Four routes to an NAU preceptor, compared

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

A Northern Arizona University nurse practitioner student reaches a preceptor by one of four routes: arranging one yourself, asking NAU to request or offer a site, using your own workplace, or having a placement service arrange one for you. Every route ends at the same Green Form and the same FNP Program Coordinator approval. They differ in who does the legwork, how much say you keep over location, and how early you know where you will train.

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Table. Routes to an NAU preceptor compared: Who finds the preceptor, You; Green Form box, Site approved; Say over location, Full; Who checks the preceptor, You, then NAU. — Routes to an NAU preceptor compared: Who finds the preceptor, You; Green Form box, Site approved; Say over location, Full; Who checks the preceptor, You, then NAU.

What every route shares

No route skips NAU's review. However the preceptor is found, NAU's 2022-23 FNP guidelines run the same sequence: the Green Form, a new affiliation agreement wherever none exists, the preceptor's documents (resume or CV, license, certification), approval by the FNP Program Coordinator, and a notice telling you when to begin.

Your own obligations stay the same too. Your clinical file must be complete two months before the rotation starts, and the FNP hours still total 780 over the three practicums. The placement process page follows that sequence in order. What changes from route to route is everything that happens before the form.

Route one: a preceptor you arrange yourself

This is the route NAU's guidelines lean toward: "Students are encouraged to suggest potential preceptors and mentors." You pick the clinic, often close to home, and you tick the Green Form box saying the site has approved the placement.

The price is time and uncertainty. You make the calls, check each clinician against Arizona's preceptor rule yourself, and chase the documents. Banner Health and Valleywise Health publish processes that discourage students from cold-calling for preceptors and take requests from the school's coordinator, so a solo search usually runs through independent practices. If a preceptor withdraws mid-term, you start over. The find your own preceptor page covers this route in depth.

Route two: asking NAU to request or offer a placement

The Green Form's second box, "Need assistance requesting this placement", asks NAU's Clinical Placement Coordinator to request a site you are interested in. NAU may also propose a placement of its own. NAU's placement staff handle agency requests and contracts for many students, and this route puts that experience to work for you.

The trade-off is location. NAU's guidelines say that while effort is made to minimize travel, overnight accommodations may be necessary, and that a student who declines a placement over travel is not owed an alternative. If distance matters to you, raise it with your coordinator early. The coordinator roles page explains who handles these requests.

Route three: a preceptor at your own workplace

Working RNs often look first at their own employer. The patients, the charting system and the commute are familiar, and a colleague may already be willing. NAU still requires an affiliation agreement; its guidelines say one must be in place even when the student is employed at the facility.

Check two things early. NAU's DNP handbook rules out your immediate supervisor and anyone who reports to you, and moves workplace hours outside your normal shifts; the FNP guidelines publish no such list, so ask your coordinator how it applies to you. And a single specialty clinic may not cover the pediatric and women's health hours FNP students are advised to log. See practicums at your workplace.

Route four: a placement service arranges it

Here the arranging is done for you, and you still file the Green Form as a student with a preceptorship already in hand. Our desk searches near your home, checks each preceptor against R4-19-502, secures the site's agreement and the documents, flags a missing affiliation agreement early, and plans the next practicum while the current one runs.

This route adds a fee, and it gives back time, control over location, and a replacement search if a preceptor leaves. The how it works page shows each step, and the choosing a service page lists what to expect from any provider.

The four routes side by side

Routes to an NAU preceptor compared
Question	You arrange	NAU requests or offers	Your workplace	Placement service
Who finds the preceptor	You	NAU's Clinical Placement Coordinator	You, through your employer	Our placement desk
Green Form box	Site approved	Need assistance	Site approved	Site approved
Say over location	Full	Limited; travel possible	Your own facility	Full, near home
Who checks the preceptor	You, then NAU	NAU	You, then NAU	Our desk, then NAU
If the preceptor leaves	You search again	Ask your coordinator	You search again	Our desk searches again
Suits	Students with strong local contacts	Students open to travel	Employers with a broad patient mix	Students short on time or contacts

Read the table as a set of trade-offs rather than a ranking. The right route depends on your contacts, your schedule and how far you can travel in a given term, and it can differ from one practicum to the next.

Mixing routes across your practicums

You can change routes as the program moves on. Green Form cutoffs are set term by term, so the route that suits NUR 661 in summer may not suit NUR 665 in spring.

A common mix: a workplace preceptor for adult primary care hours, a second clinic for pediatric or women's health visits, and help from a service in the term when work or family leaves no room to search. Whatever the mix, begin each term's plan a semester ahead so every route stays open to you.

Questions NAU students ask

Which Green Form box do I tick if a service found my preceptor?

The box stating that the clinical site approved this placement, because the site has agreed before you file. The other box is for asking NAU to request a placement on your behalf. Our Green Form page walks through the rest of the form.

Does NAU treat a service-arranged preceptor differently?

NAU's guidelines weigh a preceptor's qualifications, the setting, and what the Arizona Board of Nursing requires. How you were introduced is not one of those tests. Every preceptor, however found, goes to the FNP Program Coordinator for approval in the same way.

Can I ask NAU for help and keep searching myself?

Many students do both while a deadline approaches. If you later arrange a preceptor yourself, tell your coordinator promptly so NAU is not requesting a site you no longer need. Keeping NAU informed protects your standing with the clinics involved and with the coordinator.

Is a workplace placement always the fastest?

Not always. An affiliation agreement is still needed, and NAU's 2021-22 form warned that one could take days or could stretch over months. A workplace that already has an agreement with NAU can move quickly; one without an agreement may take longer than you expect.

What if NAU offers a placement far from home?

Talk with your coordinator before you answer. Turning a placement down over travel may leave you without another offer that term, so weigh the drive against the delay. Arranging a near-home preceptor before the cutoff is the simplest way to avoid facing that choice.

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.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.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.Placement helpChoosing a placement serviceWhat the best placement service for NAU nursing students does: fits NAU's Green Form, checks R4-19-502 early, plans every practicum and stays on call.RolesPlacement coordinator and rolesWho does what in an NAU clinical: the Clinical Placement Coordinator, the FNP Program Coordinator, course faculty and graduate advisors, and which one to ask.

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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