Lewis NP and DNP students in Kentucky
Kentucky comes out clean on Lewis's disclosures: enrollment authorized, and NP licensure requirements met on the MSN, BSN to DNP and certificate tables alike. The Kentucky details that shape a practicum come from the Kentucky Board of Nursing (KBN), which sets a firm bar for the licenses your preceptor holds.
Find a Kentucky preceptor for your Lewis course
Tell us your Lewis track, your Kentucky city and the practicum you need covered.
Kentucky on Lewis's disclosure tables
All 20 of Lewis's graduate nursing tables, created in March 2026, authorize enrollment from Kentucky. All 12 nurse practitioner tables go further and mark the curriculum as meeting Kentucky's licensure requirements, so no route splits the way Connecticut and Hawaii do.
| Lewis program | Authorized to enroll | Meets licensure requirements |
|---|---|---|
| MSN NP concentrations (FNP, AGACNP, AGPCNP, PMHNP) | Yes | Yes |
| BSN to DNP NP tracks | Yes | Yes |
| Certificates of Advanced Study, NP | Yes | Yes |
| Post-master's DNP, Nursing Education, Healthcare Systems Leadership, MSN/MBA | Yes | Not listed: no separate state license |
| School Nurse | Yes | No: approved for Illinois only |
Lewis's one standing caution covers Kentucky too: its NP tables warn that clinical rotations can face limits even where licensure is met. KBN is the board Lewis links from the Kentucky row.
What KBN expects of programs and preceptors
Start with the easy part. Kentucky's board says approving schools from other states is outside its role and asks no approval of them, even of a school with no Kentucky footprint whose students train in Kentucky.
Your preceptor gets the closer look. When an online MSN or DNP program is training future APRNs, KBN applies a two-license test to whoever precepts or supervises its students on a Kentucky site: Kentucky APRN licensure and Kentucky RN licensure, both active and unencumbered. A supervising faculty member living in another compact state can skip the RN piece. Verify both credentials before a Kentucky NP's name goes into Lewis's contract request.
There is also a statutory carve-out, KRS 314.101, which KBN cites for out-of-state nurses completing a Kentucky clinical rotation if their school holds SARA membership or a Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education license. Lewis appears as a participant in the NC-SARA directory. Before relying on the carve-out, ask the Clinical Placement Office how Lewis reads it.
Your license for a Kentucky practicum
Compact membership arrived in Kentucky on January 19, 2018. For Kentucky clinicals, then, the license can be Kentucky's own or the multistate license issued by your compact home state. On Lewis's side, MSN admission takes an RN license from Illinois or your practice state, and the BSN to DNP wants Illinois, the practicum state or both; the RN license guide lays out each program.
Illinois is not a compact member. If you later use Lewis's FAQ option of an Illinois license and Illinois practicums, Kentucky multistate status will not help you there.
Prescribing is where Kentucky NPs stay most tied to physicians. AANP files the state under reduced practice: to prescribe, controlled or not, a qualifying NP maintains a pair of physician agreements unless the Board has granted an exemption, and anyone newly licensed meets extra conditions about where they work in year one. Some Kentucky preceptors practice that way, and Lewis's Clinical Coordinators or track lead faculty judge whether a practice suits your course.
Louisville, Lexington, northern Kentucky and Bowling Green
Census 2025 estimates place 1,121,085 Kentuckians in the Louisville/Jefferson County metro, 535,174 around Lexington-Fayette, 474,868 on the Kentucky side of greater Cincinnati and 197,180 around Bowling Green. Big systems there include Norton Healthcare, UofL Health, UK HealthCare at the University of Kentucky, St. Elizabeth Healthcare and Baptist Health. Treat them as places to search, not sites set up for Lewis: an agency new to Lewis needs an affiliation agreement first.
Fit the setting to the course. NURS 61100 and NURS 61800 call for primary care, NURS 64100 and NURS 64300 for women's and pediatric primary care, NURS 62500 and NURS 62700 for acute care, and the PMHNP series beginning with NURS 63300 for psychiatric care. Research recorded no Kentucky preceptor tax credit.
Why Kentucky students choose our placement desk
Lewis looks to its NP students to help identify preceptors actively, with the Clinical Placement Office facilitating and faculty approving. Our placement desk runs that search in whichever Kentucky metro or rural county you live, screens each candidate against KBN's two-license standard, and hands you a request ready for the contract portal. Start your Kentucky search.
Questions Lewis students ask
Does Lewis's online PMHNP program meet Kentucky licensure requirements?
Yes, according to Lewis. The PMHNP MSN, BSN to DNP and certificate tables all mark Kentucky Yes for enrollment and Yes for licensure. Lewis still notes that clinical rotations can face restrictions state by state, so raise Kentucky practicum plans early with the Clinical Placement Office.
Must a Kentucky NP preceptor hold Kentucky licenses?
Yes. For online APRN programs, KBN wants anyone precepting at a Kentucky site to carry Kentucky APRN and Kentucky RN licensure, both active and unencumbered. Faculty who reside in another compact state are excused from the RN half only. Look both up before the preceptor's name goes into Lewis's portal.
Must Lewis get Kentucky's approval before I train there?
Not from KBN, which leaves out-of-state schools, including those without a Kentucky campus, outside its approval process. Lewis's own sequence still runs in full: your contract request, administrative review, faculty sign-off and, for an agency new to Lewis, an affiliation agreement.
Which RN license does a Lewis DNP residency in Kentucky need?
Lewis's DNP catalog ties your RN license to wherever the residency takes place, and it must be current and unencumbered. In Kentucky, that is a Kentucky license or the multistate license your compact home state issued. Lewis's DNP table marks Kentucky Yes for enrollment and says the degree carries no separate state license.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-25
We check these pages against Lewis's own catalog, program pages and FAQ, its contract portal and Illinois law. Your course, your track coordinator and the Clinical Placement Office have the final word.
Lewis asks you to identify your preceptor. We do the searching.
Tell us your Lewis program, where you live and when your next practicum starts. We find preceptors near you who fit the course and prepare every detail the contract portal asks for, so your request goes in complete.
- Preceptors matched to the practicum: primary care for
NURS 61100andNURS 61800, acute care forNURS 62500, psychiatric care forNURS 63300 - Preceptor, license and site details ready for your preceptor contract request
- In your own community, anywhere Lewis enrolls you and your RN license is valid
Start your placement plan
Program, city and start date is all we need to begin.