How we arrange your NAU preceptor, step by step

Updated September 27, 2026, reviewed by the NAU Preceptor placement team

Tell us your Northern Arizona University track, your town and the practicum ahead, and our placement desk does the arranging. We find a clinician near you who fits the course, check them against the Arizona rule NAU applies, and hand you a Green Form package with the site's approval already in it. NAU then reviews and approves.

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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.

Numbered steps. Eight steps from first message to first clinical day: 1 You send your track, town and term; 2 We map what the course needs from a site; 3 We search close to home; 4 We check the preceptor against R4-19-502; 5 We collect the site's yes and the documents. — Eight steps from first message to first clinical day: 1 You send your track, town and term; 2 We map what the course needs from a site; 3 We search close to home; 4 We check the preceptor against R4-19-502; 5 We collect the site's yes and the documents.

Where our work sits in NAU's own route

NAU's graduate clinical process has two halves. On the student's half, you identify a preceptor, get the site to agree, and complete the FNP Preceptor/Agency Green Form. On NAU's half, the Clinical Placement Coordinator confirms the rotation and starts any needed affiliation agreement, the FNP Program Coordinator signs off on the preceptor, and you hear from NAU once clinicals may start.

Our desk covers the student's half, from the first phone call to the finished package. The Green Form describes its own purpose as helping the Clinical Placement Coordinator "secure a preceptorship you've already arranged". We do that arranging, so your form reaches NAU naming a willing preceptor near home. The full sequence, office by office, is on our clinical placement process page.

Eight steps from first message to first clinical day

You send your track, town and termName your NAU program, the practicum ahead (NUR 661, NUR 663, NUR 665 or NUR 680), where you live and the semester it starts.
We map what the course needs from a siteFNP practicums call for family primary care across the lifespan, children and women's health included. PMHNP students need psychiatric care close enough for the in-person time NUR 680 demands.
We search close to homeYour advisor approaches clinicians within a sensible drive and asks what decides fit: patient ages, clinic days, and the weekly hours a student can join.
We check the preceptor against R4-19-502A license valid in their own state, twelve months or more practicing as a physician or APRN, patients who match your population, and board certification if they are a nurse, all verified before your name goes anywhere.
We collect the site's yes and the documentsYou receive the preceptor's resume or CV, a copy of their license and their certification, plus the site contact who will sign NAU's affiliation agreement.
You file the Green FormYou complete and send it yourself, as NAU requires, with the site-approved box ticked and well before your term's cutoff.
NAU reviews and approvesThe rotation is confirmed, any missing agreement is started, the program coordinator rules on the preceptor, and your first shift waits for NAU's word.
We stay on callIf a preceptor's schedule shifts or they step away, your advisor restarts the search at once and builds a fresh package for NAU.

Who handles what

The split below keeps each decision where NAU puts it. Our desk carries the search and the checking, you carry the form and your own clinical documents, and NAU carries approval. If you would rather ask NAU to request a site, the Green Form's second box does that.

Tasks in an NAU placement and who owns each one
Task	Who handles it
Finding a willing preceptor who fits your course	Our placement desk, starting from any leads you already have
Checking license, experience, population focus and certification	Our placement desk before you file; NAU confirms
Gathering the CV or resume, license and certification	Our placement desk, passed to you for NAU
Completing and sending the Green Form	You
Affiliation agreement with the site	NAU and the site's administrative contact
Approving the preceptor and the placement	NAU's FNP Program Coordinator
Your health and credential documents	You, with reminders from your advisor
A replacement if a preceptor leaves	Our placement desk

When to start, counted back from NAU's dates

Start a full semester before the practicum if you can. Three NAU clocks are already ticking well before you see a patient:

The Green Form cutoff. On the 2022-23 form, summer requests are due by March 31, fall by June 30 and spring by October 31; the older 2021-22 form said before March 1, June 1 and October 1. Your program coordinator confirms this year's dates.
The document rule. Under NAU's 2022-23 guidelines, your health and credential file must be complete a full two months ahead of the rotation.
The agreement. A site with no affiliation agreement must sign one first, and NAU's 2021-22 form put that anywhere between days and months.

An early start lets your advisor choose among willing preceptors instead of taking the first yes. See the Green Form guide and the two-month documents rule for each deadline.

Clinical hours begin when NAU notifies you that you may start, not when the preceptor says yes.

Planning all three FNP practicums as one project

FNP students, whether in the MS or the post-master's certificate, owe 780 clinical hours: NUR 661 with 180 in summer, then NUR 663 and NUR 665 with 300 each in fall and spring. We plan the sequence as a single project rather than three separate emergencies.

That means asking a strong preceptor early whether they can carry more than one term, and lining up a second site where pediatric or women's health visits are thin. NAU recommends about 100 hours of each inside the total, plus minimum visit counts such as five pelvic exams; the FNP hour mix page breaks those targets down.

Because cutoffs are set term by term, your advisor prepares the next practicum's paperwork while the current one runs.

PMHNP, certificate and out-of-state students

PMHNP students, in the MS or the graduate certificate, get the same search with a psychiatric focus. NAU's catalog flags NUR 680 for in-person engagement, so we look for psychiatric clinicians you can reach week after week. NAU's published steps are written for FNP students, so confirm PMHNP details with your program coordinator.

If you live outside Arizona, your advisor checks two things before approaching anyone: NAU's professional licensure table for your state, and whether your RN license is valid where the clinical would happen. NAU has not said whether graduate clinicals may happen in other states, which makes your program coordinator the one to confirm it. Each state guide shows what we look at.

Why NAU students hand us the search

Finding the preceptor is the slowest part of an NAU practicum, and the part NAU leaves most open to the student. Our desk makes these calls every working day and knows the rule NAU applies. You get a preceptor near home, checked before you file, with the paperwork in your hands well ahead of the cutoff.

What you pay reflects the practicums you hand us, where you live and how soon the cutoff falls; our cost page walks through each factor. When you are ready, the form on this page reaches the desk directly.

Questions NAU students ask

Do I still submit the Green Form myself?

Yes. The Green Form answers its own question about who fills it in: the student. Its 2021-22 edition went further and asked students to keep it away from the proposed site. Your advisor hands you the preceptor's details and the site information to enter, and the form goes to NAU from you.

Can you make sure NAU approves my preceptor?

Approval belongs to NAU's FNP Program Coordinator, which is where it should sit. What our desk controls is the package in front of that coordinator: a clearly qualified preceptor, a clinic already on board, and nothing missing. That gives the coordinator everything needed for a clear decision.

I already have a preceptor for one term. Can you cover the others?

Yes. Tell us which course is covered and where, and your advisor plans the remaining practicums around it, including any pediatric or women's health hours the first site cannot supply. We can also check your existing preceptor against the rule before you file.

Can my preceptor work where I work?

Often, yes. NAU's guidelines say an affiliation agreement is still needed when you are employed at the facility, and the DNP handbook adds limits on supervisors. Our workplace practicum page covers what to check first.

What if my Green Form deadline is only weeks away?

Put the date in the first line of your message. Your advisor shortens the whole cycle, calling several practices during the same days and gathering documents the moment one agrees. The urgent placement page explains how a short timeline changes the plan and what to tell your coordinator.

ProcessClinical placement processHow a Northern Arizona University NP clinical gets approved: the preceptor, the Green Form, the site agreement, documents two months out, then the start notice.FormThe Green FormWhat NAU's FNP Preceptor/Agency Green Form asks, its two boxes, where to find it, who files it, and the term cutoffs on both versions of the form.Placement helpPlacement options comparedFour routes to an NAU preceptor compared: arrange one yourself, ask NAU for help, use your workplace, or hand the search to a placement service like ours.Placement helpCostWhat moves the quote for an NAU preceptor placement: your track, the practicums covered, your location and timing, and the clinical costs NAU leaves to students.Deadline closeNeed a preceptor fastA Green Form cutoff or NAU's two-month document rule is close. The dates by term, what takes longest, and how to get a complete preceptor request in on time.Placement helpFAQPlain answers for NAU nursing students on using a placement service: how it fits NAU's rules, who we help, where you live, timing, privacy and after approval.

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.

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

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Track, town and next practicum is all we need to begin.