Lewis clinical compliance requirements, from physical exam to agency clearance
Clearing a Lewis clinical takes five things: a physical examination form, the bloodwork and immunizations your agency placement calls for, background checks, a current RN license for the right state, and whatever onboarding your agency adds. Lewis publishes those categories but not a graduate item list, which comes with your CastleBranch package and your site. This page gathers every public requirement in one place.
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What Lewis requires, in its own documents
Lewis's requirements are scattered across its catalog, its MSN pages, the MSN FAQ and the contract legend. Pulled together, they read like this:
- Physical examination and labs. The graduate catalog's consumer information says every College of Nursing and Health Sciences student "must have a physical examination form and other specific bloodwork/immunizations related to clinical agency placement."
- Timing. The MSN catalog expects health and clinical requirements to be met before you enroll in clinical or practicum courses.
- Background checks and documentation, with the fees paid by the student.
- A compliance record in CastleBranch, the vendor named in Lewis's contract legend, where non-compliance is a listed reason to deny a contract.
- An unencumbered RN license: in Illinois or your state or country of practice for the MSN, in Illinois and/or your practicum state for the BSN to DNP, and in your residency state for the DNP.
- The college's Chemical Impairment Policy, to which every CONHS student is subject.
License rules by program are on RN license requirements, and the vendor side, including costs, is on CastleBranch at Lewis.
What Lewis leaves unpublished for graduate students
For graduate students, Lewis's public pages stop at categories. Nowhere on its site will you find which titers, which TB screening method, flu or COVID vaccination rules, BLS or ACLS certification, a graduate drug screen or a health insurance requirement applies to an NP, DNP or other graduate student. The graduate nursing handbook, where such details would likely sit, is not public.
The answers come from two places: the CastleBranch package Lewis assigns you, and the onboarding list of the agency where you will train. When they ask for different things, you need both. Ask the Clinical Placement Office if anything in your package is unclear, and ask your site for its student onboarding list the week your preceptor commits.
The BSN rules, for contrast
Lewis publishes far more detail for pre-licensure BSN students, and that detail hints at what a clinical file can include. Before clinical courses, every pre-licensure CONHS student completes a disclosure form similar to the one IDFPR requires in the RN license application, plus a physical examination form and the required immunizations. Drug screenings, background checks and flu shots are yearly, due each fall and before Sophomore II clinicals, and an FBI fingerprint check has to come back with no misdemeanor or felony findings before a student can be placed in a clinical agency.
None of that is a published graduate rule. Treat it as a preview of what a package might contain, not as your checklist. The BSN clinical model, with Lewis placing students in clinical groups at affiliating agencies, is covered on BSN clinicals.
The Romeoville campus immunization rule
A separate campus rule reaches some graduate students. Incoming students born after January 1, 1957 who take six or more credit hours a semester on the Romeoville campus must send an updated immunization record to the Student Wellness Center. Documents are due by September 1 for fall and February 1 for spring, and missing the date brings a Medical Hold and a late fee.
This rule is about enrollment on the Romeoville campus, and it is separate from clinical clearance. Lewis offers its MSN NP tracks at Oak Brook or online, so if your courses meet elsewhere, confirm with the Student Wellness Center whether the rule applies to your schedule instead of assuming either way. Meeting it does not replace anything in your CastleBranch package.
What your agency adds on top
Lewis's legend expects agencies to run their own clearance. Once Lewis's contract with a site is active, the agency confirms when you may begin, and any extra documents it asks for go to both the agency and the Clinical Placement Office. Several health systems describe their requirements on their own student pages:
- Morris Hospital: according to its student rotation page, a rotation is contingent on a successful background check and drug screening, and requests go through its Human Resources department.
- Endeavor Health: according to its nursing clinical rotations page, individual students complete the Endeavor Health Practicum Experience application, requests travel through My Clinical Exchange, and the deadlines are March 1 for fall and winter rotations and August 1 for spring and summer.
- Advocate Health Care: according to its NP student page, requests and onboarding run through myClinicalExchange.
- Northwestern Medicine: according to its student page, APRN practicum requests go through its own form.
These are the systems' rules, not Lewis's, and they apply only when your site belongs to that system.
Clearance items outside the health file
- Getting there. Lewis's 2026-27 student handbook lists nursing clinicals among activities for which the university does not ordinarily provide transportation, so plan your own way to the site.
- Accommodations. The same handbook, in its section on service animals, says students in clinical placements or lab courses must meet with the Disability Support Services office and the clinical or laboratory coordinator before the course. Lewis notes that becoming eligible for services can take 2-3 weeks after an intake meeting.
- Liability coverage. Lewis covers the cost of student clinical insurance; see student clinical insurance.
- School Nurse extras. Candidates complete a background check through the college's vendor before the first field experience, pass ISBE test 236 before the internship, and may face a second fingerprint check from the school district; see School Nurse.
A clearance timeline that works back from day one
- At acceptanceOpen your CastleBranch package when Lewis sends instructions and start anything that depends on lab results or appointments.
- When your preceptor commitsAsk the site for its student onboarding list and compare it with your package.
- Before you file the contract requestConfirm your RN license is active for the state where the practicum will happen.
- While the request is in reviewFinish the agency's items so you are ready the moment it starts clearing you.
- When the agency asks for moreSend each document to the agency and to the Clinical Placement Office on the same day.
- Before the semester startsMake sure nothing expires before your term ends, which is December 12 in fall 2026 and May 15 in spring 2027.
The placement desk runs this timeline alongside you for every site we find, so clearance wraps up when the preceptor search does. See how it works.
Questions Lewis students ask
Do Lewis graduate nursing students need a drug screen?
Lewis does not publish a drug screening rule for graduate students. BSN students screen every year, and some agencies require screening on their own terms; Morris Hospital's student page, for example, makes rotations contingent on one. Check your CastleBranch package and your site's onboarding list, and assume the stricter of the two applies.
Do I need my own health insurance for Lewis clinicals?
Lewis's public pages state no health insurance requirement for graduate students. If one applies, it will appear in your CastleBranch package or your agency's onboarding list. Keep it separate in your mind from student clinical insurance, the liability coverage Lewis says the University pays for, which is a different thing from coverage for your own health care.
Do Lewis NP students need BLS or ACLS certification?
Lewis does not publish life support certification rules for graduate students. Your CastleBranch package and your clinical agency will say what they need, and a hospital site may set its own expectations. If the package and the agency's list disagree, meet the higher standard and ask your track coordinator.
Does Lewis re-check my RN license before each practicum?
Lewis requires an unencumbered RN license at admission, in the state its program rules name, but it does not publish how often the license is re-verified. Treat it as a continuing condition: keep it active and renewed through every term, and compare your program's license rule with the state where each practicum takes place.
How long does clinical clearance take at Lewis?
Lewis gives no clearance timeline. Contract review takes at least two weeks under its legend, a new affiliation agreement adds the agency's signing time, and agency onboarding follows on the agency's schedule. Because compliance runs in parallel with all of that, starting your package at acceptance keeps it from becoming the last item on the list.
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.
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