Finding your own clinical site and preceptor

What APU says about who finds the site

The clearest line sits in APU's BSN-to-DNP FAQ: "Students are responsible for finding a clinical site and preceptor with the assistance of APU staff, faculty, and student placement coordinators." That FAQ also ties every site to an affiliation agreement.

The MSN wording differs but lands close by. The 2023-24 edition of the MSN Advanced Practice Program Guidelines describes full- and part-time staff who place students and weigh travel distance, alongside an expectation that each student locates a nearby site and preceptor and reports them to APU. The current guidelines sit behind your APU account, so read the older edition as a guide and the placement team as the authority.

When APU says a placement is not promised

APU's 2023-24 guidelines state that "clinical placements are not guaranteed," and the current request forms do not soften it: they caution that APU's existing preceptors may be unavailable. In planning terms, the line means three things.

• A term can open without a site. An unplaced student has to drop the course early, inside the opening third of the term, and the drop rule page covers fee waivers and next-term priority.
• An offer may sit far from home. APU puts fit for your course level and patient population ahead of mileage, and its guidelines regard 60 to 120 minutes behind the wheel each way as common.
• Your own lead carries weight. The Azusa and Inland Empire form asks how you found the placement, a sign that many placements start with the student.

APU's placement staff are working the same shortage from their side. The guidelines note that Saturday and evening slots are scarce, especially in family practice, and that adding clinical units takes a director's or chair's sign-off, since every APRN student draws on the same pool of preceptors.

Where APU students find preceptors near home

APU's own form names three routes: a personal connection, cold calling, or a work connection. Each route comes with a rule attached.

• Personal connection. A former classmate or colleague who now practices is a fair lead. A relative or close friend is not, because APU requires an impartial preceptor and treats a hidden relationship as an ethics violation.
• Work connection. Your employer can host you only if it signs a written split of duties, the clinical sits outside your own unit, and you neither do your regular job nor draw pay during clinical time.
• Cold calling. Practices near your home, contacted directly with a short, specific ask: your APU course, the hours the term needs and the date you would start.

Your search radius is your home region. Southern California residence is an admission condition for MSN APRN students, and APU's guidelines discourage moving mid-program and generally do not allow campus transfers. The Southern California region guides list health systems and clinic networks by area, covering Los Angeles County, the Inland Empire, Orange County and San Diego.

Match the site to the course before you ask

A willing preceptor in the wrong setting still gets turned down, so start from the course. GNRS 600, the NP clinical for FNP and AGPCNP students, is outpatient primary care, and FNP students need 135 pediatric hours inside their 540. APU's form counts a family practice toward pediatric courses only when six or more children come through its doors each day, and applies a matching six-a-day test to women's health; the FNP pediatric hours page works through it.

PMHNP courses call for a psychiatrist or a PMHNP, CNS courses for a CNS or, in some courses, a nurse leader. NP students also need an NP preceptor for one semester or more, and specialty clinics need faculty approval. Preceptor requirements has the full list by program.

A near-home search plan, step by step

1. Pin down the course and unitsKnow which course you are placing and how many units you will carry. At 45 hours per unit, 3 units of GNRS 600 works out to 135 hours in the term.
2. Map practices within a realistic driveStart near home and widen in rings. List practices by setting, not only by name: primary care, pediatrics, psychiatry, or the unit type your CNS course needs.
3. Make a short, specific askName APU, your course, the weekly hours you need and your start date. Practices decide faster when they can see the full commitment.
4. Collect site details in the first conversationAsk for the clinic's legal entity name, who signs its contracts (with credentials) and how to reach the office manager; the request form needs all three.
5. Tell the placement team earlyAPU's 2023-24 guidelines expect word of a new preceptor 6-8 weeks before the term, and a clinic new to APU needs longer for its agreement.
6. Keep a second option warmUntil you hold written clearance, a preceptor's yes is a lead rather than a placement.

Why APU students choose us for the search

Searching near home while working clinically and carrying graduate courses is where APU students lose the most weeks. We run that search for you: preceptors whose credentials fit your course, at sites a reasonable drive from where you live, approached with the details a busy practice needs before it says yes.

Then we package the result for APU. You receive the preceptor's credential and license details, the clinic's legal name, the person who legally signs for it and the office manager's contact, ready for the Graduate Preceptor Request form, along with an early answer on whether APU and the clinic already have an agreement on file. APU's placement staff still clear the site in writing, and the request in front of them arrives whole. Send your program and city through the form below to begin.

Questions APU students ask