Bringing your own preceptor to NAU, and why it is worth doing

What NAU's guidelines actually say

The central sentence in the 2022-23 guidelines reads: "Students are encouraged to suggest potential preceptors and mentors, but the decisions are based on the preceptor's qualifications, clinical setting, and the AZ Board of Nursing requirements." The next line hands the final placement call to the FNP Program Coordinator.

Read together, that describes a shared arrangement with the student out in front. You do the scouting, NAU handles the vetting and the contract, and one coordinator signs off. The written procedure opens the same way: once a student identifies a possible preceptor or mentor, the first step is the student's own Green Form.

The form leaves room for students at every stage. One box is for a site that has already agreed to host you; the other lets you point NAU at a site you would like and have NAU put in the request. NAU can also offer placements of its own, which is where the travel question below comes in.

What a good fit looks like for your track

FNP students need family primary care: a practice that sees children, adults and older adults, with women's health visits in the mix. The guidelines' suggested split puts about 450 of the 780 hours in adult care, with roughly 100 each for pediatrics and women's health and 75 to 150 in specialties, plus minimum counts of certain exams.

For PMHNP students the setting is psychiatric, and NUR 680 comes with an in-person requirement in the catalog. PMHNP preceptor criteria have never been posted publicly, so run any candidate past your program coordinator before you lean on them.

On either track the candidate must pass the R4-19-502 tests on license, experience, patient population and, for nurses, certification. Our preceptor requirements page walks through each one, so you can screen a name in a single phone call.

Approaching a candidate, step by step

A short, organized first conversation saves weeks later. Work through these in order before you file anything with NAU.

1. Check the basics firstLook up the license on the state board's verification site, ask how long they have practiced as an NP or physician, and confirm their certification matches your track.
2. Describe the commitment plainlyGive the course, the hour total (180 or 300 for the FNP practicums) and the term dates, and explain that clinical days on weekends, holidays or breaks require advance sign-off from the FNP Program Coordinator.
3. Find the administrative contactAsk who signs school agreements and confirms rotations at the site, and note that person's name and title for the form.
4. Collect the preceptor packetA CV or resume, the professional license and any specialty certification, ready to go when NAU asks for them.
5. Get the site's approval, then fileWith the practice on board, submit the Green Form with the first box checked, well before the term's cutoff.

Why NAU students choose us to do the finding

Finding the preceptor is the part of NAU's process that lands on you, and it is precisely the part our placement desk takes on. We scout preceptors and clinics that suit your practicum and sit close to where you live: family practices that see every age, including children and women's health visits, for the FNP track, and psychiatric clinics or units for the PMHNP track.

Before a name ever reaches you, we have checked it against R4-19-502 as NAU reads it, identified the site's administrative contact, gathered the CV, license and certification, and secured the practice's yes, so the Green Form you submit already has the site's yes behind it, weeks ahead of the cutoff. Every FNP practicum gets planned at once, and our team stays reachable all term in case a preceptor bows out. Start with the contact form.