CastleBranch at FNU: compliance tracking and background checks

What CastleBranch does for FNU students

FNU's CastleBranch page says the university has partnered with CastleBranch to give you a secure account for “time-sensitive school and clinical requirements.” You link that account in Banyan Tree under Profile, then My Compliance, and CastleBranch also appears in the portal's Apps menu.

Students order using FNU's order code, FG30, and pay CastleBranch directly rather than paying FNU. The exact package contents are set out behind FNU's login and inside CastleBranch itself, so check there rather than relying on older forum posts.

One clinical document never goes into CastleBranch: the Clinical Site Approval Form. The catalog says clinical compliance documentation is completed through CastleBranch except the CSAF, which you submit through the Community Map after talking to your RCF.

Stage one: the Frontier Bound Compliance package

Before Frontier Bound, every degree-seeking student orders the Frontier Bound Compliance package. FNU's Bounds page lists a background check, proof of immunizations and current medical record information, plus two uploads: the Sexual Assault Prevention course certificate and your NPI number.

FNU warns that missing the deadline may cancel your admission. COVID-19 documentation is optional in CastleBranch at this stage. Two items from this stage come back later: the health examination must stay current, within one year, throughout clinicals, and a separate clinical background check is run the term before Clinical Bound. The orientation itself is covered on Frontier Bound.

Stage two: clinical compliance before Clinical Bound

1. Week 1, the term beforeClinical Credentialing emails you in Week 1 of the term before your Clinical Bound term.
2. Information sessionsThe team runs three information sessions during that term. CB101 in Canvas carries the written instructions, including the background-check process.
3. Week 5 due dateYour clinical compliance items are due in Week 5 of that term.
4. Registration checkMissing items create a block preventing registration for Clinical Bound and all courses taken at CB, and FNU notes this may lead to late registration fees.

Because the window is set relative to your Clinical Bound term, it moves if Clinical Bound moves. Keep your projected term current with your Academic Advisor and RCF so the Week 1 email reaches you in the right term.

The clinical compliance checklist

The catalog lists these items for MSN, PGC and Refresher students:

• RN license verification through Nursys Quick Confirm, covering every state where clinicals happen. See RN license for clinicals.
• BLS for adults, pediatrics and infants; ACLS does not substitute. See BLS and NRP.
• A clinical background check, completed the term before Clinical Bound.
• The FNU Student Health Verification Form, with vaccinations or titers. See immunization requirements.
• The OSHA/HIPAA training module and the HIPAA Agreement Form.
• Proof of health insurance. See clinical insurance.
• The FNU records release form.
• Nurse-midwifery only: neonatal resuscitation certification. Nurse-midwifery and WHNP: current fetal heart monitoring education.

Sites can add their own items on top. The catalog says students must complete a site's additional requirements to rotate there, and site-specific requirements are at the student's own expense.

Background checks: admission and clinical

FNU runs two checks. The first is part of admission, and the catalog calls it the final step in the admissions process. Applicants with felony convictions are not admitted, and other convictions are considered case by case.

The second is the clinical background check, completed the term before Clinical Bound. It “cannot be older than 12 months at any time during the clinical practicum,” so a practicum that runs past the check's anniversary needs a renewal. Some sites require a specific type of check. Findings go to the Clinical Director, who reports them to your preceptors and clinical sites.

FNU's clinical compliance lists do not include a routine drug screen. The catalog reserves the right to test students reasonably suspected of drug or alcohol abuse, and a site can still ask for a screen under its own additional requirements.

DNP students and CastleBranch

DNP students also order the Frontier Bound Compliance package before DNP Bound; FNU's Bounds page lists DNP 64 and DNP 65 alongside the MSN and PGC classes on the same deadlines.

For the project itself, DNP students volunteering at a project site get the same clinical compliance list, completed through the DNP850 course, and the items must be on file before registering for DNP851. The catalog makes one exception: a DNP student employed at the project site, where no affiliation agreement is required, follows the employer's requirements instead of FNU's items. That exception fits FNU's encouragement for DNP students to complete their hours where they already work, but confirm it applies before skipping any upload.

How we cover the site side of compliance

CastleBranch is your own account, and we put our effort into the site side of clinical readiness. A placement advisor runs the search for your track's preceptor and site and assembles, with you, the facts the CSAF and Clinical Credentialing want about them, such as the preceptor's CV and license and the site's contacts.

If a prospective site adds requirements of its own, we find out what they are early, so they sit on your list well before the Week 5 due date. Final approval comes from your RCF and Clinical Credentialing. Start a request when you are ready.