FNP students and NRSG 629 for Education students.
That course sets your practicum requirements, and signing the handbook agreement makes it binding. The CastleBranch instructions, preceptor criteria and approval steps for your track are laid out inside it rather than on Olivet's public pages, so enrolling late means learning the rules late. Enroll as soon as the handbook allows and read it before you contact a preceptor.
Both enrollment routes are explained on the requirements course page.
Keeping CastleBranch current across six FNP clinicals
The current curriculum spreads 750 FNP hours over six clinicals, each paired with a didactic course from NRSG 667 to NRSG 672. NRSG 665A through NRSG 665D carry 125 hours each. NRSG 665E moves from 120 to 125 hours effective October 2026, and NRSG 665F makes the same change in January 2027.
With six clinical courses in a row, yearly items such as TB and the flu vaccine are likely to come due partway through, and your BLS card has to remain valid through every practicum. Put each expiry date from your CastleBranch record on the same calendar as your course start dates, and renew before the course that would cross it.
One more date comes before any of this. The current handbook wants your 2,000 RN hours behind you before any clinical track course, and sets the close of NRSG 681 as the cutoff; the 2,000 RN hours rule explains it.
When your curriculum or handbook changes
Students pause and return, and handbooks change around them. Olivet's graduate handbook wants the Return Form in hand a fortnight ahead of your return to clinical or practicum work. That is the moment to confirm which handbook now applies to you and which compliance system should hold your records.
If you are told you now fall under the new curriculum, ask the SON Clinical Coordinator or the MSN/PG-APRN Program Support Coordinator at GraduateNursing@olivet.edu where your items should live before you pay for a new package. Keep copies of every CastleBranch document either way, since titers, the physical and your Tdap record are the same documents whichever system receives them. A returning student who is also changing curricula may meet new course numbers as well, so check where the first clinical of your new plan falls before you set any compliance dates.
Why current-curriculum students choose us
Continuing students can face tight timelines: a clinical course is close, the handbook has just been revised, and the preceptor is not yet confirmed. We work from your handbook version rather than a generic checklist, and we match preceptors to each NRSG 665 course's focus, from acute and episodic adult care in NRSG 665A to complex pediatric and women's health in NRSG 665F.
We line up the site details and preceptor credentials Olivet's approval needs, and we note what the site adds to your CastleBranch list, so the record and the placement finish together. Olivet approves every preceptor, and what you submit for that approval arrives complete. If a preceptor leaves between NRSG 665 courses, we find the next one and recheck the dates on your record against the new start. Start with the form below.
Questions Olivet students ask
Does Olivet still use CastleBranch?
Yes, for students under the Current Curriculum MSN handbook, revised 8/31/26 and effective for the August 31, 2026 start. That handbook sends compliance and the background check through CastleBranch. The New Curriculum handbook for new starts names Verified Credentials QualifiedFirst instead, so the answer depends on which handbook version governs your enrollment.
I started before 2026. Which compliance vendor should I use?
Olivet ties the vendor to the handbook, not publicly to a start date. The current handbook is written for continuing students, and your advisor on the Online Advising Team can confirm which edition applies to your record. Check before ordering a background check, so it runs through the right system the first time.
Do CastleBranch students also use Project Concert?
Olivet's fee sheet assigns Project Concert competency and encounter tracking in the FNP tracks and competency tracking in NEL, and it does not split students by curriculum. The statement that Project Concert verifies compliance items comes from the new handbook. Your requirements course confirms how your track uses it.
When do my CastleBranch items have to be complete?
Olivet's graduate rule is simple to state: everything done by your first clinical day, and nothing allowed to lapse after it. Your requirements course in Canvas gives the exact deadline for your track. Plan the drug screen separately, since it has to clear in the window 2 to 4 weeks before the practicum rather than as early as possible.
What is NRSG 686 in the current curriculum?
The Current Curriculum handbook places NRSG 686 Virtual Clinical after NRSG 685 FNP Immersion and marks it optional. It is not one of the six NRSG 665 clinicals that make up your 750 hours. Ask your advisor whether it fits your plan before you register.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-25
We check these pages against Olivet's own handbooks, program pages, fee sheet and licensure disclosures. Your handbook version, your Canvas clinical requirements course, your faculty and the SON Clinical Coordinator have the final word.
Olivet asks you to start with your own network. We make the search the easy part of your program.
Tell us your Olivet track, where you live and when your next clinical course starts. We find preceptors whose patients fit the course, inside Olivet's approved states, and prepare everything Olivet's approval and the site's onboarding need.
- Preceptors matched to the course: adults and older adults for
NRSG 636C, women's health forNRSG 637C, children forNRSG 638C, education and leadership forNRSG 620 - Credentials, license and site details ready before your clinical course opens, with the drug screen timing on your calendar
- In your own community, in Illinois or any state Olivet approves for your clinicals
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