Questions NSU nursing students ask about preceptors
The short answers to the questions we hear most from Nova Southeastern nursing students, grouped by topic. Each answer links to the guide that covers it in full, and every NSU fact comes from NSU's own handbook, catalogs or program pages.
Get your placement plan
Tell us your NSU program and your home ZIP area. A placement advisor replies with preceptor and site options near you that fit your NSU course.
NSU's placement rule
Do I have to find my own preceptor at NSU? NSU's nursing handbook gives APRN students two routes. If you have an identified preceptor and site, you tell your clinical coordinator two semesters before the clinical course starts. Without one, NSU's coordinator assigns a placement somewhere within 150 miles of where you live. The placement process covers both routes in order.
Can I change a placement NSU makes for me? The handbook says the coordinator's placement is not negotiable once made. That is the main reason students who care about location or schedule name their own preceptor in time. See the 150-mile rule.
What does two semesters before actually mean? Count back two semesters from the semester your clinical course begins. A fall clinical course, for example, means naming your preceptor as the preceding winter semester opens. The two-semester deadline guide works through each term.
Preceptors and sites
Who can precept me? NSU checks each preceptor against its own supervision standards, which are spelled out in the graduate clinical guide students receive, not on the public website. At a Florida site, Florida's rule adds that the preceptor must be a Florida-licensed APRN, physician or dentist. The preceptor requirements guide sets out both.
Can I do clinicals where I work? Nothing NSU publishes settles it, so check with your clinical coordinator before you count on it. The working at your employer guide explains what to ask and what usually makes a workplace site fit a course.
Hours and courses
How many clinical hours does an NSU NP track need? The 2026-27 catalog lists 855 hours per MSN track, built from 95 practicum hours per credit hour. Under the 2025-26 plan the total was 765, and some certificate pages keep those older numbers. The clinical hours guide compares every program.
Can I finish my hours early in the semester? No. NSU expects APRN hours to start with the course, run weekly and never be compressed into the first or last weeks. See the weekly hours rule.
What if I miss a clinical day? The handbook asks graduate students to tell the preceptor, the site and the program director two hours ahead, and every absence has to be made up. The absences guide explains how to plan make-up time inside a semester.
Clearance and licensing
Which compliance system does NSU use? DISA CastleBranch, for immunization and physical exam records and the background check. Facilities can stack their own items on top, and per the handbook an item still missing on day one can cost you the placement. Read the CastleBranch guide.
Do I need a Florida RN license? NSU's current admissions page requires one for AGACNP; FNP and PMHNP need an unrestricted RN license current where the practicum happens. Older NSU sources required Florida for every track. See the license guide.
Working with us
What do you do, exactly? We find preceptors and sites near your home that fit your NSU course, prepare the details your clinical coordinator reviews, help keep CastleBranch and site requirements on track, and line up a replacement if a preceptor steps away. How it works walks through each step.
How much does it cost? Quotes follow the course, the preceptor specialty, where you live and how much lead time we have, so each one comes after a short conversation. The cost page explains what moves a quote.
One point runs under every answer here: the clinical coordinator decides. We prepare each preceptor and site so that decision is easy to make.
Questions NSU students ask
Is Nova Preceptor part of NSU?
No. Nova Preceptor works independently of the university. Your program's rules come from NSU itself, the approval of each preceptor and site stays with its clinical coordinators, and nothing here speaks for NSU.
Do you help NSU students who live outside Florida?
Yes, if you study online and hold an RN license valid where your clinical site is. NSU's older sources tied APRN students to living within 225 miles of campus, while the 2026-27 catalog states no radius, so confirm your situation with NSU. See clinicals outside Florida.
Can you help with DNP project hours?
Yes. NSU's DNP project courses each carry 150 practicum hours and need a practice setting where the project can run. We look for a site and a supportive contact that fit your project. See DNP project practicum.
What if my clinical course starts in a few weeks?
Reach out now and mark it urgent. A short runway means a broader search radius and a frank talk about how a late start sits with NSU's weekly-hours rule. Our no preceptor yet page has a checklist for the next seven days.
Do NSU BSN students need to find preceptors?
No. NSU's handbook says the clinical coordinator places BSN students within 75 miles of their campus. The APRN programs are where naming your own preceptor matters. See BSN clinicals.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-25
We check these pages against NSU's own handbook, catalog and program pages. The graduate clinical guide, your course in Canvas, your clinical coordinator and your program director have the final word.
NSU lets you name your own preceptor. We make sure you have one, close to home and in time.
Tell us your NSU program, your home ZIP area and when your next clinical course starts. We find preceptors who fit the course and have everything ready for your clinical coordinator well before the two-semester notice.
- Preceptors matched to the course: primary care for FNP, acute care for AGACNP, psychiatric care for PMHNP, a practice site for DNP project hours
- Named early enough for NSU's two-semester notice, with license, credentials and site details ready for the coordinator
- Close to your home ZIP code, with clinic days we plan around your work schedule
Start your placement plan
Program, ZIP area and start term is all we need to begin.