Clinical/Special Requirements

Many CHHS undergraduate and graduate programs have learning experiences through internships, practicums, clinicals or similar for which clinical or special requirements for the student are mandatory. Some of these requirements include vaccinations, wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) and other strategies for protecting yourself and your patients and clients.

Here is some important information:

• NIU strongly encourages every Huskie to be vaccinated and up to date on their vaccines.
• CHHS proof of COVID-19 vaccination is in addition to NIU's guidelines.
  
  • Be aware that many clinical sites will not accept students who are unvaccinated.
    
  • CHHS has a process for exemption requests of COVID-19 vaccination.
    • See program specific clinical/special requirements for a contact to discuss the exemption process.
    • Options for clinical placements may be limited for those without full vaccination status. 
      • If you are not fully vaccinated, you may be unable to participate in activities required by your degree program in a timely manner and your graduation could be delayed. Please check program requirements carefully, and contact your advisors, clinical program coordinators and chairs in your specific program with questions.

For more information, please review the school and program page for clinical or special requirements or refer to the undergraduate catalog or graduate catalog.

Fingerprint-based Criminal Background Checks

Fingerprint-based criminal background checks currently only apply to the Speech-Language Pathology majors. Learn more about the fingerprint criminal background check process. This does not apply to students who are not in the Speech-Language Pathology program. 

CastleBranch

CastleBranch is a vendor that offers a repository for all student clinical requirements. Students in all clinical-related programs and students in some non-clinical-related programs are required to use CastleBranch to some extent.

CastleBranch will also facilitate and store the results of your required background checks and drug screens (for programs in which these are required). This repository is available indefinitely, so it is a useful resource used to keep track of required immunizations and titers to bring with you as you enter the workforce. Records are available to students at any time.

You will be instructed by your clinical coordinator on when and how to sign up for CastleBranch, and should not set up accounts before instructed to do so by their coordinator. You will be responsible for any additional expenses incurred by CastleBranch.