Badge, lab coat and insurance for Graceland practicums
Graceland University mails each graduate student a photo ID badge before the first practicum, expects business casual under a white lab coat embroidered with the School of Nursing logo, and covers students with professional liability insurance during scheduled practicum hours. Personal health insurance is yours to carry, with proof kept current in Castle Branch.
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.
What to have ready before day one
Graceland's handbook covers the practicum student's appearance and coverage in a few lines, and almost all of it is settled before you walk into the site:
- The Graceland photo ID badge, mailed to you before your first practicum
- Business casual clothes under a white lab coat with the Graceland University School of Nursing logo embroidered on the front
- Current proof of personal health insurance in Castle Branch
- Your approval email for each site and preceptor, which your course instructors ask to see on the first day of class
Liability coverage needs nothing from you beyond enrolling in the practicum course, but it has limits worth knowing, covered below. Your site may add its own requirements on top of Graceland's, such as a facility badge or its own orientation, so ask your preceptor what the first day looks like. The approval email page explains why that email matters on day one.
The photo badge
Graceland makes your badge from the photo ID you upload to Castle Branch, then mails it before your first practicum. That turns a routine upload into the picture patients and staff will read on your coat, so choose a clear, recent, front-facing photo when you set up the Medical Document Manager. The Castle Branch page shows where the photo ID item sits.
Because the badge travels by mail, keep your mailing address current with Graceland well before your first practicum term, especially if you have moved since you applied. If the badge goes missing or has not arrived as your start date approaches, write to the contract coordinators at soncontracts@graceland.edu, the mailbox Graceland uses for everything practicum-related.
RN-BSN students follow a different handbook. For their practice experiences, Graceland tells them to meet the facility's own identification rules and to contact soncontracts@graceland.edu if a Graceland ID is needed.
The white lab coat and business casual
Graceland's dress standard for graduate practicums is business casual with a white lab coat that has the Graceland University School of Nursing logo embroidered on the front. The coat comes through the Independence Campus Bookstore, which stocks nursing supplies along with textbooks and Graceland merchandise. Online students can reach the bookstore at IndependenceBookstore@graceland.edu.
Order the coat as soon as your first practicum term is set. Embroidered items take longer than stock ones, and the coat needs to be in hand before your first day at the site, not arriving in week two.
Units vary. An AGACNP student in an intensive care unit or an emergency department may find the whole team in scrubs. When a site's own dress rule differs from Graceland's, ask your preceptor at orientation and tell your course faculty how you are handling it.
Liability insurance Graceland provides
Every graduate student in a practicum course must take part in the Graceland University Nursing Student Liability Insurance Program. Graceland provides the professional liability coverage and assesses its cost through practicum enrollment, so the requirement is met by enrolling in the course rather than by a policy you arrange.
The limit matters more than the policy. Graceland provides the coverage "only during scheduled practicum experiences." Hours outside the term's dates, at a site without an approved affiliation agreement, or with a preceptor Graceland has not approved sit outside the practicum Graceland has scheduled, and the handbook counts hours only inside the date range of the term in any case.
The coverage also belongs to your student role, not your job. Shifts you work as an RN are a separate matter. If your practicum is inside your own employer, it must be on a different unit and not under your supervisor; the workplace practicum page explains how that works.
Graceland's liability coverage applies only during scheduled practicum experiences. Keep every practicum hour at your approved site, with your approved preceptor, inside the term's dates.
Personal health insurance
Graceland requires students to carry appropriate personal health insurance while enrolled in clinical practicum courses. Proof goes into the Medical Document Manager in Castle Branch as both sides of the insurance card, renewed every year. A new plan year, a change of employer or a switch to a spouse's plan each means uploading the new card.
Keep the two kinds of insurance straight. Health insurance covers you as a patient if you are hurt or fall ill; the liability program covers your actions as a student clinician during scheduled practicum hours. Graceland supplies the second, and the first is your own. The immunization and health requirements page lists the other items that share the package.
Conduct that goes with the badge
Graceland's safe-practice rules include one that shapes every clinic day: obtain the preceptor's signature on all patient documentation, including office charting and prescriptions. Build the sign-off into your routine with each patient rather than leaving a stack for the end of the shift.
The first 8 hours of each practicum are mostly observation; from the second day you are expected to work as a beginning provider under your preceptor's direction. The site's own rules on privacy, computer access, parking and identification apply alongside Graceland's from the start. Ask about them at orientation, wear your Graceland badge where it can be seen, and read what counts as practicum hours so the time you log matches Graceland's definition.
Why Graceland students choose us
A calm first day starts weeks earlier. Graceland students who work with us get a practicum timeline with the lab coat order, the badge mailing and the insurance upload on it, next to the Castle Branch items and the paperwork deadline.
Every site we arrange is confirmed with the preceptor directly, and we pass on what that site expects of students before you arrive: where to go, which hours, what to wear. You walk in prepared, with Graceland's paperwork approved behind you. If a preceptor steps away mid-term, your placement advisor stays on call and starts the replacement search at once, passing on the new site's expectations the same way. Start your search with the form below.
Questions Graceland students ask
Do I need my own malpractice insurance for Graceland practicums?
Graceland's handbook says every graduate student in a practicum course must participate in the Graceland University Nursing Student Liability Insurance Program, and that Graceland provides professional liability insurance during practicum hours. The coverage applies only during scheduled practicum experiences. If a site asks you about additional coverage, check with the contract coordinators.
When does Graceland mail the practicum badge?
Before your first practicum. Graceland makes the photo ID badge from the photo you upload to Castle Branch, so the badge depends on that item being done. If your first practicum is close and nothing has arrived, email soncontracts@graceland.edu with your name, student ID and track.
Where do I buy the Graceland lab coat?
The white lab coat with the Graceland University School of Nursing logo embroidered on the front is bought through the Independence Campus Bookstore, which sells nursing supplies as well as textbooks. Online students can contact the bookstore at IndependenceBookstore@graceland.edu. Order it early so it arrives before your first day at the site.
Does Graceland's liability insurance cover hours before my approval email?
Graceland provides coverage only during scheduled practicum experiences, and it counts hours only after every approval condition is met, including the approval email and the first day of term. Hours before then fall outside both. Wait for the approval email for each site and preceptor before you begin.
Can I wear scrubs at my Graceland practicum?
Graceland's standard is business casual under the white School of Nursing lab coat. Some units, such as intensive care or the emergency department, dress differently, and AGACNP students in particular may meet them. Ask your preceptor at orientation and let your course faculty know when the site's rule differs from Graceland's.
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.