Arizona health systems want the request from your school, not from you

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

Arizona's largest health systems, from Banner and HonorHealth to Northern Arizona Healthcare, publish student processes that ask for the same three things: an affiliation agreement with the school, a rotation request filed by the school's coordinator, and onboarding through myClinicalExchange. For a Northern Arizona University NP student, a hospital-based preceptor therefore starts with NAU's Clinical Placement Coordinator and a lead time you plan around, while a preceptor in an independent practice follows NAU's standard Green Form route.

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5Arizona systems on this page that onboard students in myClinicalExchange

45 daysDignity Health Arizona's request window before a start date

4 monthsearliest a school may ask Mayo Clinic Arizona about an NP rotation

Arizona health systems. 5: Arizona systems on this page that onboard students in myClinicalExchange; 45 days: Dignity Health Arizona's request window before a start date; 4 months: earliest a school may ask Mayo Clinic Arizona about an NP rotation. — 5: Arizona systems on this page that onboard students in myClinicalExchange; 45 days: Dignity Health Arizona's request window before a start date; 4 months: earliest a school may ask Mayo Clinic Arizona about an NP rotation.

Three conditions every published process shares

Banner Health, HonorHealth, Dignity Health's Arizona Division, Valleywise Health and Northern Arizona Healthcare each word their student rules differently, yet the skeleton is identical. The school must hold a signed affiliation agreement with the system. The school's coordinator, rather than the student, submits the rotation request. The student then clears the system's requirements inside myClinicalExchange, the scheduling and compliance platform all five name.

Two of them spell out the etiquette. Banner and Valleywise both steer students away from ringing clinics or units in search of a preceptor and send that search through the school's coordinator instead. Northern Arizona Healthcare asks students to leave departments alone until NAH Education has given clearance.

NAU keeps no public list of its clinical affiliates, so the fastest way to learn whether a system already has an agreement with NAU is to ask the Clinical Placement Coordinator, the role the 2022-23 FNP Clinical Guidelines put in charge of site requests.

System by system: who takes the request and how early

Each row sums up what the organization publishes about its own student process for any school, from pages captured in 2025 and 2026. Confirm the current version with the system and with NAU before you build a calendar on it.

Arizona health systems' own published student processes
Organization	Who handles student requests	Published timing	Onboarding and notes
Banner Health	Banner Center for Health Careers, one central team for rotations at every Banner facility; your faculty contacts its student coordinator	No lead time in the captured pages	Requirements, immunizations included, done in myClinicalExchange before the rotation
HonorHealth	Center for Clinical Excellence; rotations open only to students of affiliated academic partners	Request 30 days ahead at the latest; onboarding done three weeks ahead; badge no sooner than a week before	myClinicalExchange, then IT training
Dignity Health, Arizona Division	The Learning Institute processes every student placement request for its Arizona facilities	The school's placement coordinator applies 45 days before the start date	My Clinical Exchange required of all academic partners
Valleywise Health	Scheduled through your university program under an affiliation agreement	Requests four weeks before; students approved three weeks before	myClinicalExchange; immunizations, drug screen, DPS fingerprint card or cleared background check, BLS
Northern Arizona Healthcare	NAH Education coordinates between students and departments	A partnership with a new school can take several months; compliance complete four weeks before the start	MyClinicalExchange; background check, drug screen, AHA BLS, NAH learning modules, immunizations
Mayo Clinic in Arizona	Master's-level NP students at affiliated schools; only the program's rotation coordinator may inquire	No sooner than four months before the rotation	Precepted by NPs, PAs and physicians
TMC Health, Tucson	Students arranging a preceptorship write to TMC's clinical student placement office	Not published	Not published

How the system windows line up with NAU's dates

A system's request window runs on top of NAU's own dates rather than replacing them. The table assumes a rotation that begins on the first day of the session; Summer 2027 also has sessions opening June 1 and July 6, so shift the math to your actual start.

Example countdowns for two NAU terms
Milestone	Spring 2027 start (Jan. 11)	Summer 2027 start (May 10)
Mayo inquiries open (four months ahead)	Sept. 11, 2026	Jan. 10, 2027
NAU Green Form cutoff, 2022-23 form	Oct. 31, 2026	Mar. 31, 2027
NAU clinical documents on file (two months ahead)	Nov. 11, 2026	Mar. 10, 2027
Dignity request due (45 days ahead)	Nov. 27, 2026	Mar. 26, 2027
HonorHealth request due (30 days ahead)	Dec. 12, 2026	Apr. 10, 2027
Valleywise request due (four weeks ahead)	Dec. 14, 2026	Apr. 12, 2027

For spring, NAU's cutoff comes well before any system's. Summer is tighter: Dignity's 45-day window for a May 10 start closes on March 26, five days ahead of the March 31 cutoff, so a Dignity site for NUR 661 needs your form in early. The earlier 2021-22 form set cutoffs a month sooner still; the Green Form guide shows both versions, and the two-month document rule has its own backward plan.

The slow step is rarely the system's request window. It is a brand-new affiliation agreement, which NAH says can take several months with a school it has not worked with before.

Where a system site goes on the Green Form

NAU's Green Form offers two boxes: the site has already approved the placement, or you need help requesting it. A system that accepts requests only from schools has no way to hand a student that approval, so in practice a hospital or system clinic lands in the second box, with the preceptor and site details filled in as fully as you can.

NAU builds any missing agreement from the information on the form, and its 2021-22 version warned the process may take anywhere from a few days to a few months. A late form therefore means a late agreement. The affiliation agreement guide covers who signs and what slows it down.

Working for the system gives no shortcut. The 2022-23 guidelines call for an agreement "even if the student is employed in the facility", and the workplace practicum guide covers the scheduling and supervisor limits.

Practices outside the big systems

Not every preceptor works for a large system. Independent family practices, community clinics and small rural offices follow NAU's standard route and nothing else: the Green Form, an agreement with the practice if NAU lacks one, and the preceptor's CV, license and certification. NAU's older form noted that the administrative contact who receives the agreement is often the office manager rather than the clinician.

An all-ages family practice near home can also cover much of the recommended FNP hour mix, pediatric and women's health visits included, in one place and with fewer layers of approval. Our regional guides for Flagstaff and northern Arizona and Phoenix and Tucson look at each area's options. A small practice seldom has a student office, so the preceptor's paperwork and the agreement contact are yours to chase, or ours when you work with us.

Why NAU students hand this part to us

We sort every candidate site by route before the first call goes out. Where a site runs through a central student office, we tell you at once, line the request up for NAU's Clinical Placement Coordinator and plan against that system's published window. Where the preceptor practices independently, we secure the preceptor's yes and the site's approval so your Green Form goes in with the first box checked.

Either way, every candidate is screened against Arizona's preceptor rule, R4-19-502, on license, experience, population focus and certification. We gather the CV, license and certification, tell you early if the site will need a fresh agreement with NAU, and list the onboarding items a system requires, from BLS to the fingerprint clearance card, so nothing piles up in the final weeks. Your three FNP practicums are mapped as one plan, and if a preceptor pulls out, we go straight back to work on a replacement. See how it works, or send your details through the form below.

Questions NAU students ask

Can I phone a Banner or Valleywise clinic myself to find a preceptor?

Both systems ask students to hold off. Their student pages route the preceptor search through the school's coordinator instead of cold calls to clinics or units. You can still tell NAU which clinician or clinic you hope for: name them on the Green Form, check the box asking for help with the request, and let the Clinical Placement Coordinator carry it to the system.

What is myClinicalExchange and when do I use it?

It is the scheduling and compliance platform Banner, HonorHealth, Dignity Health, Valleywise and Northern Arizona Healthcare use for student rotations. The school holds the partnership; once a request is approved, you complete that system's items there, such as immunizations, BLS and screening, by the date the system sets. It sits alongside NAU's own clinical tracking system rather than replacing it.

Does NAU have an affiliation agreement with my hospital?

NAU keeps no public list of clinical affiliates, so ask the Clinical Placement Coordinator. If no agreement exists, NAU starts one from your Green Form details, and NAU's 2021-22 form said that can take from a few days to a few months. Northern Arizona Healthcare adds that a partnership with a school new to it can run several months.

How early can a school ask Mayo Clinic in Arizona for an NP rotation?

Mayo's page says it takes NP rotation inquiries only from the clinical rotation coordinator at the student's program, no sooner than four months before the rotation begins, and only for master's-level students at affiliated schools. A January start therefore opens to inquiries in mid-September, about seven weeks before NAU's October 31 spring cutoff on the 2022-23 form.

Do health system deadlines replace NAU's Green Form deadline?

No, they stack. NAU's cutoff and its two-month document rule still apply, and the system's window runs on top. For spring starts NAU's dates come first. For a summer start at a Dignity facility, the 45-day request window can close before NAU's March 31 cutoff, so submit early. A site with no agreement yet needs the most lead time of all.

Phoenix and TucsonPhoenix and TucsonBanner, HonorHealth, Dignity, Valleywise, Mayo and TMC each publish a student process. How NAU NP students find preceptors in Phoenix and Tucson.Northern ArizonaFlagstaff and northern ArizonaHow NAU NP students find preceptors around Flagstaff, the Verde Valley, Tuba City and rural northern Arizona, and how the region's systems take requests.AgreementsAffiliation agreementsWhy every NAU clinical site needs an affiliation agreement, your own employer included, how long a new one can take, and who at the site signs it.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.WorkplacePracticum at your workplaceCan an NAU NP student do clinicals at their own job? Yes, with an affiliation agreement, a qualified preceptor, hours kept apart from shifts and NAU's approval.DeadlineDocuments two months aheadNAU wants every clinical document on file two months before your rotation. What that covers, what lateness costs, and a backward plan for 2027 terms.

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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