UCCS immunizations and compliance, item by item
Before a UCCS graduate student logs a single clinical hour, an RN license, a hands-on BLS card, proof of personal health insurance and a set of immunizations must be sitting in Medatrax. Undergraduates keep the same kinds of records in myClinicalExchange. Clinical sites may ask for more, and a UCCS exemption only reaches as far as UCCS.
Get your placement plan
Tell us your UCCS program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with the preceptor and site options that fit your UCCS course.
The graduate Medatrax list
The 08/2026 practicum handbooks set the list for MSN, RN to MSN, certificate and BSN to DNP students. Each item below goes into Medatrax, the same system that will later hold your patient logs and every evaluation.
| Item | What UCCS asks for |
|---|---|
| RN license | A current RN license, valid where you do your hours |
| BLS | American Heart Association or American Red Cross, with hands-on skills; AHA RQI accepted; ACLS is not a substitute |
| Health insurance | Proof of personal health insurance |
| MMR | Two doses, or titers for all three diseases |
| Hepatitis B | A three-dose series, or a titer |
| Tetanus | A dose within the last 10 years |
| Pertussis | One adult dose |
| Varicella | Two doses, or a titer |
| Tuberculosis | An annual PPD or QuantiFERON test; a chest X-ray if positive |
| Influenza | An annual flu vaccine |
The Graduate Nursing Student Handbook, revised April 2024, adds HIPAA and bloodborne pathogen modules and asks for a flu shot received after August 15 each year. It predates the practicum handbooks, so confirm whether those extras still apply to your semester. The background check and drug screen sit on the same file and have their own guide.
BLS: the item that catches experienced nurses
UCCS's BLS rule is narrower than many working nurses expect. Only American Heart Association or American Red Cross cards count, and the course must include a hands-on skills check. The AHA's RQI program is accepted by name.
What surprises people is ACLS. Nurses who carry ACLS for work sometimes let BLS lapse, assuming the advanced card covers it. At UCCS it does not: the handbook says ACLS is not a substitute. Check the expiration date on your BLS card well before the semester's due date, and renew through a course with an in-person or RQI skills component.
Your RN license is on the list for a related reason. It has to stay current through the whole program and be valid in the state where your hours happen, which the RN license guide explains state by state.
An ACLS card does not stand in for BLS at UCCS; upload a current AHA or Red Cross BLS card with a hands-on component.
Health insurance and injury coverage
UCCS wants proof of your own health coverage, and the April 2024 graduate handbook spells out that this means personal health insurance, not malpractice insurance. A card or coverage letter in your name does the job.
Injuries during a rotation fall under a different arrangement. UCCS states that students are covered by the University insurance program, Workers' Compensation, for any injury or exposure while completing a clinical practicum rotation. That coverage is part of why hours cannot happen between semesters: the handbooks link that rule to liability and Workers' Compensation, as the semester rules page explains.
None of the UCCS sources reviewed tells graduate students to buy a personal malpractice policy. If a site asks you for one, bring the request to the Academic Services Professional for Graduate Nursing before you purchase anything.
When everything is due: three documents, three answers
UCCS's documents disagree about the deadline, and the difference matters when you are timing a first rotation.
- The 08/2026 FNP/AGNP practicum handbook: in Medatrax "by the published due date each semester."
- The Graduate Nursing Student Handbook, revised April 2024: "by second week of the semester."
- The 2024 practicum handbook that the 08/2026 edition replaced: the semester before.
Follow the 08/2026 handbook and the date UCCS announces for your semester, since it is the newest source. If you cannot tell which date applies to you, ask the Graduate Clinical Practicum Coordinator, who also serves as the Medatrax coordinator. Whatever the date, a missing item keeps you from starting clinical hours, even with a signed agreement in hand.
The first clinical course is the natural checkpoint. Students receive badge and Medatrax instructions before NURS 6730, where clinical hours begin, and certificate students who skip that course receive them before their first rotation.
Exemptions, COVID-19 and site extras
UCCS has two exemption routes. Medical exemptions go through the Office of Disability Services. Religious exemptions go through the Dean of Students, and the handbook marks them as "for UCCS only." In both cases a clinical site can still decline a student who does not meet its own rules.
COVID-19 shows how that plays out. The 2024 handbook required proof of COVID vaccination. The 08/2026 edition dropped it from UCCS's own list but directs students to meet whatever each site requires, including immunizations UCCS does not, and it names COVID-19 as the example. A site can therefore ask for a vaccine the college no longer lists.
UCCS spells out the consequence: not following immunization requirements may affect a student's ability to find a clinical placement. An exemption settles the question with the college, not with the site, so a student who holds one should expect a narrower field of sites and start the preceptor search earlier than classmates.
Undergraduate compliance runs through myClinicalExchange
Traditional and Accelerated BSN students, and RN to BSN students heading into NURS 4450, upload compliance records to myClinicalExchange, where faculty and staff associated with UCCS's clinical agencies review them. The undergraduate list overlaps the graduate one without matching it.
- CastleBranch background check and drug screen
- CPR as AHA BLS, including the in-class skills portion
- A baseline TB test, MMR, Tdap, hepatitis B and varicella
- An annual flu vaccine and a COVID-19 series, which stays on the undergraduate list
- Proof of health insurance
Campus BSN records must be in myClinicalExchange by these dates: fall, August 1; spring, December 1; the Accelerated summer start, April 1. UCCS warns it cannot promise clinical placements to students who miss those first deadlines. RN to BSN students follow the NURS 4450 checklist and its own dates, covered on the RN to BSN page.
Why UCCS students choose us
Your compliance file is yours to keep current; the placement is where we come in. When we search for your preceptor, we ask each candidate site what it requires beyond UCCS's list, such as COVID-19 vaccination, its own screening or a myClinicalExchange account, and we tell you before you commit. If you hold an exemption, we aim the search at sites whose rules fit it, so your semester is spent at a site ready for you.
We then assemble the Clinical Site Sheet details, from the preceptor's license and certification to your exact hours and the site's authorized signer, so the college has everything it needs to begin its review. UCCS approves every site; we make sure the request is complete the first time. To begin, tell us your track and your first clinical course through the contact form; how it works shows each step.
Questions UCCS students ask
Does UCCS still require the COVID-19 vaccine for graduate nursing students?
Not on its own list. The 08/2026 practicum handbook removed COVID-19 from UCCS's graduate requirements, although the 2024 edition had asked for proof. The newer handbook still tells you to meet each clinical site's rules and uses COVID-19 as its example of an extra a site may require. Undergraduates continue to see a COVID-19 series on their list.
Is RQI accepted for BLS at UCCS?
Yes. UCCS accepts BLS from the American Heart Association or the American Red Cross provided the course includes hands-on skills, and it names AHA RQI as acceptable. Keep a separate, current BLS card in Medatrax even if you also hold ACLS, because the handbook says ACLS does not take the place of BLS.
Do UCCS nursing students need their own malpractice insurance?
The college asks for personal health insurance, not malpractice coverage, and says clinical injuries and exposures fall under the University insurance program through Workers' Compensation. No UCCS document reviewed requires graduate students to buy a malpractice policy. If a site requests one, ask the Academic Services Professional whether it is truly needed before paying for a policy.
Will a UCCS religious exemption get me into any clinical site?
No. A religious exemption, granted through the Dean of Students, applies to UCCS only, and medical exemptions through the Office of Disability Services work the same way. Each clinical site applies its own immunization policy and can refuse a student who lacks a vaccine it requires. Start the search early and ask every site directly.
What happens if a compliance item is missing when my rotation starts?
You wait. The FNP/AGNP handbook bars students with missing items from starting clinical hours, and hours only count inside a registered semester, so each lost week is gone for that term. Upload everything by the date UCCS publishes for the semester and confirm in Medatrax that every item is there.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-25
We check these pages against UCCS's catalog, practicum handbooks and college pages. Your degree plan, the handbook for your cohort and the Graduate Clinical Practicum Coordinator have the final word.
UCCS asks you to find your clinical hours where you live. Let us run that search.
Tell us your UCCS track, your next clinical course and where you live. We find preceptors who fit the course and prepare the details your Clinical Site Sheet needs, early enough for the agreement to be signed before the semester.
- Preceptors matched to the course: pediatrics for
NURS 6900, acute and chronic care forNURS 6915andNURS 6925, psychiatric prescribers forNURS 6801toNURS 6803 - Credentials, license, certification and the site's signer ready for the Clinical Site Sheet
- In Colorado Springs, along the Front Range, or in any of UCCS's approved states
Start your placement plan
Your program, city and next clinical semester is all we need to begin.