Editing Herzing Issues: Clinical Placement (section)

=== HU-110: Alabama clinical network: single preceptor for entire state as of December 2024; that preceptor considering leaving; single point of failure threatening all Alabama students' clinical placement simultaneously ===
{| class="wikitable" style="width:100%"
! style="width:12em" | Severity
| High
! style="width:12em" | Status
| CONFIRMED
|-
! Issue type
| Single Point of Failure / Preceptor Network Inadequacy
! Date added
| 2026-05-05
|-
! Owner
| colspan="3" | Clinical Coordinator / State Relations
|}
'''Finding.''' Student AF, on December 30, 2024, documented that as of December 2024, the entire state of Alabama had only one clinical preceptor available for Herzing MSN-DE students, and that the preceptor had stated she might not continue on. This creates a catastrophic single point of failure: if that one preceptor leaves, all Alabama students requiring clinical placement simultaneously lose access to any placement in their state. This finding predates and helps explain the Alabama BON enforcement action documented in {{HU|HU-085}} (April 2026), where Alabama students were unable to sit for NCLEX due to insufficient in-person clinical hours. If the state had only one preceptor, students who could not access that preceptor may have been forced into virtual-only hours, exactly the situation the Alabama BON later enforced against.

'''Evidence.''' Student AF, December 30, 2024, stated the single-preceptor situation in the context of students discussing clinical placement availability in Alabama. The statement was not challenged or corrected by other Alabama students in the thread, suggesting it was accepted as accurate. Source Group: Herzing Direct Entry MSN Facebook Group Export (Dec 2022 to May 2026), Exhaustive Line-by-Line Review: 34,887 lines, 1,350 posts, 14,112 comments, 8 passes (Volume 7).

'''Reported statement.''' Student AF, a student pseudonym, paraphrased that there was only one preceptor in Alabama and that she had indicated she might not continue on.

'''Standards.''' ACEN Standard 5 requires institutions to maintain sufficient clinical infrastructure to support student learning without creating single points of failure. A state with a significant student population relying on a single preceptor who is considering leaving constitutes an administrative capability failure under 34 CFR 668.14. NCSBN guidelines require that adequate clinical supervision include sufficient preceptor availability across all student locations; a single preceptor serving an entire state cannot provide adequate supervision for the volume of students enrolled. Business continuity principles hold that if the institution knew the sole Alabama preceptor was considering leaving and took no action to identify backup preceptors, this constitutes negligent management of clinical infrastructure.

'''Impact.''' If the single Alabama preceptor left, all Alabama students requiring clinical placement, potentially dozens across multiple semesters, would face simultaneous placement loss with no state-based alternative. Students who could not obtain placement would face graduation delays, loan accrual without progress toward degree completion, and potential program dismissal if clinical hours could not be completed. The December 2024 timing, the same month as the mass placement crisis email ({{HU|HU-093}}), suggests Alabama's precarious preceptor situation was part of the broader institutional clinical capacity crisis.

'''Notes.''' This finding connects the December 2024 mass placement crisis email ({{HU|HU-093}}), the Alabama BON enforcement action ({{HU|HU-085}}), and the Student AH 90-plus day ATT delay ({{HU|HU-094}}): a state with one preceptor leads to students being pushed to virtual hours, which leads to BON enforcement of insufficient in-person hours, which leads to NCLEX ineligibility and a 90-plus day ATT delay. The chain of events was predictable from the December 2024 single-preceptor disclosure. Cross-reference: {{HU|HU-085}}, {{HU|HU-093}}, {{HU|HU-094}}, {{HU|HU-109}}.

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