NSU immunization requirements: the list, the yearly renewals and the rule that cancels placements
NSU's health colleges require hepatitis B (three doses and a positive titer), a flu vaccine every year, MMR, yearly TB testing by two-step PPD or QuantiFERON/T-Spot, Tdap and varicella, plus any vaccine a clinical site requires. You keep the whole list current for as long as you are in the program. A student who has not met a facility's requirements by the first scheduled day loses that placement.
Plan your renewals around clinicals
Tell us your NSU program, ZIP area and next clinical term.
NSU's immunization list
The list lives in the college-level policies that cover every NSU health college, on printed page 86 of the 2025-26 Nursing Student Handbook. ACON's Health and Safety Requirements page then sends the records to DISA CastleBranch, where they are due by the date your program sets. Here is the list as NSU gives it.
| Requirement | What NSU's list says | When it comes due |
|---|---|---|
| Hepatitis B | Three doses plus a positive titer | By your program's CastleBranch date; a three-dose series takes months, so start early |
| Influenza | Annual | Every year, for each flu season you are enrolled |
| MMR | MMR | By your program's CastleBranch date |
| TB testing | A two-step PPD or QuantiFERON/T-Spot, annually | Every year from your last result |
| Tdap | Tdap | By your program's CastleBranch date |
| Varicella | Varicella | By your program's CastleBranch date |
| Site vaccines | "Any Other Vaccinations Required by Clinical Sites" | Before that site's start date |
The list names each vaccine or test. For what counts as proof of each one, such as dates, a titer or a lab report, ask ACON's Office of Student Affairs, which monitors the records in DISA CastleBranch.
The yearly items: influenza and TB testing
Two items expire on a cycle, which makes them the ones most likely to lapse mid-program. Influenza is listed as annual, and TB testing must be repeated "annually" by either method NSU accepts. A record that was complete at orientation will not stay complete on its own.
The TB method changes how you plan. A two-step PPD is two skin tests given at separate visits, each read a few days after it is placed, so the whole process takes several clinic visits spread over one to three weeks. QuantiFERON or T-Spot is a blood test drawn in one visit. If your schedule is tight, the blood test is simpler to fit between shifts, though some sites state a preference, so check with the site first.
Flu vaccines follow the season, and the new season's vaccine usually arrives in late summer or early fall, close to the start of NSU's fall semester. Check the influenza item in your CastleBranch account, or ask Student Affairs, for the date each year's new record is due, and get the shot before a fall clinical course begins if the timing allows.
Staying compliant for the whole program
ACON's section of the handbook requires immunization compliance to be kept up throughout the program, not only at entry. For an APRN student the clinical courses run back to back. A full-time FNP student takes NSG 5549 in semester III, NSG 5559 in IV, NSG 5589 and NSG 5569 in V and the NSG 5599 capstone in VI; AGACNP and PMHNP students follow the same four-semester pattern, and flex plans push it later.
NSU runs fall, winter and summer semesters, so four clinical semesters in a row cover more than a year. At least one flu renewal and one TB renewal will fall inside that stretch for nearly everyone. The weekly reminder emails from DISA CastleBranch flag an item once it lapses; the better plan is to renew before it does.
Our page on full-time and flex plans shows when each plan's clinicals start, which is the calendar your renewals should follow.
Site extras: "any other vaccinations required by clinical sites"
NSU's list ends with a line that hands part of the list to your site. A hospital, clinic or practice can require a vaccine NSU's list does not include, a more recent TB result than NSU's yearly cycle gives you, or its own health form, and the site's version is the one that decides whether you start.
Sites often collect these records in their own systems. The handbook tells health-college students to expect uploads to more than one portal, one for the program and one for each facility where they train, so plan on sending the same documents twice at larger hospital systems.
Ask for the site's list at the moment a preceptor agrees, not a month before the course. Our page on clinical site requirements covers the other items sites tend to ask of NSU students, from background checks to life support cards.
The rule that cancels placements
The handbook (printed page 87) is direct: "If a student does not meet all requirements held by the affiliated facility before the first day of the scheduled placement, the student's placement will be canceled. If the placement has already begun, the student will be asked to leave."
A second line on the same page matters for anyone thinking of declining a vaccine. Under the heading "Failure to comply," NSU says: "The university is not required to provide alternative sites for clinical practicum or rotations should immunization be a requirement for placement." If a site requires a vaccine you do not take, NSU does not have to find you a site that does not require it.
Because APRN clinical hours start with didactic coursework and run weekly, a canceled start costs hours that are hard to rebuild. The placement fell through page covers what to do if it happens.
Declining a vaccine is your decision, but NSU is not required to find you a different site because of it.
Timing renewals before each clinical semester
- List every expiring itemOpen your DISA CastleBranch to-do list and note the renewal dates for influenza, TB testing and anything a site has added.
- Set them against your clinical semestersMark which fall, winter or summer semesters hold a clinical course in your plan, and flag any renewal date that lands inside one.
- Renew in the break beforeMove each flagged renewal into the weeks before that semester starts, so nothing lapses while you are on site.
- Get the site's list two semesters aheadWhen you name a preceptor to your clinical coordinator, ask the site for its vaccine and TB rules at the same time.
- Keep copies ready to uploadStore current PDFs of every record so a site portal takes minutes, not a week of hunting for old files.
Why NSU students plan immunizations with us
We match you with a preceptor and site early, so the site's vaccine and TB rules are in your hands two semesters before the clinical course, not the week before it. You see at once whether the site's list goes beyond NSU's and what that means for your calendar, including whether a titer or a two-step TB test needs booking now rather than next month.
Your placement advisor builds the renewals into a dated plan tied to your clinical semesters, alongside the preceptor license, credentials and site details your clinical coordinator will check. If a site adds a requirement after the match, or your preceptor has to withdraw, we source a replacement that fits the course. How it works shows the full sequence, and the form on this page is the first step.
Questions NSU students ask
What if my hepatitis B titer comes back negative?
NSU's list asks for three doses followed by a positive titer, and the public list does not say what the college accepts after a negative result. Send the report to ACON's Office of Student Affairs right away, ask what NSU accepts next, and talk to your own clinician about the medical side. Move quickly, because any repeat doses and a second titer take time to complete.
Can I use QuantiFERON instead of a two-step PPD at NSU?
Yes. NSU's list accepts either a two-step PPD or a QuantiFERON or T-Spot blood test, and whichever you choose must be repeated annually. The blood test needs one draw, while a two-step skin test needs several visits. A clinical site can state its own preference, so check the site's list before you book.
Is the flu shot required for NSU nursing clinicals?
Yes. Annual influenza vaccination is on the list NSU's health colleges publish. The handbook also says the university is not required to provide an alternative clinical site when an immunization is a facility's condition for placement, so declining a required vaccine can leave you without a site for that course.
Does NSU require the COVID-19 vaccine for clinicals?
The health colleges' list in the 2025-26 handbook names hepatitis B, influenza, MMR, TB testing, Tdap and varicella, and does not name a COVID-19 vaccine. It does end with any other vaccinations required by clinical sites, so if a site requires one, that requirement applies to you for that placement. Ask each site directly.
Where do I upload my immunization records besides CastleBranch?
NSU's records go to DISA CastleBranch by your program's due date. A clinical facility may also ask for the same records in its own onboarding system, and the handbook warns health-college students to expect uploads to more than one portal. The site will tell you where its copy goes once you are accepted there.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-25
We check these pages against NSU's own handbook, catalog and program pages. The graduate clinical guide, your course in Canvas, your clinical coordinator and your program director have the final word.
NSU lets you name your own preceptor. We make sure you have one, close to home and in time.
Tell us your NSU program, your home ZIP area and when your next clinical course starts. We find preceptors who fit the course and have everything ready for your clinical coordinator well before the two-semester notice.
- Preceptors matched to the course: primary care for FNP, acute care for AGACNP, psychiatric care for PMHNP, a practice site for DNP project hours
- Named early enough for NSU's two-semester notice, with license, credentials and site details ready for the coordinator
- Close to your home ZIP code, with clinic days we plan around your work schedule
Start your placement plan
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