NSU nurse practitioner clinicals in Pinellas, Pasco and Hernando

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

From St. Petersburg north through Clearwater and New Port Richey to Spring Hill, the largest system is BayCare, and BayCare sends APRN students down a physician-sponsor route that begins with a sponsor the student finds. Around it sit the Bay Pines VA, HCA hospitals with nothing published for NP students, and Evara Health, one of the busiest training sites in Florida's TEACH program.

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103trainees at Evara Health (Community Health Centers of Pinellas) in TEACH's first report, third statewide by reimbursement

4 to 6 monthsthe notice BayCare asks for DNP and MSN projects, as distinct from clinical rotations

Numbered steps. BayCare's physician-sponsor route, step by step: 1 Confirm the affiliation; 2 Find an MD or DO sponsor; 3 Finish training and the signed application; 4 Tell NSU in time. — BayCare's physician-sponsor route, step by step: 1 Confirm the affiliation; 2 Find an MD or DO sponsor; 3 Finish training and the signed application; 4 Tell NSU in time.

Three counties along the Gulf

Pinellas is the peninsula: St. Petersburg, Clearwater (the county seat), Largo, Pinellas Park and Dunedin. Pasco, to the north, runs from New Port Richey on the coast inland to Zephyrhills and Dade City, its seat, and most Pasco residents live outside any city. Hernando, beyond Pasco, adds Spring Hill. All three counties sit in the Tampa–St. Petersburg–Clearwater metro, and Florida Center for Nursing workforce reports count them as West Central.

The closest NSU nursing campus is the one NSU calls Tampa Bay, an APRN campus; the Tampa guide covers what NSU runs there. For clinicals, what counts is your residential ZIP code, not the campus.

BayCare's physician-sponsor route, step by step

BayCare applies one student process across all its sites, and for APRN, CRNA and midwifery students it switches to a separate track, the Physician Sponsored Student process. In order:

Confirm the affiliationBayCare takes students only from affiliated schools, and the APRN track asks you to verify that your school and program qualify. NSU's affiliations are not posted anywhere public; your clinical coordinator can check.
Find an MD or DO sponsorBayCare's FAQ puts this on the student, working with the academic coordinator or contacting BayCare offices directly. The sponsor may delegate day-to-day precepting to an APRN or PA.
Finish training and the signed applicationThe sponsor signs the application, and every rotation needs its own.
Tell NSU in timeSend the sponsor's name and the site to NSU's clinical coordinator no later than two semesters ahead of the course.

Two cautions. BayCare's general student page, where requests run through myClinicalExchange under the school's coordination, says the school helps find a preceptor, while the APRN FAQ says the student finds the sponsor; ask your coordinator which applies to you. And DNP students planning project work at BayCare, rather than a rotation, face a four-to-six-month notice window.

Hospitals, VA clinics and community health centers

HCA Florida St. Petersburg, Largo and Northside publish nothing for NP students. Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital in St. Petersburg is the area's children's hospital and a natural question for NSG 5589 pediatric hours; its NP student process is not covered in the sources behind this guide, so start with your coordinator.

Bay Pines VA Medical Center heads its own VA system, which also runs the St. Petersburg VA Clinic and the North Pinellas clinic in Clearwater; the New Port Richey and Zephyrhills clinics belong to VA Tampa. Bay Pines' training page mentions VA-STEP, a program for BSN students; an NP student trains at a VA site only if the school holds a VA affiliation.

Primary-care FNP hours (NSG 5549, NSG 5559) fit the region's federally qualified health centers: Evara Health (Community Health Centers of Pinellas), Metropolitan Charities, the County of Pinellas, Premier Community HealthCare Group in Dade City, and Citrus County Rural Health, a look-alike with Pasco sites. Evara ranked third by reimbursement in the first TEACH report, with 103 trainees. Pinellas Park and Tarpon Springs are designated primary-care shortage areas, and Florida lists Dade City as a rural city. PMHNP students, who need psychiatric settings for NSG 5719 onward, look to outpatient psychiatry and hospital behavioral health services.

Where a coordinator placement could land from here

Reach NSU's deadline without a preceptor and the clinical coordinator chooses your site from a 150-mile circle drawn around your home, a choice that cannot be renegotiated. From a Pinellas address a large share of that circle lies over the Gulf of Mexico, so the land it covers stretches east and south: Tampa, Lakeland, Sarasota, Orlando and Fort Myers all sit inside it. From Spring Hill the reach tilts north instead, past Ocala to Gainesville.

A daily crossing of Tampa Bay to a Hillsborough site, or a drive to Orlando, is a real cost when you also work shifts. Naming your own preceptor two semesters ahead keeps the clinical on this side of the water, and the side-by-side comparison weighs both routes.

Florida's rules, and a BayCare wrinkle

Florida's rule governs every site from Tarpon Springs to Spring Hill: the preceptor must be licensed in Florida as an APRN, a physician or a dentist, and the student must hold an RN license issued under chapter 464, as the Florida preceptor rule explains. Physician assistants are not on that list, while BayCare lets a sponsor delegate daily precepting to a PA, so if a sponsor proposes a PA, ask your clinical coordinator how NSU will treat it. Protocol NPs and autonomous primary-care APRNs both qualify.

Why Pinellas and Pasco students choose us

BayCare's route rewards the student who shows up with a sponsor already agreed, and securing that agreement is our work. We find the physician sponsor or APRN preceptor near your stretch of the Gulf coast, check every Florida license, and assemble the course and site details your clinical coordinator reviews, all ahead of NSU's two-semester notice. From Spring Hill to St. Petersburg, you get a clinical you can reach after a shift. Share your ZIP code on the contact page.

Questions NSU students ask

Does BayCare take NSU nurse practitioner students?

BayCare accepts students only from affiliated schools, and NSU's own agreement list is not public, so start by asking your clinical coordinator. Where the affiliation exists, APRN students go through BayCare's Physician Sponsored Student process: find an MD or DO sponsor, complete the training, and submit a sponsor-signed application for each rotation.

Can a PA precept me at a BayCare site?

BayCare allows the physician sponsor to hand day-to-day precepting to an APRN or PA. Florida's rule 64B9-4.001(13), though, names APRNs, MDs, DOs and dentists as qualified preceptors, and NSU's own preceptor rules sit in the unpublished graduate clinical guide. Before you accept a PA arrangement, ask your clinical coordinator how NSU will record your preceptor.

I live in Spring Hill. Could NSU place me in Gainesville?

It could. NSU's coordinator may use any site inside a 150-mile radius of home, and Gainesville is roughly 80 miles from Spring Hill in a straight line, with Ocala and Orlando closer still. Naming your own Hernando or Pasco preceptor two semesters before the course is how you keep the clinical near home.

Is Bay Pines VA an option for NSU clinical hours?

Its public training page describes VA-STEP, which serves BSN students, and says nothing about NP students. NP trainees come to a VA only under an affiliation the school signs with VA, and VA decides how many it takes. Your clinical coordinator can tell you whether NSU has that arrangement with Bay Pines.

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.Tampa BayTampa and HillsboroughTampa and Hillsborough for NSU NP students: Tampa General's APP student order, BayCare's physician-sponsor route, Moffitt, the Haley VA and the 150-mile reach.SarasotaSarasota and BradentonNSU NP clinicals in Sarasota and Manatee: First Physicians Group's call-the-office rule, MCR Health, CenterPlace Health, the VA clinics and the 150-mile reach.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.CompareOwn preceptor vs NSU placementNaming your own preceptor or taking a coordinator placement within 150 miles: an honest side-by-side of NSU's two routes, who each suits and how to choose.150 milesThe 150-mile placement ruleWhat happens when an NSU APRN student names no preceptor: a coordinator placement within 150 miles of your home ZIP code that NSU calls "not negotiable."

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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