Virtual clinical options for Liberty nursing students

The rule, track by track

Liberty's placement text states the PMHNP and FNP rules plainly. For the other tracks, we found no public rule either way, and silence is not the same as permission. The rule itself, with its sources, is on the telehealth hours page.

PMHNP: making the 50% work

Liberty permits PMHNP students to use telehealth sites for "up to 50% of their practicum hours". The rest has to be in person. A practical plan pairs an in-person psychiatric practice near you with a telehealth practice for the balance. Some practices offer both formats, and others only one, so ask how your hours would be split before you commit.

Two other limits sit on top of the cap. An older Liberty PMHNP FAQ says the approved preceptors are PMHNPs and psychiatrists, and that half of each practicum's hours must be with a prescriber. And Liberty approves every site and preceptor, telehealth sites included. The FAQ predates the current plan, so check both rules with the practicum team.

Ask, too, whether the cap is counted per course or across the program, then keep a running tally through NURS 768, NURS 769 and NURS 770, or through NURS 754 and NURS 755 if you follow the catalog's certificate plan. Details of the PMHNP courses are on the PMHNP practicums page.

FNP: why the search stays in person

Liberty's FNP page says "telehealth sites are not allowed". Every FNP hour in NURS 771, NURS 772 and NURS 838 therefore needs an in-person site with a preceptor. Those courses cover wellness, acute, chronic and complex care across the lifespan in primary care, and Liberty's descriptions include history taking, physical exams and prescribing under a preceptor.

If a practice that also sees patients in person offers you some video visits, do not log them until your course faculty or the practicum team says they count. For the in-person search and the distance question, see site distance and the FNP track page.

MSN and post-master's DNP: ask before counting remote hours

Liberty's MSN page says all practicum hours "can be completed within your own community", with no travel to Lynchburg. That speaks to location, not format. We found no public rule allowing or limiting remote or telehealth hours for Nurse Educator, Nursing Administration, Community Health, Health Policy or Informatics students. The catalog's language, a student-selected facility and a preceptor site contract, points to a real site.

Informatics raises the question most directly, because its hours are described as "practice experience hours and/or project hours". Ask your course faculty or the MSN program how much project work can be done remotely before you plan on it.

The post-master's DNP practicum courses, NURS 840 to NURS 843, meet in a synchronous online format, but the practicum activities themselves are faculty-guided and need faculty approval. Get that approval in writing for any remote activity.

Things that sound virtual but are not precepted hours

• The required intensive. FNP and post-BSN PMHNP students have one. Liberty's program pages say it is offered virtually with set login times for live interaction with the professor and classmates; its in-person components page lists it with on-campus requirements. Either way, it is not time with a preceptor. See the intensive page.
• Simulation. We found no Liberty statement allowing or limiting simulation hours toward NP or MSN practicum totals, so do not count on it.
• Online class meetings in a practicum course. Weekly synchronous sessions are part of the course. Check with faculty before logging any of that time as practicum hours.

How we search for telehealth sites

For PMHNP students who want part of their hours by telehealth, a placement advisor looks for psychiatric practices that see patients by video and have a PMHNP or psychiatrist willing to precept. We check each lead against Liberty's published rules before you submit, and the site then goes through Liberty's approval like any other.

We keep the in-person half in view from the start, since at least half of your hours must be face to face. One question to settle early: Liberty's rule is that your RN license must be valid in the state where the practicum takes place, so ask the practicum team which state counts for a telehealth site, and whether a practice based in California, New York or Washington can host you at all. For FNP students, the search stays in person, in line with Liberty's rule. Use the form below to start.