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Centralized Clinical Placement System

The Centralized Clinical Placement (CCP) System for Massachusetts is a Board of Higher Education-directed project of the Nursing Initiative. The project seeks to streamline the clinical placement process for nurse educators in academic and clinical settings.

Schools cite the process of finding clinical placements for nursing school students as one of the top reasons why nursing programs are limited in capacity. After a comprehensive review of national approaches, the Board of Higher Education and the Massachusetts Center for Nursing licensed a software package developed and used by the Oregon Center for Nursing.

The first region to implement a web-based centralized approach to clinical placements was the northeast/central region of Massachusetts, with 26 participating hospitals and 18 schools of nursing. The website of clinical opportunities was launched in June 2006 with a listing of the region's clinical placements for degree-seeking nursing students. As a result of the website, 98 new, open placements were created.

The project will continue with the addition of new regions and the inclusion of LPN programs to the northeast/central region.