The NAU clinical placement process, from first contact to first shift

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

At Northern Arizona University, an FNP clinical is approved in a fixed order: a preceptor is suggested or requested, the Green Form reaches the Clinical Placement Coordinator, a site agreement is confirmed or started, the preceptor's credentials come in, and the FNP Program Coordinator signs off before you are told to begin. That order comes from NAU's 2022-23 FNP Clinical Guidelines, the newest version anyone can read; your program coordinator and course faculty hold the current rules.

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Tell us your NAU program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with the preceptor and site options that fit your course.

2 monthsclinical documents on file before rotations begin

780FNP clinical hours across three practicums

Six stages, in the order NAU runs them

Each stage below comes from the procedure section of the 2022-23 guidelines, and each one waits on the stage before it. A preceptor who agrees in June still cannot see patients with you until the last stage closes, so the useful question is never only who will precept you but how far along this chain your placement has traveled.

A preceptor is named or requestedYou put forward a preceptor and site you have lined up, or you name a site you want and ask NAU to approach it. NAU can also propose a placement of its own.
The Green Form goes inFiling the FNP Preceptor/Agency Green Form is the student's job. It tells the Clinical Placement Coordinator whether the site has already said yes or still has to be asked. Our Green Form guide covers each box and cutoff.
The site agreement is checkedIf NAU holds no affiliation agreement with the agency, one is started from the details on your form. The affiliation agreement page explains why this step often sets the pace.
Credentials arrive from the preceptorThe guidelines ask the preceptor for "a CV or resume and professional licensure and specialty certification if applicable."
The FNP Program Coordinator decidesEvery preceptor and mentor needs that coordinator's approval, and the final word on the placement sits in the same office.
You get the go-aheadNAU tells you when the rotation may start. Plan your first clinical day around that notice, not around the preceptor's calendar alone.

Who starts the process: you, NAU, or both

NAU's model is shared, and the student usually moves first. The guidelines invite students to put forward preceptors and mentors, while the choice itself rests on the preceptor's qualifications, the setting and Arizona Board of Nursing rules. The Green Form mirrors both sides: one box says the site has already approved you, the other asks NAU to request a placement you are interested in.

NAU can also offer you a placement, and the guidelines are candid that it may sit far from home. They warn that overnight stays can be necessary and that students cover their own travel and housing. A student who turns down an offered site because of the distance is not owed a different one.

That is why a preceptor near where you live and work repays real effort, especially for nurses in rural Arizona and tribal communities. The page on finding your own preceptor walks through that choice and how to approach a candidate.

Timing: build the plan backward from your first clinical day

Two dates govern each practicum. The Green Form carries a request cutoff for every term, and the guidelines want all clinical documents on file two months before the rotation begins. Late documents can lead to administrative withdrawal from both the practicum and its paired theory course, with the retake pushed to the next academic year.

FNP practicums and the dates behind them (cutoffs from the 2022-23 Green Form; term starts from NAU's registrar)
Practicum	Term	Green Form cutoff	Term begins
`NUR 661` (180 hours)	Summer	March 31	Summer 2027 sessions open May 10
`NUR 663` (300 hours)	Fall	June 30	Fall 2027 opens Aug. 23
`NUR 665` (300 hours)	Spring	October 31	Spring 2027 opens Jan. 11

Run the arithmetic for summer and a trap appears. If your first NUR 661 day lands in mid-May, two months back is mid-March, earlier than the March 31 form cutoff. Treat whichever date falls first as your real deadline, and keep in mind that the older 2021-22 form set its cutoffs a month sooner still (March 1, June 1 and October 1). The documents deadline page lays out a full backward plan.

What NAU checks on both sides of the placement

Approval looks at the preceptor and at you. On the preceptor side, NAU applies Arizona's rule for APRN programs, R4-19-502: direct supervision, a clean license in the preceptor's own state of practice, at least twelve months practicing as an APRN or physician, patients comparable to your program's focus and, for nurse preceptors, certification in the role. Our preceptor requirements guide takes each test in turn.

On your side, the 2022-23 guidelines list

An RN license in good standing, with no encumbrance, valid where your clinical hours take place
American Heart Association BLS (the guidelines refuse online-only certification)
Immunizations and TB screening
The Arizona DPS fingerprint clearance card
A background check and drug test wherever the agency requires them
A personal professional liability policy and NAU's HIPAA training

In 2022-23 these items were kept current in Typhon; later NAU material names Exxat instead, and no public page settles which one graduate students use today, so follow the instructions in your course.

Who you will deal with along the way

Four NAU roles touch a placement. The Clinical Placement Coordinator receives the Green Form and pursues or confirms the site. The FNP Program Coordinator approves preceptors, makes the final placement call and must clear any clinical time during university breaks, holidays or weekends in advance. Course faculty oversee the experience at a distance and act as NAU's link to the agency, and graduate nursing advisors handle coursework and progression questions.

Two people outside NAU matter just as much. Your approved preceptor supervises you directly, and the guidelines keep students out of the clinical setting whenever that preceptor is absent. The site's administrative contact, often the office manager, receives and routes the affiliation agreement. Our page on the Clinical Placement Coordinator and related roles explains who to ask about what.

If you are in the PMHNP or DNP program

NAU's only readable graduate process documents cover FNP and DNP students. The 2023-24 handbook written for both nurse practitioner tracks has been taken down with no archived copy, so PMHNP students should treat the FNP route as the published model and confirm each step with their program coordinator. The catalog does confirm that NUR 680, the PMHNP practicum, requires in-person engagement.

The DNP, which is closed to new applicants, runs its own paperwork: the DNP Preceptor/Agency Request Form, found in NUR 703 and NUR 608 course content. DNP students choose their own site and mentor, the same agreement rule applies, and the agency, preceptor and mentor all need approval before hours begin.

BSN students sit outside this process altogether, because NAU assigns their clinical sites.

Why NAU students hand this process to us

Our placement desk is built around the order above. We look for a preceptor matched to your practicum course who works within easy reach of home, check that person against R4-19-502 as NAU applies it, and gather the CV, license and certification before anything goes to NAU. You file a Green Form with the site's approval already secured, weeks ahead of the cutoff.

We also tell you at the outset whether the practice already has, or will need, an affiliation agreement with NAU, so the slowest step starts first. For FNP students we plan NUR 661, NUR 663 and NUR 665 as one sequence, and a mid-semester preceptor exit puts a replacement at the top of our list. NAU's FNP Program Coordinator still makes every approval; our job is to put a complete, rule-ready file in front of that office the first time. Send your practicum course and start term on the contact form.

Questions NAU students ask

How long does NAU take to approve a clinical placement?

NAU publishes no single turnaround. The 2021-22 Green Form cautioned that a new affiliation agreement by itself can run from days to months, and the preceptor's credentials still need review after that. Build your plan from the Green Form cutoff and the two-month documents rule, and ask the Clinical Placement Coordinator where your request stands.

Can I begin logging hours once a preceptor says yes?

Hold off. Agreement from the preceptor opens the process rather than finishing it. The site contract, the credential review and the FNP Program Coordinator's approval all come afterward, and the 2022-23 guidelines say NAU will notify students when they may begin. Save that notice with your clinical records and schedule day one from it.

Does NAU find preceptors for FNP students?

NAU shares the job with you. Students are encouraged to suggest preceptors, and the Green Form has a box for asking NAU to request a placement you want. NAU can also offer a site, sometimes with travel attached. However the site is found, the last word belongs to the FNP Program Coordinator, who signs off on the preceptor and decides the placement.

Is the process different for the post-master's FNP certificate?

Not in the published guidelines. The 2022-23 FNP guidelines serve both the MS and the certificate, and their hours table is labeled for the MS-FNP and the post-master's certificate together. Certificate students take the same three practicums, NUR 661, NUR 663 and NUR 665, and use the same Green Form route.

What happens if my clinical documents are late?

The guidelines let NAU withdraw a student administratively from the clinical course and its related theory course when documents arrive late, and the student then retakes them when next offered, which the guidelines place in the following academic year. On a set plan of study that can move graduation back, as our delayed graduation page explains.

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.PreceptorsFinding your own preceptorNAU encourages NP students to suggest preceptors. How the shared model works, why a preceptor near home matters and how to line one up for the Green Form.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.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.RulesPreceptor requirementsWho can precept a Northern Arizona University NP student: Arizona rule R4-19-502 as NAU applies it, from license and experience to focus and certification.Placement helpHow it worksStep by step: how our desk finds an NAU nurse practitioner preceptor near home, checks R4-19-502, secures site approval and readies your Green Form early.

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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