Finding an NSU preceptor in Sarasota and Bradenton
Sarasota and Manatee have one of the plainest published rules in Florida for NP students: Sarasota Memorial's physician group schedules no rotations and tells each APRN student to contact a provider's office directly. That puts the first move in your hands. NSU gives you until two semesters before each clinical course to make it, after which its clinical coordinator places you instead.
Find a Sarasota or Manatee preceptor
Tell us your NSU course and start term.
Sarasota, Manatee and the nearest NSU campuses
Sarasota County runs from Sarasota, its seat, south through Venice to North Port. Manatee County's seat is Bradenton, with Palmetto across the Manatee River. Together they form the North Port–Bradenton–Sarasota metro, which the Florida Center for Nursing groups with Tampa Bay and Polk as West Central.
NSU has no campus in either county. For APRN students the nearest is the Tampa Bay campus to the north. BSN students have a different anchor: the Fort Myers campus to the south runs the Entry and Accelerated BSN, and NSU's BSN rule keeps clinical placements inside 75 miles of the student's campus, a circle from Fort Myers that takes in North Port and Venice. The BSN clinicals page covers that program.
Sarasota Memorial's rule: you make the first call
Sarasota Memorial Health Care System's physician group, First Physicians Group, says it does not schedule clinical rotations. Each APRN or PA student contacts a provider's office directly. If the clinician agrees to precept, the practice manager supplies the group's requirements, and the group's Clinical Services team approves.
Two things are missing from that picture. Sarasota Memorial publishes no hospital-level process for NP students, since its 2024 hospital policy covers medical students only, and First Physicians Group's page says nothing about an affiliation agreement. NSU's agreement list is not public either, so your clinical coordinator confirms whether a First Physicians Group practice can serve as your NSU site. Two medical schools also train here: FSU College of Medicine's Sarasota campus, with Sarasota Memorial as a teaching site, and LECOM's Bradenton campus.
- Choose offices that fit your courseFamily or internal medicine for
NSG 5549andNSG 5559, a pediatric office forNSG 5589, women's health forNSG 5569. - Make a short, specific askGive the course, the semester dates and a weekly schedule: NSU wants clinical time spread across every week, beginning when the didactic course begins, not crammed into the first or last weeks.
- Meet the practice manager's listThe practice manager supplies First Physicians Group's requirements once the clinician agrees.
- Notify NSU two semesters aheadYour clinical coordinator then confirms the preceptor and site against NSU's rules.
Clinics, VA sites and acute care
HRSA lists two federally qualified health centers for Sarasota and Manatee: MCR Health and CenterPlace Health. Each county also has a Department of Health office (the Florida Department of Health in Sarasota County and in Manatee County). Neither county has a designated primary-care shortage area; HRSA lists one area proposed for withdrawal in each, and Florida counts Palmetto among its rural cities.
The Sarasota and Bradenton VA clinics belong to the Bay Pines VA system, which trains NP students only under a VA affiliation agreement arranged by the school.
AGACNP students find the thinnest published options here. NSG 5669, the 285-hour capstone, and the three courses before it all need hospital-based acute care, and Sarasota Memorial's hospital publishes no NP route, so it pays to ask your coordinator early and to weigh Tampa Bay hospitals, where Tampa General and BayCare publish their rules. PMHNP students look for psychiatric practices for NSG 5719 onward.
The 150-mile rule from a Sarasota ZIP code
Arrive at NSU's deadline with no preceptor and the clinical coordinator decides where you go, drawing on sites up to 150 miles from home, with no renegotiating afterward. Measured from downtown Sarasota, that circle covers all of Tampa Bay, Lakeland, Fort Myers and Naples, and reaches Orlando, about 110 miles off in a straight line. It stops short of Broward and Miami-Dade.
First Physicians Group's model tilts the choice toward finding your own preceptor: the group schedules no rotations itself, so a Sarasota practice becomes your site only when someone asks. The 150-mile rule page explains the coordinator route in full.
Florida's preceptor rule in Sarasota and Manatee
Sarasota and Manatee sites follow the state rule: a preceptor licensed by Florida, whether APRN, physician or dentist, and a student whose RN license was issued under chapter 464. The Florida preceptor rule has the text. In primary care, some Florida APRNs are registered for autonomous practice and others work under a physician protocol; both can precept you, and the protocol guide explains what the difference means for your course.
Why Sarasota and Bradenton students choose us
A region that leaves the first call to the student suits the way we work. We make the calls, find the Sarasota or Manatee clinician who says yes, gather what the practice manager asks for, and give your clinical coordinator a complete, course-matched proposal before the two-semester notice. You get a preceptor near home, named in time, with the paperwork done. Start on the contact page.
Questions NSU students ask
Does Sarasota Memorial place NP students?
Its physician group, First Physicians Group, says it does not schedule clinical rotations. An APRN student contacts a provider's office directly; if the clinician agrees, the practice manager supplies requirements and the group's Clinical Services team approves. A hospital-level NP process is not published. Any preceptor you name still has to pass your NSU clinical coordinator's check.
Could NSU place me in Fort Myers or Tampa if I live in Bradenton?
Yes. Both sit well inside 150 miles of a Bradenton ZIP code: Tampa is about 30 miles away in a straight line and Fort Myers about 75. A coordinator placement can fall anywhere in that circle and is final once made, so a Manatee preceptor named two semesters early is the way to keep the drive short.
Which NSU campus is closest to Sarasota?
For APRN students, the Tampa Bay campus to the north, one of the campuses NSU lists for its APRN tracks. The Fort Myers campus, to the south, runs the Entry and Accelerated BSN rather than APRN programs. An APRN placement is tied to where you live, not to either campus.
Which community health centers serve Sarasota and Manatee?
HRSA's health center list for the two counties includes MCR Health and CenterPlace Health, and each county has a Florida Department of Health office. These are the settings FNP students weigh for NSG 5549 and NSG 5559. Neither county has a designated primary-care shortage area, though Florida lists Palmetto as a rural city.
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.