NAU preceptor placement: your questions answered
These are the broad questions Northern Arizona University nursing students bring to our desk, answered briefly and linked to the page that goes deeper. If yours is missing, send it through the form on this page and your placement advisor will answer it directly.
Get your placement plan
Tell us your NAU program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with the preceptor and site options that fit your course.
Can NAU students use a placement service?
Yes. NAU's 2022-23 FNP Clinical Guidelines say "Students are encouraged to suggest potential preceptors and mentors", and one of the Green Form's two boxes exists for a site that has already approved the placement. NAU's published review looks at the preceptor's qualifications, the clinical setting and the Arizona Board of Nursing requirements, not at how the two of you met.
NAU Preceptor is an independent service. NAU runs no part of it, and NAU's FNP Program Coordinator makes every placement decision. Our role is to hand you a preceptor and a document package that meet those tests, so the decision is simple to make. The find your own preceptor page explains NAU's shared model in NAU's own words.
Which NAU students do you help?
Mostly graduate students in the online MS Nursing, Advanced Practice, with either the Family Nurse Practitioner or the Psychiatric Mental Health NP emphasis, and in the post-master's FNP and PMHNP graduate certificates. Those programs rely on preceptors, and the student usually brings the first name forward.
Current DNP students, whose handbook asks them to choose a site and a mentor, can use us for that search, although the DNP is closed to new applicants. RN to BSN students complete clinical projects in their own communities; tell us what your course asks for. NAU assigns clinical sites in its pre-licensure BSN formats, so those students seldom need a search. The programs overview lists each program's clinical load.
Does it matter where I live?
Yes, in three ways. NAU's 2022-23 guidelines expect an RN license valid in the state where the clinical happens. NAU's professional licensure table says its NP programs do not meet licensure education requirements in Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas and Wisconsin, with Kansas added for the PMHNP certificate. And some neighboring states, California and Nevada among them, attach conditions of their own to students whose school is based elsewhere.
NAU's pages describe clinical work "throughout Arizona" but publish no rule on graduate clinicals elsewhere, so your program coordinator settles that question for you. Our state guides show what we check for each state before a search begins, including the license your clinical state expects.
When should I start looking?
A full semester before the practicum is comfortable. NAU's cutoffs arrive well ahead of the term: the 2022-23 Green Form lists March 31 for a summer start, and every clinical document is due two months before the rotation. For a summer NUR 661, that puts the best time to begin in the fall or early winter before it. The same logic applies to NUR 663 and NUR 665: count back from the cutoff, then add time for the affiliation agreement if the clinic is new to NAU.
If your practicum has already begun, or your preceptor has just cancelled, write to us anyway. Short timelines are a normal part of our work, and the urgent placement page explains how a compressed search runs.
What information do you need from me?
To begin: your name, how to reach you, your NAU program, the course ahead, your city and state, and when the practicum starts. Later, your advisor may ask for a copy of your RN license or confirmation that your clinical documents are filed, but only when a particular site needs it. Details such as your work schedule and the drive you can manage help us shortlist clinics faster.
What you share is used to reply to you and to arrange your placement, as our privacy policy describes. Keep health records out of your first message; when a site wants a specific item, your advisor tells you which one and why.
What happens after NAU approves the placement?
NAU notifies you when you may start. From there you and your preceptor set the clinic days, remembering that NAU's 2022-23 guidelines need the FNP Program Coordinator's advance approval for any clinical day on a weekend, a holiday or a university break. NAU's clinical tracking system, named as Typhon in the 2022-23 guidelines and as Exxat in later NAU mentions, holds your documents and evaluations; course faculty tell you what to record there.
Your advisor checks in during the term, helps you keep the hour mix on track, and starts on the next practicum while this one runs. If a preceptor leaves partway through, the preceptor dropped out page walks through the first steps.
Questions NAU students ask
Can a physician be my preceptor instead of a nurse practitioner?
Yes. The Arizona rule NAU applies accepts a physician or an advanced practice nurse, each with a year or more of clinical practice and a patient population similar to your program's. NAU's 2021-22 Green Form included checkboxes for MD and DO as well as FNP. The preceptor requirements page has the full rule.
Can I split my hours between two preceptors?
Often that is how the hour mix gets met. NAU's guidelines recommend pediatric, adult, women's health and specialty hours within the FNP total, which can take more than one clinic. Every preceptor must be approved by the FNP Program Coordinator, so each one goes through the same Green Form review. Ask your course faculty how they want split hours logged.
Do I need an Arizona RN license for NAU clinicals?
NAU's graduate admission asks for an RN license issued by Arizona or a multistate license under the compact. The 2022-23 guidelines also require a license valid in the state of clinical practice, while older documents asked for one in the state where you live. Confirm the current rule with your program coordinator; our RN license page compares the versions.
Can I start clinical hours before NAU approves the site?
Wait for NAU. Its guidelines say students will be notified when they may begin their clinical rotation, and a preceptor must be present whenever you are in the clinical setting. Even if the clinic is ready and eager, your first shift comes after NAU's notice.
Will NAU know I used a placement service?
The Green Form asks about the preceptor, the site and its administrative contact, which is what NAU reviews. You are welcome to mention our help to your coordinator. What matters to NAU is that the preceptor qualifies and the site has agreed, and that is exactly what we prepare.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-27
We check these pages against Northern Arizona University's own catalog, program pages and published nursing documents. Your program coordinator and course faculty have the final word.
- Northern Arizona University, FNP Clinical Guidelines AY 2022-23 (archived)
- Northern Arizona University, FNP Clinical Guidelines AY 2021-22 and Green Form (archived)
- Northern Arizona University, How to apply: graduate nursing programs
- Northern Arizona University, Professional licensure by state
- Northern Arizona University, Clinical coursework page (archived)
NAU welcomes a preceptor you arrange. We arrange one close to home.
Tell us your NAU track, your town and your next practicum. We line up preceptors who fit the course and Arizona's preceptor rule, confirm the site's approval, and gather the CV, license and certification the Green Form needs, well before NAU's cutoff.
- Preceptors matched to the course: all-ages family primary care for FNP, psychiatric settings for PMHNP
- License, experience and certification checked against the rule NAU applies, before the Green Form goes in
- All three FNP practicums planned together, near home instead of a long drive away
Start your placement plan
Track, town and next practicum is all we need to begin.