NSU clinicals in Tallahassee and the Big Bend
In Tallahassee you are a long way from any NSU nursing campus, so your clinical hours happen here or wherever NSU's clinical coordinator places you within 150 miles of home, a radius that reaches Panama City and well into south Georgia. Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare publishes student onboarding steps but nothing aimed at NP students, and three of the four counties in the metro area are rural, whole-county shortage areas.
Find a preceptor in the Tallahassee area
Tell us your NSU course and your Big Bend ZIP code.
Leon County and its neighbors
Tallahassee is Leon County's seat and its only city. The official metro area adds three rural neighbors: Gadsden (Quincy), Jefferson (Monticello) and Wakulla (Sopchoppy and St. Marks). The FCN counts all four in its North Central region, which also takes in outlying Big Bend counties such as Madison and Taylor.
Tallahassee is a medical-education town as well. It is home to the FSU College of Medicine's main campus, and Tallahassee Memorial hosts FSU residency programs. NSU has no campus here. Its nearest one, Jacksonville, offers no nursing, so the MSN APRN reaches you online.
Tallahassee Memorial, HCA Florida Capital and the hospital route
Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare (TMH) publishes a student onboarding page that applies to every student: an orientation presentation, handbooks and a post-test, with an Academic Liaison in Human Resources as the contact for schools. Nothing on it is specific to NP students. There is no affiliation rule, platform, deadline or word on who finds the preceptor.
HCA Florida Capital Hospital publishes nothing for students. For AGACNP courses such as NSG 5629 and NSG 5659, these two hospitals are the local acute-care settings, and the way in is a hospitalist or specialty NP or physician who agrees to precept, with your clinical coordinator confirming whether NSU needs an agreement for the site. The Florida health systems guide shows how other Florida systems handle this.
Community health centers, rural counties and the VA
Primary-care FNP courses (NSG 5549, NSG 5559, and pediatrics and women's health in NSG 5589 and NSG 5569) point toward community practice. Settings students in the Big Bend consider, none described as an NSU site:
- Health centers: Bond Community Health Center, Neighborhood Medical Center and North Florida Medical Centers.
- VA: the Sgt. Ernest I. "Boots" Thomas VA Clinic in Tallahassee, part of the North Florida/South Georgia system, which takes trainees through VA affiliation agreements with schools.
- County health departments: Leon's, plus the offices serving Gadsden, Jefferson and Wakulla.
Gadsden, Jefferson and Wakulla are rural counties and Rural Areas of Opportunity, and HRSA designates each one, in full, as a rural primary-care shortage area; Leon has one designated population shortage area. Florida's TEACH program reimburses qualifying FQHCs and rural health clinics for hours spent training primary-care APRN students. PMHNP students (NSG 5719 through NSG 5799) look to psychiatric practices and behavioral health programs.
150 miles from Tallahassee crosses two state lines
NSU sets out two routes. On the first, you locate a preceptor and site yourself and let your clinical coordinator know two semesters ahead of the course, for a check against NSU's standards. On the second, you name nobody and accept the coordinator's choice of site, which can be up to 150 miles from your home ZIP code and cannot be renegotiated. From Tallahassee, 150 miles runs west past Panama City, southeast toward Gainesville and north across the Georgia line to Thomasville, Valdosta and Albany, with southeast Alabama inside it too.
Whether NSU sends APRN students to out-of-state sites is not stated anywhere public. The clinicals outside Florida page explains what changes at a Georgia or Alabama site, starting with an RN license current in the practicum's jurisdiction. If you want your hours in Leon County, name a preceptor there early; the 150-mile placement rule page covers the alternative.
Florida law at a Leon County site
Leon County sites follow Florida's preceptor rule: Florida licensure for the preceptor (APRN, MD, DO or dentist) and a chapter 464 RN license for you, all set out on the Florida preceptor rule page. Whether a Tallahassee NP works under a supervising physician's protocol or holds Florida's autonomous primary-care registration, they can precept you; the protocol and autonomous APRN guide explains how that affects fit.
Why Tallahassee-area NSU students choose us
From Tallahassee out to Quincy, Monticello and the Wakulla coast, we look for preceptors who match your NSU course and can take you on the days your job allows. We check each site's onboarding steps early, prepare your preceptor's license and specialty details for your clinical coordinator, and have everything in hand before the two-semester notice. The sign-off is your clinical coordinator's to give; we prepare the file so nothing is missing when it arrives and every item matches what NSU asks for. The form below is the place to start.
Questions NSU students ask
Does Tallahassee Memorial take NSU nurse practitioner students?
TMH publishes general student onboarding (an orientation presentation, handbooks and a post-test) and names an Academic Liaison in Human Resources as the school contact. It publishes nothing specific to NP students or to any school. Find a TMH clinician willing to precept, then ask your clinical coordinator whether NSU needs an agreement for that site.
Could NSU place me in Georgia if I live in Tallahassee?
The 150-mile radius from Tallahassee reaches deep into south Georgia and southeast Alabama, but NSU has not said publicly whether it ever assigns APRN students to sites outside Florida. At a site in another state, Florida's preceptor rule no longer governs, and your RN license must be current where the practicum is. Ask your clinical coordinator, and name a local preceptor early if you want to stay in Florida.
Are there NP clinical settings in the rural counties around Tallahassee?
Yes: county health department offices, community health centers and rural practices. Gadsden, Jefferson and Wakulla are rural counties that HRSA designates as whole-county primary-care shortage areas, so a clinic there can suit FNP courses such as NSG 5549 or NSG 5559. Confirm any rural site with your clinical coordinator before you commit.
Is there an NSU campus near Tallahassee?
No. The closest NSU campus, in Jacksonville, has no nursing program, and MSN APRN coursework is online. Ask your program director whether the 2025-26 handbook's requirement to live within 225 miles of your campus applies to you, since the newer 2026-27 graduate catalog states no mileage rule; the 2026 MSN changes page sets out that conflict.
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.