Can't find a preceptor for your USI clinical course
Tell the University of Southern Indiana now, in writing. Write to the Nursing Clinical Coordinator through the usi1nursing@usi.edu mailbox, say whether your employer can offer a preceptor, attach every organization you have tried, and keep the updates coming. Do it at least 6 weeks before the course starts, the earlier of USI's two published deadlines, and keep searching while USI's faculty and staff work with you.
Get your placement plan
Tell us your USI program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with the preceptor and site options that fit your course.
Report it early, and use the earlier deadline
USI prints two deadlines for telling the program you have no placement. On the Clinical Experience page, the cutoff for flagging a missing preceptor or agreement contact is 6 weeks before the course or semester opens, the same lead time printed on the Preceptor Packet. The University Clinical Requirements page gives 4 weeks before the semester instead, and asks for surveys to be final a month out.
Work to 6 weeks. Nothing is lost by reporting early, and every week of delay shrinks the time anyone has to help. If you are reading this with less than a month to go, report today and use need a preceptor fast for the short-timeline plan. The clinical deadlines page places both dates on USI's calendar.
Reporting starts USI's help; it does not end your own search. Keep contacting sites while faculty and staff work with you.
USI's three requests
The University Clinical Requirements page speaks directly to students in this position. It acknowledges that some students "encounter difficulty obtaining a clinical placement", asks them to tell the Nursing Clinical Coordinator, and then lists three things USI asks of you:
- "Clarify that you have no opportunity to work with a preceptor at your place of employment."Ask your employer first, in writing if possible, and report the answer. If there is a partial option, such as an NP in another department, say so; see clinicals where you work.
- "Send to us a list of organizations you have contacted."USI uses the list so its own outreach does not repeat yours. Make it complete and specific; the next section shows what to record.
- "Continue to communicate with us."Send updates as leads develop, and if you secure a placement, tell USI right away so its staff can close your request.
Send everything from your USI email address, which the handbook requires for university communication, and keep copies of what you send.
What to put in your contact list
A line that says "called six clinics" helps nobody. Record each contact so the Nursing Clinical Coordinator can see exactly where your search stands:
- The organization's name, city and state, and the practice or department you approached.
- The kind of clinician you asked for (family NP, PMHNP, psychiatrist, acute care team) and the course it was for.
- The date and method of each contact: phone, email, letter, a visit, or a health system's online application.
- Who answered, by role, and what they said: declined, no capacity this term, waiting on a manager, or an application pending.
- Any deadline the organization gave you, such as a health system's application window for the semester.
Update the list weekly and attach it to every progress note. If the search runs long, it is also the clearest record you can bring to a conversation with faculty about your timeline.
Widen the search the smart way
Start with the track rules, because a lead in the wrong profession costs a week. FNP students need family primary care for NRSG 643; AGACNP students need acute care; PMHNP students need a PMHNP or a licensed psychiatrist and nobody else. Every preceptor also needs an unencumbered license, specialty certification and a year of advanced practice (preceptor requirements).
Then widen the map within reason. Your RN license must cover the state where you do clinical hours, and you must stay in a state USI enrolls. The handbook notes that a placement may require travel, so a practice an hour away can be a better answer than a waitlist at home.
Large health systems run their own student-placement processes, with application windows months ahead, and several give priority to their own employees or to local schools. Learn those rules before you call; the Evansville tri-state guide collects the processes local systems post.
When the start date is close
Two USI rules decide how much room you have. Clinical has to be under way by week 3 and then run every week, and no clinical practice may start until USI's approval email arrives. A preceptor who says yes in week 1 still needs a complete packet and, for a new site, a Clinical Education Agreement before the first hour counts.
If the search will not finish in time, talk to faculty about your options before the drop dates on the academic calendar pass. The delayed graduation page explains what a lost semester means in USI's Fall, Spring, Summer sequence.
USI's handbook also recognizes that some students use third-party clinical placement organizations, at their own expense. What that note says and how students use a service well is covered on USI's third-party placement note.
Why stuck USI students choose us
We pick up where USI's three requests leave off. Send us your contact list and we search beyond it for preceptors who fit your exact course and track, close to home in a state USI enrolls. The placement desk confirms each preceptor's license, certification and years of practice, then gathers every field the Preceptor Packet and the agreement request ask for, including the site's agreement signer.
Your packet reaches USI typed, complete and as early as the calendar allows, and we plan your following semesters at the same time so the same scramble does not return in spring or summer. USI approves every preceptor and site. Tell us your course and start date in the form below.
Questions USI students ask
Will USI find a preceptor for me?
USI's Graduate Nursing Handbook makes identifying preceptors the student's responsibility, and says faculty and staff will collaborate with you to secure a placement, which may involve travel. The 2026-27 catalog is gentler, describing students as encouraged to find preceptors with the university clinical liaison's assistance. Either way, keep searching while USI helps.
Who do I email at USI when I can't find a preceptor?
Write to usi1nursing@usi.edu, the program mailbox the Nursing Clinical Coordinator uses, and copy your course faculty. Send it from your USI email address, confirm whether your employer has a preceptor option, and attach the list of organizations you have contacted. Then keep sending updates as your search moves.
How early should I tell USI I have no preceptor?
At least 6 weeks before the course begins. That is what the Clinical Experience page and the Preceptor Packet say, while another handbook page says 4 weeks before the semester. Using the earlier date gives faculty and staff the most room to help and keeps you inside the packet deadline if a lead comes through.
Can I start clinical hours while my paperwork is being processed?
No. USI's instruction is not to begin any clinical practice until you receive the email confirming that your Preceptor Packet and Clinical Education Agreement have been accepted, and hours before that email do not count. Use the waiting time to plan your first weeks, since clinical must begin by week 3.
What if I live in Alaska?
Alaska is the one state where the choice is not yours: USI's graduate program picks each APRN student's preceptor there. You also start a preceptorship application with the state's Board of Nursing yourself. Contact the Nursing Clinical Coordinator early so both pieces move together.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-25
We check these pages against USI's own bulletin, program pages and Graduate Nursing Handbook. Your handbook, course faculty and the Nursing Clinical Coordinator have the final word.
- University of Southern Indiana Graduate Nursing Handbook: University Clinical Requirements and Clinical Evaluation
- University of Southern Indiana Graduate Nursing Handbook: Clinical Experience
- University of Southern Indiana Preceptor Packet (Form G, updated 07/2026)
- University of Southern Indiana 2026-2027 Graduate Bulletin: MSN Family Nurse Practitioner
USI makes the search your job. We make it the easy part.
Tell us your USI track, your city and your next clinical semester. We find preceptors who fit the NRSG course and fill the Preceptor Packet and Clinical Education Agreement request with typed, complete details, well before USI's 6-week window.
- Preceptors matched to the course: family primary care for FNP, acute care teams for AGACNP, PMHNPs and psychiatrists for PMHNP
- Preceptor license, certification, years of practice and the site's agreement signer ready for the packet
- Fall, Spring and Summer planned together, close to home in a state USI enrolls
Start your placement plan
Track, city and clinical start is all we need to begin.