NSU clinicals in Tampa and Hillsborough County

Q: Can I do my FNP intensives in Tampa instead of Palm Beach?

Two of the three. NSU schedules NSG 5542 and NSG 5550 as two-day sessions held at either campus, while NSG 5502 runs at Palm Beach only. NSU publishes no intensive dates and calls the schedule subject to change, so check your course in Canvas before you plan clinical days around it.

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

Hillsborough's hospitals publish some of Florida's most specific rules for NP students: Tampa General ranks the schools it takes, BayCare sends APRN students to find a physician sponsor, and Moffitt runs its own application. Name your preceptor two semesters ahead and you choose among those doors. Leave it open and NSU's clinical coordinator picks the site for you, as far as 150 miles from home.

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Up to 6 monthshow long Tampa General says a new Educational Affiliation Agreement can take

136trainees at Tampa Family Health Centers in the first TEACH report, the top facility by reimbursement

Hillsborough County for an NSU nursing student

Tampa is the county seat, and Plant City and Temple Terrace are Hillsborough's other cities, but most of the county's people live outside city limits, in communities such as Brandon, Riverview and Wimauma. Hillsborough anchors the Tampa–St. Petersburg–Clearwater metro with Pinellas, Pasco and Hernando, and Florida Center for Nursing workforce data files it under West Central.

NSU's Tampa Bay campus serves this side of the state, and ACON's overview lists it as a regional campus in Tampa. It is an APRN campus: NSU names it for FNP study, for the PMHNP track and for the FNP and PMHNP certificates, and two FNP intensives, NSG 5542 and NSG 5550, can meet at Tampa Bay instead of Palm Beach. PMHNP students meet a conflict here, because the PMHNP page puts its single intensive at Tampa Bay while the same page's table lists NSG 5502 at Palm Beach. The intensives guide tracks both.

How Tampa's hospitals take NP students

Each system publishes its own door. NSU's list of affiliated sites is not public, so treat every route below as a question for your clinical coordinator rather than a promise of access.

Tampa General Hospital (TGH). Its advanced practice provider (APP) student placement rules set an order: the University of South Florida, TGH's academic partner, first; then TGH team members and programs with a current Educational Affiliation Agreement (EAA); then new partners. A TGH clinical preceptor must be designated before a new EAA is started, and the agreement may take up to six months. TGH adds that placements move faster when the student or program coordinator has already secured an APP preceptor in the system.
BayCare, including St. Joseph's. BayCare takes students from affiliated schools only. APRN students go through its Physician Sponsored Student process: an MD or DO sponsor, who may hand daily precepting to an APRN or PA, signs an application for each rotation. BayCare's FAQ makes finding that sponsor the student's job, while its general student page says the school helps, so the two pages disagree.
Moffitt Cancer Center. NP students apply through Moffitt's education application, choosing "Nurse Practitioner Student", and every trainee staying longer than a day must apply. The application's search link now redirects to Moffitt's careers site, so whether that route is current is unclear, and Moffitt's pages give no affiliation rule or deadline.
AdventHealth Tampa and HCA Florida Brandon publish no process for NP students, and neither does the rest of HCA's West Florida division.

AGACNP students look to these hospitals for the acute-care hours in NSG 5629, NSG 5639 and NSG 5659. The statewide guide to Florida health systems sets Tampa's rules beside the rest of the state's.

Clinics, the VA and which course fits where

FNP primary care (NSG 5549, NSG 5559) points to Hillsborough's federally qualified health centers: Tampa Family Health Centers, Suncoast Community Health Centers in Brandon, Metropolitan Charities (METRO) and Ibis Healthcare, an FQHC look-alike. Tampa Family Health Centers topped every facility in the state for reimbursement in year one of Florida's TEACH program, with 136 trainees at 14 sites, and Suncoast and BayCare also made the top ten, so these are community sites already set up to host trainees. Wimauma is the county's one designated primary-care shortage area.

For NSG 5589 pediatrics, St. Joseph's Children's Hospital belongs to BayCare and follows its sponsor route. PMHNP students need psychiatric practice for NSG 5719, NSG 5729 and NSG 5739, which here means outpatient psychiatry groups and the behavioral health services inside the systems above.

VA Tampa Health Care runs James A. Haley Veterans' Hospital and clinics in Tampa, Riverview and Temple Terrace. The Tampa VA's training page offers no nursing detail, and any NP rotation there rests on an affiliation the school signs with VA.

What NSU's 150-mile placement means from Tampa

Students who reach the deadline without a preceptor are placed by NSU's clinical coordinator at a site up to 150 miles from their home ZIP code, and the handbook calls that choice not negotiable. Measured in a straight line from central Tampa, 150 miles runs past Orlando to Melbourne on the Atlantic side, north beyond Gainesville and south past Fort Myers. Palm Beach, Broward and Jacksonville fall outside it.

Tampa's hospitals give local students a second reason to name their own preceptor: TGH moves faster when a preceptor is already secured, and BayCare's APRN route begins with a sponsor you find. Count back two semesters from each clinical course's start to find your notice date; the deadline guide shows the math term by term.

Florida's rules at a Hillsborough site

Under rule 64B9-4.001(13), whoever precepts you in Hillsborough must be Florida-licensed (an APRN, a physician with an MD or DO, or a dentist), and your own RN license has to be one issued under chapter 464. The Florida preceptor rule walks through it. Protocol practice with a supervising physician is the norm for Florida NPs, and a primary-care APRN registered as autonomous is the exception; either can supervise your hours, as the protocol guide explains.

Why Tampa-area NSU students choose us

Tampa's systems favor students who come with a preceptor lined up, and lining one up is what we do for you. We find a preceptor near your part of Hillsborough, matched to the NSU course you are entering, and line up the license, site and course details your clinical coordinator reviews well before the two-semester notice comes due. If an arrangement changes mid-plan, your placement advisor starts on the next one. Begin with the contact form.

Questions NSU students ask

Does Tampa General take NSU nurse practitioner students?

That turns on agreements NSU keeps off its public pages, so only your clinical coordinator can say. What TGH publishes is its order: USF students first, then TGH team members and programs with a current Educational Affiliation Agreement, then new partners, whose agreement can take up to six months. TGH also says a preceptor already secured inside the system speeds things up.

Can I do my FNP intensives in Tampa instead of Palm Beach?

Two of the three. NSU schedules NSG 5542 and NSG 5550 as two-day sessions held at either campus, while NSG 5502 runs at Palm Beach only. NSU publishes no intensive dates and calls the schedule subject to change, so check your course in Canvas before you plan clinical days around it.

Who finds the physician sponsor for a BayCare rotation?

BayCare's FAQ for its Physician Sponsored Student process says the student does, working with the school's coordinator or contacting BayCare offices directly. Its general student page says the school helps find preceptors. The sponsor must be an MD or DO, may delegate daily precepting to an APRN or PA, and signs a separate application for every rotation.

Can I train at the James A. Haley VA as an NSU student?

VA Tampa can host an NP student only when VA and the student's school have signed an academic affiliation agreement, which the school arranges through the hospital's Designated Education Officer, and VA sets how many trainees it takes. Whether NSU has one with VA Tampa is not public, so ask your clinical coordinator before you contact anyone at Haley.

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.PinellasSt. Petersburg, Clearwater and PascoPinellas, Pasco and Hernando for NSU NP students: BayCare's physician-sponsor steps, Bay Pines VA, Evara Health and what a Gulf-side 150-mile radius covers.PolkLakeland, Polk and the HeartlandNSU NP clinicals in Polk, Highlands, Hardee and DeSoto: Lakeland Regional's one-shot APP student application, BayCare, rural clinics and the 150-mile reach.Health systemsFlorida health systemsFlorida hospitals and NP students: affiliation agreements and lead times, school-only requests, bring-your-own-preceptor systems, platforms and NSU's side.IntensivesOn-campus intensives by trackEvery NSU nursing intensive by track: FNP, AGACNP and PMHNP campus days, the PMHNP Tampa Bay vs Palm Beach conflict, DNP virtual days, and clinical planning.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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Program, ZIP area and start term is all we need to begin.