RN license requirements for Lewis graduate nursing

Match the license to where your patients are

The BSN to DNP and DNP lines leave no doubt: the license follows the clinical location. The MSN line, "Illinois or state/country of practice", can be read as the state where you work as an RN or the state where your practicum sits, and Lewis does not spell out which reading it intends.

Lewis's FAQ points the same way for out-of-state students, noting that they have the option to obtain licensure in Illinois and complete the practicum in Illinois. Our working rule, which is our reading rather than a Lewis statement, is simple: hold an active RN license in the state where your practicum site is before you file the contract request, and confirm that plan with your track coordinator.

Studying from outside Illinois

Lewis's graduate catalog warns that a clinical or practicum placement outside Illinois can need extra permission from Lewis itself, from the state where the site is, or from Illinois licensing boards, and tells students to talk with their program's academic advisor and the licensing agencies involved before one begins. Its state disclosure tables add that a state can restrict clinical rotations even when a license there is within reach.

That makes your license one piece of a larger question. The clinicals outside Illinois guide covers permissions, and the state authorization guide lists the 18 jurisdictions Lewis enrolls from and how each one is marked.

If you move during the program, nothing Lewis publishes obliges you to report it, though the catalog puts the job of tracking changes in outside licensure requirements on you, along with raising their effect on your program with the University. Talk to your track coordinator before the move, not after.

How we plan around your license

We start every search from where you are licensed. With an Illinois license, we look across the Illinois communities where you live and work; with a license from another state, we search there and flag early any site that would need a second license. For DNP students we search in the residency state named on your application.

Before a preceptor's name reaches you, we confirm the preceptor's license standing in the state where they practice and gather the credential details the contract request needs, laid out so you can enter them in one sitting. If your license picture changes mid-program, through a move or a new job across a state line, we rework the search around the license you will hold when the practicum starts. Tell us your program and license state on the placement request form.