Delaware: Wilmington University nursing in its home state

What WilmU's table says about Delaware

Delaware's row on WilmU's State Licensures by Program page is uniform: seven programs, seven Meets. Each status answers one narrow question, whether a program's education satisfies the state's standard for the license it leads to, and the page gives no date for its last update.

No row exists for the Nurse Anesthesiology DNP, and BSN to DNP's FNP and PMHNP tracks share a single line. Delaware is also the state that approved WilmU's place in NC-SARA, whose directory shows Wilmington University as a Participant in the SREB region. Other states' rows are on our licensure table guide.

Full practice and the Board's rules for APRN preceptors

Delaware is a full practice state. The Board issues the APRN license with full practice and prescribing authority attached, and no collaborative agreement has been required since the legislature repealed §1936 in 2021. That puts independent NP practices in the preceptor pool next to hospital clinics and physician groups.

The Board's education rules then set out how precepting works inside an APRN program:

• Four license types qualify a preceptor: APRN, physician assistant, pharmacist and physician. It must be current with no encumbrance, and the clinician's focus should resemble the student's track.
• The preceptor's license sits no lower than the role the student is working toward and is valid where the teaching happens.
• Faculty approve preceptors, direct all precepted learning and keep responsibility for evaluation, though the Board does not expect them to be on site.
• Preceptors are oriented to the curriculum and the objectives of the course.
• Every APRN track carries a minimum of 750 supervised clinical hours.
• The student keeps an RN license or compact privilege in force for the whole run of APRN clinical coursework.

WilmU publishes nothing further on NP preceptor credentials, so the program handbook and a question to your course faculty settle the finer points. Our Delaware APRN law guide unpacks each rule.

Health systems and their own intake rules

Delaware's larger systems describe student intake on their own pages, and each one writes for nursing students from every school. None of these pages describes a WilmU arrangement for NP or DNP practicums; the only WilmU site list covers the Nurse Anesthesiology DNP.

• ChristianaCare, Newark and Wilmington: no nursing student rotates without a current clinical affiliation agreement, the system writes that it has stopped signing new ones, graduate students check that their school's agreement is active before reaching out, and applications run through Clinician Nexus.
• Bayhealth, Dover and Milford: NP and DNP students are eligible for one-to-one rotations once a preceptor accepts, the school coordinator then files a Student by Instructor form, and clearance runs through Clinician Nexus. Its page places the job of finding a preceptor on NP students themselves, a Bayhealth policy covering every school.
• Beebe Healthcare, Lewes: Clinician Nexus onboarding comes before the rotation, covering a background check, drug test, fit test, vaccines and a search of Delaware's Adult and Child Protection Registry.
• TidalHealth, Salisbury, Maryland: the request form for an NP preceptorship goes in 90 or more days before the start, TidalHealth locates the provider, and students are asked not to contact providers directly.
• Nemours Children's Health: its Delaware Valley nursing page counts upward of 25 affiliated nursing schools, none of them named.

The order these steps fall in, and what each means for your calendar, is on the Delaware NP preceptors page.

From WilmU graduate to Delaware APRN

Delaware signed on to the APRN Compact in 2021, yet the compact sits idle until a seventh state adopts it, and only five had by 2026. For now, a new graduate follows these steps.

1. Hold an active RN license throughoutDelaware-issued or multistate, kept current across every APRN clinical course.
2. Graduate from an accredited APRN programThe curriculum carries three stand-alone core courses, pathophysiology, pharmacology and health assessment at the advanced level, along with your role and population focus. Your school sends the official transcript to the Board.
3. Use a temporary permit if you need oneOptional: supervised practice before certification, 90 days at a time for up to two years, with no prescriptive authority. Failing the first certification exam ends it unless the Board grants a petition.
4. Pass national certificationCertify in your role and population focus through a body the Board recognizes, such as AANPCB, ANCC or PNCB.
5. Apply in DELPROS within two years of graduatingInclude a State of Delaware and FBI criminal background check done for this application, a copy of your ID, the official transcript, your certification notice with verification sent by the certifying body, and an NPDB self-query. A started application has to be submitted within six months.
6. Receive full practice authorityThe license brings full practice and prescriptive authority for non-controlled drugs, without any collaborative agreement or transition-to-practice period.
7. Register before prescribing controlled substancesTake the one-hour course on Delaware prescribing law, apply to the Office of Controlled Substances in DELPROS for a Delaware CSR, then register with the DEA for Delaware. The CSR renews every two years.
8. Keep both licenses in stepDelaware ties the APRN license's expiration to your Delaware RN license; with a multistate RN license from elsewhere, it lapses on September 30 of each odd-numbered year.