How Florida health systems take nurse practitioner students

Updated September 25, 2026 · Reviewed by the Nova Preceptor placement team

Almost every Florida health system that publishes a student process wants an affiliation agreement with your school first. Then they split three ways: school requests only, bring your own preceptor, or nothing published for NP students. Which kind you face decides what to settle before you name a preceptor to NSU's clinical coordinator.

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Up to 6 monthshow long Tampa General says a new educational affiliation agreement may take

Numbered steps. What this means when you name a preceptor to NSU: 1 Identify the system's type; 2 Check its published school list; 3 Match the lead time to your notice; 4 Line up the site's own items. — What this means when you name a preceptor to NSU: 1 Identify the system's type; 2 Check its published school list; 3 Match the lead time to your notice; 4 Line up the site's own items.

The school agreement comes first

Nearly every system that describes its process treats an affiliation agreement with the school as the entry ticket; only Tenet's Palm Beach documents and Sarasota Memorial's physician group leave it unmentioned. The agreement sits between the system and the school, and new ones take time.

What Florida systems publish about agreements and lead times
System	Published terms
Tampa General Hospital	A TGH preceptor must be designated before a new Educational Affiliation Agreement starts; it may take up to six months
Halifax Health (Daytona Beach)	Up to 4 months for a new agreement (FAQ: 2 to 3 is typical); apply at least 30 days before the start
Ascension Sacred Heart (Pensacola)	Up to 8 weeks for a new agreement (stated for medical students)
Baptist Health South Florida	Signed Master Agreement and Program Letter of Agreement first; Complio profile at least 10 business days before the start

NSU's handbook says the college holds affiliation agreements with many healthcare institutions, but neither the list nor the process for a new one is public. Some systems post school lists (Halifax's dated May 19, 2026, Baptist Health Care Pensacola's October 2024, Baptist Health South Florida's and Mayo's undated). Your clinical coordinator can say where NSU stands.

Systems that take requests only from the school

Cleveland Clinic Florida (Weston, Martin, Tradition, Indian River): only an academic representative can arrange a placement, after a fully executed agreement; APRN steps sit with its unpublished Office of Advanced Practice process.
Mayo Clinic in Florida: student requests are refused; the school's coordinator submits each semester for affiliated schools by fixed deadlines, and a cover letter may name a preceptor the student knows. The Jacksonville page has the dates.
HCA Florida Lake Monroe (Sanford) and Oviedo: students should not contact the hospital, and the school requests at least a month ahead. These archived rules cover only those two hospitals.
Baptist Health Jacksonville's PMHNP program: students apply once their program clears them but may not contact preceptors directly.

With these systems, your first conversation is with your clinical coordinator rather than the hospital. Whether NSU files requests with a particular system is for NSU to say.

Systems that expect you to arrive with a preceptor

Baptist Health South Florida wants a confirmed preceptor before any request and lets you look up providers yourself.
Nicklaus Children's says NP students must secure a preceptor before submitting requirements; the school then makes the request (nursing rotations through CCPS, practicum rotations through the hospital's student-placement specialist).
NCH in Naples makes the learner or home institution responsible for securing an NCH preceptor.
Tenet's Palm Beach Health Network asks for an attestation naming the preceptor and a signed preceptor agreement with dates and units.
AdventHealth Central Florida lets you search for a preceptor by specialty; the preceptor signs your application.
BayCare sends APRN students to a physician sponsor, who may delegate day-to-day precepting to an APRN or PA; its FAQ makes finding the sponsor the student's job, though its general page says the school helps.
Sarasota Memorial's First Physicians Group tells APRN students to contact a provider's office directly.

Here NSU's first route, naming your own preceptor, matches what the hospital already expects. The bring your own preceptor page covers what NSU checks.

Systems that publish nothing for NP students

Many of Florida's largest systems post no NP student process: HCA Florida's hospitals (apart from the archived Lake Monroe and Oviedo rules), Memorial, Jackson Health System, Mount Sinai, UHealth, Orlando Health, Lee Health, UF Health Jacksonville, Ascension St. Vincent's and several AdventHealth hospitals. UF Health Shands and Tallahassee Memorial cover only general student coordination and onboarding.

Silence is not a refusal. The answer has to come from inside: a clinician willing to precept who can learn how their education office treats an outside school, which you then take to your clinical coordinator.

Platforms you may be asked to use

Complio (American DataBank): the only platform Baptist Health South Florida accepts; Broward Health's older requirements used it too.
myClinicalExchange: BayCare, coordinated by the school; students wait to be told before creating an account.
CastleBranch: Halifax Health, through a school account or a student-paid portal. NSU keeps its own record in DISA CastleBranch, but a hospital's requirements are its own; see NSU and CastleBranch.
CCPS (Centralized Clinical Placement System): the Nursing Consortium of Florida's system, used by more than 140 Florida sites for nursing and allied health students; Baptist Health South Florida routes only ASN and BSN requests through it, and its APRN role is unclear.
Online forms: Lakeland Regional Health's APP student application (fixed once submitted), Baptist Health Care Pensacola's student application and Moffitt's education application.

NSU's handbook warns that records may have to go into several portals, the program's and each facility's.

If you work for the health system

Employment changes the answer, and systems differ. Baptist Health South Florida does not let employees rotate at the facility where they work, and BayCare's rules exclude precepting arrangements inside an employee's own unit. Halifax Health gives its employees priority, Tampa General ranks its team members right after USF students, and some of Mayo's affiliated schools are limited to Mayo employees. NSU publishes no rule on clinicals at your own workplace; the working at your employer page covers what to ask.

What this means when you name a preceptor to NSU

Identify the system's typeSchool-request only, preceptor-first, or silent: it decides who moves first.
Check its published school listNote its date, then ask your clinical coordinator whether an agreement with NSU is in place or needed. Assume nothing either way.
Match the lead time to your noticeTell your clinical coordinator two semesters before the course, which leaves room for agreements that take weeks or months.
Line up the site's own itemsLevel 2 background checks, drug screens, BLS and immunizations, alongside your NSU record.

NSU students choose us because we know these routes system by system. We find a preceptor whose system's process fits your timeline, prepare the site's items with your NSU compliance record, and have complete preceptor and site details ready before the notice date. Your clinical coordinator makes the final call; we make sure everything it rests on is there and accurate.

Questions NSU students ask

How do I find out whether a Florida hospital has an agreement with NSU?

Ask your clinical coordinator, since NSU does not publish its affiliated sites. A system's own school list, where one exists, is a useful starting point, but check its date. The coordinator can tell you whether an agreement is already in place or would need to be set up before your clinical course.

Can I contact a Florida hospital directly about an NP rotation?

Only where the system allows it. Cleveland Clinic Florida, Mayo Clinic in Florida and HCA's Lake Monroe and Oviedo hospitals want requests from the school, while Baptist Health South Florida, AdventHealth Central Florida and Sarasota Memorial's physician group expect students to find a preceptor themselves. Read the system's own page before you call anyone.

Will a Florida hospital require a Level 2 background check?

Some do. Halifax Health requires Level 1 and Level 2 checks plus a urine drug screen. Baptist Health South Florida asks for a Level 1 check and a 10-panel drug screen. NSU requests Level 2 fingerprinting when a facility requires it; see the background checks page.

Does an affiliation agreement mean the hospital will find my preceptor?

Usually not. Most systems treat the agreement as a precondition, not a placement: Baptist Health South Florida, Nicklaus, NCH and Tenet Palm Beach still expect a named preceptor, and Mayo notes that a request does not secure a spot. Someone still has to find your preceptor.

GuideNSU clinicals across FloridaNSU clinical placement region by region: Broward, Miami-Dade, Palm Beach, Tampa Bay, Orlando, Southwest Florida and North Florida, plus Florida's preceptor rules.Florida ruleFlorida preceptor ruleWho may precept NP students at Florida sites under 64B9-4.001(13): a Florida-licensed APRN, MD, DO or dentist, the student RN rule, and what it means at NSU.IncentiveFlorida TEACH programFlorida's TEACH program (s. 409.91256) reimburses FQHCs and community clinics for training primary-care APRN students. What it covers and why NSU students ask.Own preceptorBringing your own preceptorNaming your own preceptor at NSU: who fits each FNP, AGACNP and PMHNP clinical, Florida's license rule, what preceptors ask, and what the coordinator checks.SitesClinical site requirementsWhat "appropriate clinical experience" means for each NSU clinical course, ACON's affiliation agreements, and what sites require of students before day one.ComplianceDISA CastleBranchHow NSU nursing students use DISA CastleBranch: immunization and physical exam records, the background check, weekly reminders and what a missing item costs.

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

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