Undergraduate Credentialing Policy

Undergraduate Credentialing Policy

As part of your professional role, nursing students are required to have very specific credentials in order to be present in hospitals, clinics, and community settings where we interact with the public. These are very similar, if not identical, to the requirements that you will have soon with an employer in the health care industry. Part of your education in nursing is learning to be prompt and meticulous about ensuring that all your documentation is on time and kept current to attend clinical. Please read this policy carefully to the end. 

It is the student’s responsibility to maintain their current credentials that may include CPR, a criminal background check, fingerprinting, immunizations, special training, etc. It is recommended that you begin a file with copies of all your documents, so you always have them at the ready for clinical agencies and employers. 

  1. At the Elaine Marieb College of Nursing, we use an external company that assists us in assuring clinical agencies that our students are credentialed for clinical. CastleBranch (CB) is the name of the company that securely maintains documents for the College, and this is where you must submit your materials for credentialing. 

  2. Before you come to nursing school, you may begin the credentialing process by taking an American Heart Association BLS for Healthcare Providers CPR class, seeing your healthcare provider, undergoing TB testing, and getting immunized. 

  3. When you enroll, you will be directed by email to register with CastleBranch. 

  4. As soon as you register with CastleBranch, you will get an email to begin uploading your documents into their secure site. You must have everything uploaded into CastleBranch by: 

    • Accelerated students - July 1 for fall clinicals, November 1 for spring clinicals and March 1 for summer clinicals. 
    • Nursing majors - May 1 for fall clinicals and November 1 for spring clinicals. 
    • All students- Between August 1-15th each year, you must upload modules to Centralized Clinical Placements at www.mcnplacement.org/orientation. 
    • All students – October 1 for flu immunization verification. 
  5. You may from time to time receive an email from Castle Branch informing you that something has expired, and these must be attended to immediately. Never ignore reminders from CastleBranch, as it is likely you have a new requirement that has triggered a reminder email. 
  6. Anything marked INCOMPLETE in your CastleBranch account must be completed before you go to clinical. Anything marked REJECTED is incorrect documentation and the CastleBranch site will direct you how to correct the error. Anything marked OVERDUE must be completed immediately. 
  7. Students must attend to this in the term prior to a clinical course to have everything completed in a timely way and should not leave for vacation without ensuring that everything is complete. Some components must be completed in Massachusetts. 
  8. Each term, on the first day of class in any clinical course and before you go to the clinical site, we will check to make sure you have completed all the requirements for students on the CastleBranch site. 
  9. You may not attend clinical and will be sent home if you are not properly credentialed. 
  10. At that point, a better use of your time will be going to complete whatever you failed to complete, but you will be missing precious learning time in clinical, and it will be recorded as a 0.5 deduction in your clinical evaluation in the area of unprofessional behavior. This will also be an unexcused clinical absence and cannot be made up, potentially impacting your ability to be successful in the course. 

If you have questions or trouble uploading documents, please contact the Database Administrator, Jennifer Heim at the Elaine Marieb College of Nursing, jheim [at] umass [dot] edu (jheim[at]umass[dot]edu), phone # 413-545- 5049. 

University Health Services (UHS) collects state required immunization data through their New Student Immunization Office which is required for all UMASS students and a separate process.  

Please also follow any instructions you receive from UHS (https://www.umass.edu/uhs/immunizations).