Olivet's online RN-BSN: practicums in your own community
Olivet Nazarene University's online RN-BSN finishes its nursing core in 16 months, and two of the eight core courses carry practicum hours: hospice care in NRSG 364 and population health in NRSG 471. Those hours happen in your own community, and we line up the hospice nurse and community site you need.
Line up your RN-BSN practicum
Tell us which course is next and where you live, and your placement advisor will start the local search.
How the RN-BSN is built
The RN-BSN is online degree completion for nurses who hold an ADN or diploma. Core nursing courses run every 8 weeks with two core starts a year, one in fall and one in spring, while general education courses start every 8 weeks. The core takes 16 months, and 6 credits carry into Olivet's MSN.
To be admitted you need a 2.75 GPA and an RN license with no encumbrance. Not licensed yet? You may take general education first, as long as you pass the NCLEX and show Olivet your license before NRSG 302 ends. To graduate, 30 upper-division hours must be taken at Olivet, plus any missing general education.
Sources differ on course length: the web page describes core courses on an 8-week cycle, and the program sheet describes each one as 7 weeks long. Check the dates on your own schedule, especially for the two practicum courses.
The eight core courses
This is the core for anyone whose start date is August 23, 2026 or later, in the order Olivet's program sheet lists them. The first practicum course comes third.
| Course | Title | Practicum |
|---|---|---|
NRSG 302 | Introduction to Baccalaureate Nursing Practice | None; compliance instructions arrive during or after it |
NRSG 354 | Self-care for the Individual and Diverse Populations | None |
NRSG 364 | Palliative & End-of-life Care | 15 hours with a hospice nurse |
NRSG 374 | Evidence-Based Practice | None |
NRSG 402 | Foundational Leadership | None |
NRSG 471 | Population Health | 45 hours |
NRSG 502 | Healthcare Innovation: Technologies, Systems and Policy | None |
NRSG 512 | Advancing Patient Safety Through Informatics and Quality Improvements | None |
Our RN-BSN practicums page goes deeper on both practicum courses and on the legacy courses described further down.
NRSG 364: hospice hours with a hospice nurse
NRSG 364 Palliative & End-of-life Care includes 15 hours of hospice care alongside a hospice nurse. The Fall 2026 handbook describes the activity but does not say who arranges the hospice site, so ask your course faculty early how placement works for your term.
Your background check and urine drug screen must be cleared before this course begins. Instructions arrive by email during or after NRSG 302, and once cleared, the results cover all clinical hours for one year. If a background check comes back flagged, Olivet says its contracts require it to tell the clinical sites, and every site then makes its own call.
RNs with hospice or palliative experience, or the CHPN certification, may qualify for Prior Learning Credit in NRSG 364. If that describes you, raise it before any hospice search begins.
RN-BSN compliance before the first practicum
- Background check and drug screen through Verified Credentials QualifiedFirst
- Tdap in the last 10 years, or one lifetime Tdap with a Td booster in the last 10
- A 2-step TB test or QuantiFERON from the past 12 months
- BLS for Healthcare Providers from the AHA
- Personal health insurance, plus any items the site adds
Tdap, TB, BLS and insurance proof go into Project Concert rather than QualifiedFirst.
NRSG 471: population health, online and on site
NRSG 471 Population Health splits its 45 practicum hours two ways. The larger share, 30 hours, is online teamwork: you build a community health presentation with pre-licensure and MSN classmates. The remaining 15 hours are hands-on care with adults, focused on reconciling medications and teaching.
Olivet's web page says the population health hours are done through online group work and onsite in your own community, and it notes that the clinical activities are tentative and may change. The direct-care portion is the part that needs a site and a nurse to work with, so it is the part to plan first.
Missed clinical hours have to be made up inside the course timeframe. An Incomplete sits on the record until the last hour is in, which is why a site that can host you on your schedule matters more than a site that looks convenient on a map.
60 hours or 45: the numbers Olivet publishes
Olivet's RN-BSN sources disagree on the total, and part of the answer depends on when you started the core.
| Source | Hours |
|---|---|
| RN-BSN web page and Fall 2026 handbook | 60 (15 in NRSG 364 plus 45 in NRSG 471) |
| RN-BSN web page FAQ | 45 practicum hours in Population Health |
| RN-BSN program sheet | 45 |
| Handbook for core started before August 2026 | 45 (15 each in NRSG 326, NRSG 443, NRSG 467) |
For new-curriculum students, 60 is the figure shared by the web page and the newest handbook, while the program sheet and the page's own FAQ say 45. Go by your own handbook version and get a short written confirmation of the total from your course faculty or advisor, so you know which figure your record will be checked against. Whichever count applies, the hours sit in your own community, so the search stays local.
Started the core before August 2026?
If your core began before August 2026, the earlier handbook governs, with three 15-hour practicum or project courses: NRSG 326 Community Health Nursing, NRSG 443 Global and Transcultural Nursing, and NRSG 467 Leadership & Issues in Health Care, Law, and Ethics. That handbook is direct about who searches: students are responsible to obtain their own preceptor and agency.
Every preceptor in that handbook holds a BSN or higher and a license with no encumbrance. The community courses, NRSG 326 and NRSG 443, call for a preceptor based at or connected with a community agency, for example a school or college, an outpatient clinic or a pregnancy center, and the handbook strongly favors keeping one preceptor for both. NRSG 467 needs an RN in a current or past leadership or management role, and hours may be at your workplace but outside your scheduled shifts; our page on clinicals where you work covers that rule.
The Preceptor Information Form and, when needed, the Agency Affiliation Agreement go to the bsnpracticum mailbox before NRSG 326 starts, with original signatures; a stamped or typed signature is not accepted. Hours cannot begin before the course opens or before the approval email for your preceptor arrives.
Why RN-BSN students choose us
RN-BSN students fit practicum hours around full work schedules, and a hospice agency or community site ready to host a student takes real legwork to find. We handle that legwork.
- A hospice preceptor for NRSG 364We find a hospice nurse and agency near you who can host your 15 hours inside the course window.
- A community site for NRSG 471For the 15 direct-care hours, we line up a community setting where medication reconciliation and adult teaching fit the day's work.
- Legacy course preceptorsFor
NRSG 326,NRSG 443andNRSG 467, we find BSN-prepared community and leadership preceptors and help you collect signatures in time for the deadline. - Compliance timingWe keep your background check and drug screen clearance ahead of
NRSG 364, and the one-year window it covers, on your calendar. - Ready for the MSNWhen you continue into a program like Olivet's MSN FNP, where students select their own preceptors, the same team is ready for those searches.
Tell us which course is next in the form below, or read how it works for the full process.
Questions Olivet students ask
Can I get credit for hospice experience instead of NRSG 364 hours?
Possibly. Nurses who have worked in hospice or palliative care, or who hold CHPN certification, can seek Prior Learning Credit for NRSG 364 under the Fall 2026 handbook. Olivet's online forms site, etcentral, is where prior learning credit requests are filed. Ask your advisor before the course opens, since the outcome decides whether you still need a hospice preceptor for that course.
Can I do Olivet RN-BSN practicum hours outside Illinois?
Yes. Olivet welcomes RN-BSN students who live outside Illinois, and they complete practicum hours where they live. The program is absent from Olivet's professional licensure disclosures list, and Olivet's accreditation sheet describes its online offerings as available in every state plus Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.
How long do RN-BSN compliance results last?
Once your background check and drug screen are cleared before NRSG 364, the clearance stays good for a year of clinical hours. The TB result must fall within 12 months and Tdap within 10 years, so check each date against the end of NRSG 471, not only the start of NRSG 364, to avoid a lapse between the two practicum courses.
Does Olivet's RN-BSN lead into the MSN?
Yes. Olivet says 6 credits from the RN-BSN carry into the MSN, and the program page names MSN and certification pathways after graduation. Olivet's MSN tracks ask students to select their own preceptors, and the FNP track requires 2,000 RN hours, so the nursing hours you work during the RN-BSN count toward that bar.
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
Start your placement plan
Track, city and start date is all we need to begin.