Troy University nursing clinicals in California start with a California RN license

The Board of Registered Nursing's rule for out-of-state NP students

California puts its answer in regulation, at 16 CCR 1486(d): if your NP program is based in another state, you may join clinical experiences in California only while you are licensed there as an RN, with that license active and valid. For you as a Troy student, a compact license will not stand in for it. California never entered the Nurse Licensure Compact and, according to the compact's own map, has no legislation pending to do so.

Section 1486 also governs the person who teaches you. Whoever precepts you there holds a current, active California license for their profession and is qualified in your NP category. Orientation of that preceptor falls to your school, and so does a faculty evaluation every two years or sooner. A written agreement, signed by the school, the preceptor and the clinical agency, then spells out the preceptor's part.

Troy already sends preceptor and agency agreements once faculty approve a preceptor. Ask the Clinical Placements Specialist whether a California placement needs anything added to meet the three-party rule, and read how those papers move on the agency agreements page.

Where the California search happens

Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim is the giant, near 12.8 million people (Census Bureau, 2025 estimate). Next are Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario with roughly 4.8 million, then San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont near 4.6 million and San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad near 3.3 million. Big names range from Stanford Health Care and Cedars-Sinai, the Los Angeles medical center, to Kaiser Permanente (headquartered in Oakland, organized in Northern and Southern California regions), Sutter Health, whose service area covers Northern and Central California, and University of California Health, whose members include UCSF Health and UCLA Health among six academic systems. Each keeps its own gate for students.