Affiliation agreements: the contract behind every NAU clinical site
Every agency that hosts a Northern Arizona University NP student needs an affiliation agreement with NAU, including a facility that already employs you. NAU starts one from your Green Form when none exists, and its 2021-22 form warned that a new agreement can take anywhere from a few days to a few months. Finding out early whether your site needs one is the best protection your start date has.
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What the agreement is and who starts it
An affiliation agreement is the contract between NAU and the clinical agency that allows a student to train there. It is separate from your preceptor's willingness to teach you: a nurse practitioner can say yes on Monday, and the practice or health system still has to sign with the university before your first day.
Students do not draft or negotiate it. The 2022-23 FNP Clinical Guidelines say that where no agreement exists with the agency, one "will be initiated based on the information provided" on your Green Form. The DNP Practicum Handbook of the same year matches it: the School of Nursing starts an agreement with the agency if one is not already on file.
Your part is accuracy and pace: correct site details, the right signer and prompt follow-up. A request with the wrong contact can sit unanswered while your cutoff approaches, so the few minutes spent confirming who signs contracts at the site are some of the best-spent minutes in the whole process.
Your employer is not an exception
The guidelines close the obvious loophole in a single line: "An agreement needs to be in place even if the student is employed in the facility." The FNP and DNP handbooks both carry it.
Being on staff gives you access to the right people, which helps, but the contract covers your role as a student, not as an employee. The hospital or clinic has to accept NAU's students, and NAU has to accept the site. Clinicals at work bring other conditions too, set out in our guide to a practicum at your workplace.
A related consent in the guidelines shows why the contract matters. Students authorize NAU to release background, drug-screen, insurance and immunization records to clinical facilities, and agencies may require a background check or drug test of their own. Those exchanges assume a formal relationship between the school and the site.
How long a new agreement takes
NAU's 2021-22 Green Form gave the only published estimate: a new agreement "may take anywhere from a few days to a few months depending on the requirements." The 2022-23 guidelines give no figure, and no newer NAU document is public.
Health systems' own pages show why the range is so wide. Northern Arizona Healthcare's student instructions, dated 2024, say a partnership with a new school can take several months, the legal agreement from one week to four months, and a new school account one to two months. HonorHealth says it reviews new academic agreements based on strategic initiatives and business need. A small practice that has signed school contracts before can move in days; a system's legal office keeps its own calendar.
Now set that against NAU's cutoffs. A Green Form filed on March 31 for summer leaves roughly six weeks before a mid-May start, which is tight for any agreement that runs to months, before counting the two-month documents rule.
The administrative contact: the person who actually signs
The 2021-22 Green Form spelled out who NAU needs to reach: "The administrative contact is the person who will receive the affiliation agreement to sign and/or route to the appropriate person(s) and confirm the clinical rotation. This may or may not be the preceptor. In many cases, it is the office manager."
Getting this name right is the quickest shortcut in the whole process. An agreement sent to a busy clinician can wait in an inbox for weeks; one sent to the practice manager who handles every vendor and school contract tends to be routed the same day. Ask your preceptor directly who signs contracts at the practice and whether it has hosted students from other schools.
At a large system the contact is usually a central student-placement or education office rather than the clinic, and the request has to come from the school.
After the agreement: the site's own onboarding
A signed agreement opens the door, and the site's onboarding walks you through it. Several Arizona systems publish their steps. Banner, HonorHealth, Dignity Health, Valleywise and Northern Arizona Healthcare each describe an agreement with the school, a request from the school's coordinator and onboarding in myClinicalExchange. Their published lead times include:
- HonorHealth: request no later than 30 days before the rotation, with onboarding finished at least three weeks ahead
- Valleywise: requests four weeks ahead, and students approved three weeks ahead
- Dignity Health: the school's placement coordinator applies 45 days before the start date
- Northern Arizona Healthcare: every compliance item met at least four weeks before the start
These are the systems' own rules, not NAU policy, and they sit on top of NAU's requirement that your documents be on file two months before rotations. Our Arizona health systems guide goes system by system.
Keeping the agreement off your critical path
A few habits keep the contract from becoming the reason a practicum slips.
- Ask on the first callBefore the preceptor commits, find out whether the site has hosted NAU students and who signs school contracts.
- Name the signer on the Green FormList the administrative contact exactly, with title, so NAU's request reaches the right desk. The Green Form guide shows where that fits and both sets of cutoff dates.
- File earlyA site with no agreement needs the longest runway, so submit well before the March 31, June 30 or October 31 cutoff.
- Check in with both sidesAsk the Clinical Placement Coordinator for status, and follow up politely with the site's contact if the contract stalls.
- Keep a backup siteIf a system's legal review looks slow, hold a second, simpler site in reserve for the same term.
How we take the agreement risk out early
Our placement desk treats the agreement as the first question rather than the last. By the time we propose a preceptor, we already know who signs for the practice and whether it hosts students from other schools, and you hear from us straight away if a new NAU agreement looks likely. That early warning lets your request begin with the slowest step.
The rest of the packet follows: the preceptor's CV, license and certification checked against R4-19-502, the administrative contact's name and title, and the site's approval, so your Green Form goes in with the first box ticked, well ahead of the cutoff. If a legal office drags its feet, the next option is already lined up. Send your course and term through the contact form.
Questions NAU students ask
Who signs the affiliation agreement at a clinic?
The agency's administrative contact, who receives the agreement, signs it or routes it to whoever can, and confirms the rotation. NAU's older Green Form notes this may not be your preceptor and is often the office manager. At a large health system, a central student-placement or legal office usually handles it, with the request coming from the school.
Can I start clinical hours while the agreement is being signed?
Plan on waiting. NAU's guidelines place the agreement ahead of the credential review and approval, and they say students will be told when they may begin. The DNP handbook states that the agency and preceptor must be approved before clinical hours start. Treat NAU's go-ahead as the only start signal.
Why does NAU need an agreement if my preceptor already said yes?
Your preceptor agrees to teach; the agency agrees to host a university's students. The contract settles matters between NAU and the site, and many sites add their own compliance steps, such as a background check or drug screen required by the agency. One clinician's yes cannot commit the whole organization.
What is myClinicalExchange?
It is the student onboarding platform that several Arizona systems name on their own pages, including Banner, HonorHealth, Dignity Health, Valleywise and Northern Arizona Healthcare. Those systems describe the school's coordinator making the request, then the student completing requirements in the platform before the rotation. It belongs to the systems' process and follows the agreement.
Does my site already have an agreement with NAU?
NAU does not publish a list of its clinical affiliates, so ask the Clinical Placement Coordinator, or ask the site whether it has hosted NAU nursing students recently. An existing agreement can save weeks. Either way, list the site's administrative contact on your Green Form so NAU can act quickly if a new one is needed.
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 (archived)
- Northern Arizona University DNP Clinical Practicum Handbook AY 2022-23 (archived)
- Northern Arizona Healthcare: Student/Instructor Onboarding Instructions, 2024 (archived)
- HonorHealth: Student placement
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