Castle Branch for Graceland nursing practicums
Graceland University keeps every graduate practicum clearance in Castle Branch, reached through the GD23 portal, and it takes nothing on paper. You order the GF47 packages, finish them by the same June 15, October 15 or February 15 deadline that applies to Appendix A and Appendix B, and keep each item current for as long as you are taking practicum courses.
Get your placement plan
Tell us your Graceland program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with the preceptor and site options that fit your course.
Why Castle Branch comes first
Graceland contracts with Castle Branch to gather and hold its graduate students' health records, licenses and training documents, and the handbook tells students that no paper documents are to be sent to Graceland. The contract coordinators read your Castle Branch file before they approve a preceptor or site, so a half-finished account can stall a practicum that is otherwise ready to go.
The placement flowchart in the 2026 Graduate Student Handbook puts Castle Branch at the very top. Its first box reads that the student "has completed or started the required packages for Track in Castle Branch", and only then comes the step where a preceptor is found. Opening the packages early gives slow items, such as a titer result or a license verification from a state board, time to come back.
Graceland also lists current, compliant Castle Branch documentation among the seven conditions that must all be met before a single practicum hour counts. The full list is on the approval email page.
The GD23 portal and the GF47 package codes
The handbook sends students to portal.castlebranch.com/GD23 and says students must use that link to be in Graceland's own Castle Branch account. Start from that address rather than from a search result, so what you order lands where the coordinators look.
Graceland titles the MSN nurse practitioner requirements "Clinical Requirements GF47" and lists the packages by code:
| Code | Graceland's name | What it holds | When it matters |
|---|---|---|---|
| GF47dt | Drug Test ONLY | The 11-panel drug screen, with alcohol screened for cause | Taken 4 to 6 weeks before your first practicum course |
| GF47im | Medical Document Manager | Immunizations, TB, CPR and ACLS where required, license verification, health insurance, confidentiality statement, photo ID | Complete by your paperwork deadline, then kept current |
| GF47bgmo | Missouri Background Check | The criminal background check, Missouri version | Finished by the end of your first term |
| GF47os | OUT of STATE Background Check ONLY | The criminal background check, out-of-state version | Finished by the end of your first term |
You buy one of the two background packages, not both. The background check page covers how to pick between them.
What goes into the Medical Document Manager
GF47im is where most of the work sits. Graceland's Attachment A spells out the items it expects, and each one has its own rule about what counts as proof:
- MMR, varicella and hepatitis B records or titers, plus a Tdap given within 10 years
- A TB result from the last 12 months, renewed every year
- The season's influenza vaccine, given between July and January 31
- CPR from any provider, and ACLS for AGACNP students
- Verification of your RN license from the state board rather than a copy of the card
- Both sides of your personal health insurance card, renewed yearly
- The signed confidentiality statement and a photo ID, which Graceland also uses for your badge
- A COVID-19 vaccine record, only if you received the vaccine
The item-by-item rules, including declinations and a conflict over who needs ACLS, are on the immunization requirements page. License verification has its own page.
When each package is due
- Open the packages right after admissionGraceland's flowchart expects Castle Branch to be under way before the preceptor search step, so set up the account and order GF47im and your background package early.
- Finish the background check in term oneGraceland requires it to be complete by the end of your first term of enrollment. A student who misses that point is removed from the program until it is done.
- Clear GF47im by the paperwork deadlineJune 15 for a Fall practicum, October 15 for Spring and February 15 for Summer, the same dates as Appendix A and Appendix B. The deadlines page has the full table.
- Order GF47dt by the deadline, test laterThe handbook asks you to order the drug test packet by the submission deadline but to take the test inside the window 4 to 6 weeks before your first practicum begins. The drug screen page counts back the dates.
Page 63 of the handbook draws a hard line under all of this: you cannot register for any practicum until every one of these items is complete.
Keeping the account current every term
Castle Branch is not a single upload at admission. Several items run on their own clock: the TB result renews yearly, a new flu shot is needed each season by January 31, insurance cards renew every year, and your CPR card has to stay valid. Graceland expects every item to be current through each practicum term, not only the first one.
Before each trimester the contract coordinator checks your Castle Branch file alongside Appendix A and Appendix B and emails you about anything missing. Read those messages the day they arrive and fix the item that week. One lapsed document is enough to hold back an approval when everything else is ready.
A simple habit helps: whenever you upload something with an expiration date, put the renewal on your own calendar with a month to spare, and look through the whole account again a few weeks before each paperwork deadline.
Use only the GD23 address. Earlier handbooks gave each track its own code (GD25 for FNP, GJ26 for PMHNP); the 2026 handbook uses the GF47 packages.
Graduate students, undergraduate trackers and site portals
The background check rule covers every Graceland graduate student, and the GF47 set is titled for the MSN nurse practitioner practicums, which also serve the certificates and the BSN-to-DNP tracks. Post-master's DNP students should ask the contract coordinators which packages apply to them beyond the background check.
Graceland's undergraduate handbooks describe a different tracker, ClinicalStudent, for RN-BSN and on-campus BSN-RN students. RN-to-MSN students moving into the graduate NP courses should confirm with the contract coordinators when to open the GD23 account.
A hospital or clinic can also run onboarding of its own on top of Castle Branch. UnityPoint Clinic and Broadlawns Medical Center in Des Moines, for example, describe myClinicalExchange processes on their student pages. Graceland's handbook asks students to tell the contract coordinator about any site with its own request process; sites with their own request systems explains why.
Why Graceland students choose us for this stretch
Students come to us for a preceptor and get a plan that lines up every moving part. Your placement advisor builds one timeline that puts the preceptor search, the Castle Branch packages and your drug-screen window on the same calendar, working back from your June 15, October 15 or February 15 deadline.
While we search, we collect what Appendix A and Appendix B ask for: the site address and contract contact, and the preceptor's license, credentials and experience. When a site runs its own onboarding, we flag it at once so you can tell the contract coordinator early. Your practicum reaches Graceland's review complete, with your compliance file ready beside it. Read how it works or send your details through the form below.
Questions Graceland students ask
What is Graceland University's Castle Branch code?
The 2026 Graduate Student Handbook sends students to the Castle Branch portal ending in GD23, which places documents in Graceland's account. The nurse practitioner packages are GF47dt for the drug test, GF47im for the Medical Document Manager, and either GF47bgmo (Missouri) or GF47os (out of state) for the background check. Older handbooks used codes such as GD25 and GJ26.
Can I email my immunization records to the School of Nursing instead?
No. Graceland's handbook says no paper documents are to be sent to Graceland. Health records, licenses and training documents go into Castle Branch, where the contract coordinators review them. Upload clear copies to the right GF47im item, keep your originals, and watch your Sting email for the coordinator's notes about anything still missing.
Who pays for the Castle Branch packages?
You do. Students order the GF47 packages themselves through the GD23 portal, and Graceland's handbook makes students responsible for the designated lab's charges for the drug test, including a repeat after a dilute result. Ordering through the right portal the first time avoids paying for a package that lands outside Graceland's account.
What happens if a Castle Branch item expires during my practicum?
Graceland counts hours only while your Castle Branch documentation is current and compliant, and it expects every item to stay current through each practicum term. Renew TB, flu, CPR and insurance before they lapse. If something does lapse, write to the contract coordinators at soncontracts@graceland.edu straight away and ask how it affects your hours.
When should I start my Graceland Castle Branch packages?
Early. The placement flowchart has students start the track packages before they find a preceptor, the background check must be finished by the end of the first term, and GF47im must be complete by your paperwork deadline. Only the drug test waits, because Graceland wants it taken 4 to 6 weeks before your first practicum course begins.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-25
We check these pages against Graceland's own catalog, program pages and Graduate Student Handbook. Your handbook, your track coordinator and the contract coordinators have the final word.
Graceland's practicums are arranged by you, with Graceland's help. We do the searching.
Tell us your Graceland track, your city and your next practicum. We find preceptors who fit the course, line up what Appendix A and Appendix B ask for, and aim everything at Graceland's paperwork deadline for your term.
- Preceptors matched to the course: primary care for FNP, hospital and ICU clinicians for AGACNP, psychiatrists and PMHNPs for PMHNP
- Site address, contract contact and preceptor details ready before the June 15, October 15 or February 15 deadline
- Close to home in your approved state, with a second preceptor planned for Graceland's two-preceptor rule
Start your placement plan
Track, city and practicum start is all we need to begin.