CastleBranch at TAMUCC: keeping your clinical record current
CastleBranch is a purchase every student in TAMUCC's College of Nursing and Health Sciences makes, and the college expects it cleared before your first clinical day and brought current again each semester. It holds your background check, drug test and health documents in one place. When any item lapses mid-term, clinical attendance stops until the record is fixed, so the skill that matters most is watching expiry dates months ahead.
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What CastleBranch does for a TAMUCC nursing student
TAMUCC's FNP Student Clinical Guide sets the scope in one line: all CONHS students must purchase and complete a CastleBranch document tracker. It is a college-wide requirement, so BSN, MSN and DNP students all meet it sooner or later. The package TAMUCC points you to bundles three pieces: a background check, a drug test and a document manager for everything else. The guide gives the TAMUCC portal code, TE48, to use when you order.
Think of the tracker as the record the college reads before letting you into a clinical setting. It is separate from Typhon, where you log encounters, and from DocuSign, where agreements get signed. A stale record can pause clinical days you have already arranged with a preceptor.
What goes into the tracker
Attachment 1 of the FNP guide is the checklist most graduate students work from. Each item below is uploaded or ordered through CastleBranch. The fine print on each vaccine, the TB routes and the drug-screen panel sits in our immunizations and drug screen guide.
| Item | What TAMUCC accepts | When it comes due again |
|---|---|---|
| Hepatitis B | Three doses or a titer; a Twinrix series is an allowed option | One-time proof on the checklist |
| Varicella | Two doses or a titer | One-time proof on the checklist |
| MMR | Proof based on your birth year | One-time proof on the checklist |
| Tdap or Td | A dose within the last 10 years | When the 10-year window closes |
| Tuberculosis | Yearly skin test or QFT/T-SPOT, or a chest X-ray every 5 years with a questionnaire | Every year, or every 5 years on the X-ray route |
| Influenza | A yearly flu vaccine | By October 1 each year |
| RN license | Verification from the Texas Board of Nursing; a copy of the license is not accepted | Whenever your license renews |
| Urine drug screen | 10-panel, through CastleBranch or a private lab | At admission; some sites ask for more |
| CPR | Current American Heart Association card | When the card expires |
| Background check | Ordered through CastleBranch | After admission; some sites require a repeat |
TAMUCC's program pages add one more: a hepatitis A series or blood-test proof of immunity before courses with clinical laboratory experiences.
The every-semester update
Clearing CastleBranch once is only the start. The FNP guide asks you to clear it before clinicals and update it every semester, so each new clinical course opens with a check that nothing in the tracker has aged out. FNP students repeat it at each step from NURS 5624 to NURS 5746.
The rolling dates are what catch people. The flu deadline lands in the middle of a fall term. An annual TB test drifts to whatever month you first took it. CPR cards and a Td booster expire on their own clocks, and your RN license renews on the Texas Board of Nursing's cycle. None of these match TAMUCC's 16-week terms, so plan by date rather than by semester.
- List every expiry datePut the renewal or expiry date for each tracker item into one list, including your CPR card and RN license.
- Mark the end of the termCompare each date with the last day of your clinical course. On TAMUCC's calendar, Fall 2026 runs to December 10 and Spring 2027 to May 11.
- Renew anything that lapses before thenRefresh it before the term begins and upload the new document the same day.
- Ask the site for its own listFind out whether the hospital or clinic needs anything beyond CastleBranch, such as orientation modules or an extra screen.
- Wait for your clinical facultyA complete tracker is one part of clearance; the go-ahead to start comes from your assigned clinical faculty member.
What happens when an item lapses mid-semester
TAMUCC's wording leaves no room: if an item expires during the semester, students must stop attending clinical until the information is updated. The pause lasts exactly as long as the record stays out of date.
Lost clinical days are costly because TAMUCC's hour rules are strict. Hours must be finished inside the course timeline, they cannot roll to the next term, and TAMUCC does not count a missing site or preceptor as an extenuating circumstance. Any days you sit out have to be made up before the semester closes; our page on rollover and extensions shows how narrow that window is.
The risk reaches past a paused rotation. The MSN handbook lists lapses in licensure, immunizations or compliance among grounds on which a student may be dismissed, and students dismissed on those grounds cannot use the grade appeal process. For BSN students, the catalog ties progression to staying current on immunizations, BLS CPR and hospital orientation.
Clinical days halt the moment a tracker item expires and resume only after the update. Renew anything due to lapse during the term before the term begins.
Where CastleBranch ends and the clinical site begins
A cleared tracker satisfies TAMUCC. It may not satisfy the hospital or clinic hosting you. TAMUCC's handbooks warn that some agencies require additional drug screens, and that an agency may insist on a repeat background check the college has no power to waive.
Texas health systems publish onboarding rules of their own. Houston Methodist asks graduate NP students to attend hospital orientation, get a badge and provide HIPAA, BLS and immunization records. In Austin, Ascension and St. David's send nursing students through bridging modules run by the Central Texas Healthcare Partnership. Our metro pages, such as the Houston guide, summarize what each system says on its own site.
CastleBranch is TAMUCC's file on you; the site's onboarding is the site's own. Both must be finished before your first precepted hour.
Who handles CastleBranch questions at TAMUCC
The college's Student Success Data Specialist administers CastleBranch as well as Typhon; the CONHS Faculty and Staff Handbook lists the same role as the Data Entry Specialist. The handbook gives that role the compliance data and the job of routing a positive drug screen to an administrator. The same 2023 handbook names Complio and MyClinicalExchange among systems the role manages, yet no TAMUCC student document assigns them to a program; the FNP guide names only CastleBranch. When you raise a tracker problem, give your program, your course number and the exact item, so the answer can come back in a single reply.
Clearance to begin a rotation belongs to your assigned clinical faculty member, who weighs compliance together with the affiliation agreement and the preceptor packet. The clinical roles guide matches each title to its questions, and clinical faculty clearance explains the go-ahead itself.
Why TAMUCC students pair a clean tracker with our search
A current CastleBranch record and a confirmed preceptor have to meet on the same first day. We build your preceptor search around that. When we match you with a Texas preceptor and site, we ask the site what it requires beyond TAMUCC's checklist, so orientation modules, extra screens and badge steps surface weeks ahead instead of the week you start.
We then prepare the placement paperwork TAMUCC's process calls for, from the preceptor's CV and a license copy no older than 30 days for the packet to the site details for an affiliation agreement request. Your clinical faculty member makes the final call, and we see to it that the file they receive is whole and accurate on the first pass. Walk through our process, or send your course and region with the form below.
Questions TAMUCC students ask
Do BSN students use CastleBranch too, or only graduate students?
TAMUCC's FNP guide says all College of Nursing and Health Sciences students must purchase and complete a CastleBranch tracker, so the requirement spans the college. The BSN catalog adds its own condition: remaining current on immunizations, BLS CPR and hospital orientation in order to progress. BSN students should work from the checklist their own program provides, because the FNP guide's Attachment 1 is written for graduate FNP students.
Can I upload a photocopy of my RN license to CastleBranch?
TAMUCC's checklist asks for verification from the Texas Board of Nursing and states that a copy of your RN license is not acceptable. Print a verification from the board and upload that instead. Our Texas RN license guide explains which license TAMUCC expects for each program and how a compact license fits in.
Does a cleared CastleBranch account mean I can start clinicals?
It is one condition among several. TAMUCC also needs an active affiliation agreement with the site, a completed Preceptor Agreement Packet for each preceptor this semester, and clearance from your assigned clinical faculty member. Hours earned before the agreement and packet are in place do not count, so wait for the faculty go-ahead before your first shift.
What if my flu shot or TB test expires during a rotation?
The FNP guide pulls you out of clinicals until the record is current again. With the flu vaccine due by October 1 and TB screening renewing yearly, fall students often meet one of these mid-term. Renew early, upload the new record before the old one runs out, and tell your preceptor promptly about any pause so the schedule can be rebuilt.
Will a hospital accept my TAMUCC background check?
Often it will, but a site can require its own. TAMUCC's handbooks say an agency may ask for a repeat background check that the college cannot waive, and some agencies also want extra drug screens. Ask the site's student office for its onboarding list as soon as a preceptor agrees, so a second check runs early instead of delaying your start.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-26
We check these pages against TAMUCC's catalog, FNP clinical guides, MSN and DNP handbooks and college pages. Your course, your clinical faculty member and the handbook for your cohort have the final word.
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