South Dakota practicums for Loyola New Orleans nursing students
Both of Loyola University New Orleans' state sources clear South Dakota: the June 2, 2026 licensure table says the MSN and DNP curricula meet requirements, and the July 15, 2026 State Approvals Map approves every program. So the questions worth your time are local ones, in a state with two metropolitan areas, Sioux Falls and Rapid City, plus a micropolitan hub in Aberdeen.
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Tell us your Loyola program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with the preceptor and site options that fit your Loyola course.
No Board approval, but a faculty license expectation
South Dakota's Board of Nursing runs no approval process for nursing schools from other states. Instead, its guidance for them (revised June 2020) leaves each direct-care placement to a contract the school signs with the local clinic, hospital or preceptor. At Loyola, that agreement is the Standard Loyola Affiliation Agreement or a site's own form, which Loyola's placement office pursues once you name the site; the affiliation agreements page covers timing and forfeited hours.
What the Board does expect is an overseeing faculty member with standing in the state; for APRN students, that means a South Dakota APRN license or a recognized privilege to practice there. The same principle reaches instructors of South Dakota-based APRN students through a separate distance-education rule, ARSD 20:48:07:49. That staffing question belongs to Loyola, not to you.
Full practice, reached after a collaborative period
AANP counts South Dakota among the full practice states, with a condition for newcomers. A new NP spends the first 1,040 practice hours in a written collaboration, with a doctor, a certified NP or a CNM as the partner, and after that works independently.
Loyola sets its own floor higher: NP preceptors are board certified and past 2,080 hours of practice, so anyone who meets Loyola's bar has already outgrown the state's collaborative stage. South Dakota's standard for its own programs adds a sensible test you can borrow: the APRN preceptor should work in a role and population focus that matches yours. More on Loyola's side is on the preceptor requirements page.
Sioux Falls, Rapid City, Aberdeen and the Black Hills
Per 2025 Census Bureau estimates, the Sioux Falls metro, which spills into Minnesota, holds about 305,000 South Dakotans. Around 157,000 live in greater Rapid City, and roughly 42,000 in and around Aberdeen. Sanford Health, Avera Health and Monument Health all operate in the state.
Start in Explore Clinical Locations inside Exxat Prism: a clinic already covered by a Loyola agreement gets processed fast, while a first-time agreement can take months.
West River students should keep their hours on the South Dakota side of the line. Loyola's July 2026 map shows Wyoming and Montana as not approved, even though its licensure table lists both as meeting requirements. Settle that conflict with the School of Nursing before you consider a site across the border.
Licenses today, and a compact still waiting
South Dakota nurses have held multistate licenses since the Compact took effect there in January 2018, and Louisiana came aboard in July 2019. A multistate RN license issued by South Dakota as your home state is therefore good in Louisiana, which settles both of Loyola's graduate license rules. Timing and Nursys e-Notify are explained on the RN license page.
South Dakota signed on to the APRN Compact on February 5, 2024. Only five states have passed it, two short of the seven it needs, so NP licenses remain state-issued for now. To license an APRN, South Dakota's Board looks for a graduate program with at least 500 supervised clinical hours matching the license's role and population, plus graduate pathophysiology, health assessment and pharmacology; the MSN FNP at Loyola includes 800 practicum hours.
Why South Dakota students pick us
Distance and each system's intake rules are what slow a South Dakota search, and we plan around both from day one. We identify NPs and physicians who fit your Loyola course and clear the 2,080-hour bar, check whether their organization already has a Loyola agreement, and assemble the preceptor's CV, license, Nursys PDF and Preceptor Agreement for your Wishlist well inside the three-month window. If a preceptor backs out, we move to the next candidate right away. Start your South Dakota search.
Questions Loyola students ask
Do I need South Dakota Board approval for a Loyola New Orleans practicum?
Not as a student. The South Dakota Board of Nursing states that it does not approve nursing schools based in other states; each placement depends on a contract the school signs with the local site or preceptor. Loyola's placement office handles that agreement after your site goes into Exxat, and Loyola lists South Dakota as approved for all programs.
Can a newly certified NP in South Dakota precept me?
Loyola wants board certification plus over one year (2,080 hours) of practice, so an NP in their first year will not qualify, whatever the state allows. The upside is that every NP who clears Loyola's bar has finished South Dakota's 1,040-hour collaborative period and practices on their own authority.
Can I use the APRN Compact to work in several states after graduating?
Not yet. South Dakota joined in 2024, yet the compact stays dormant until seven legislatures have adopted it, and the count is five. Until that happens, expect a separate APRN license for every state where you want to practice. Loyola's licensure table lists South Dakota as meeting educational requirements for its MSN and DNP programs.
Is Sioux Falls the only realistic place for a practicum?
No. Rapid City, Aberdeen and smaller towns have clinics too, and Loyola's bulletin ties FNP practicums to the area where you live. What decides a site is a preceptor who meets Loyola's standards and a practice ready to sign Loyola's affiliation paperwork. Give a new agreement at least three months.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-25
We check these pages against Loyola's own bulletin, program pages, practicum guides, forms and licensure disclosures. Your plan of study, your practicum guide, your program director and the Clinical Practicum Coordinator have the final word.
Loyola asks you to select your own preceptor and site. We make that the easy part.
Tell us your Loyola program, where you live and which term your next practicum starts. We find preceptors whose patients fit the course, check whether the site already has a Loyola affiliation agreement, and prepare everything your Exxat Wishlist needs.
- Preceptors matched to the course: outpatient primary care for
NURS G823, pediatrics and obstetrics forNURS G829, acute care forNURS G902, psychiatric care forNURS G856 - Preceptor CV, license and Nursys PDF, the Preceptor Agreement and the site's signer details ready for the Wishlist
- In your own community, in Louisiana or any state where Loyola approves your practicum
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