Contact our placement desk
Use the form below to tell us about your University of Southern Indiana program and the clinical course you need a preceptor for. The more specific the message, the sooner your placement advisor can get to work: your track, the course number and term, where you live, and the states where you hold an RN license. Here is what to include and what happens after you press send.
Message the placement desk
Your USI track, course, term and city are the best place to start.
What to put in your message
A strong first message answers the questions your placement advisor would otherwise have to ask. Include as many of these as you can:
- Your USI program and track, for example MSN FNP, the Post-Master's PMHNP Certificate or BSN-to-DNP AGACNP
- The course you need a preceptor for, by its 2026-27 number (
NRSG 643,NRSG 633,NRSG 653and so on), and the term - Your home city or ZIP code, and how far you are prepared to drive
- Each state where you hold an unencumbered RN license, and whether yours is a multistate compact license
- Your course start date, and whether you have already told USI about a missing placement
- Practices you have already approached, so nobody is called twice
- Whether your employer has any preceptor option for you
Planning ahead? List all three specialty courses in one message. Mapping Fall, Spring and Summer together is the surest way to avoid three separate last-minute searches.
What happens after you send it
- Your advisor reviews itThe message reaches the placement desk, where your placement advisor reads your track, course and deadline against USI's rules.
- Missing details get confirmedYour advisor replies by email to fill any gaps, such as license states or the exact course start date.
- The search beginsWe approach practices near you that suit your course, checking each preceptor against USI's license, certification and experience requirements.
- You meet the preceptorOnce a preceptor agrees, you receive their details and the site's, typed and organized for the Preceptor Packet and the agreement request.
- You submit to USIYou email the packet to usi1nursing@usi.edu from your USI account, and USI reviews it and sends the approval email.
- We stay on callIf anything shifts during the semester, your advisor is still there, and the plan for your next course is already moving.
Details that change the search
Some facts change the kind of search your advisor runs, so mention them early:
- PMHNP students may be precepted only by a PMHNP or a licensed psychiatrist, so the search goes straight to psychiatric practices
- AGACNP courses need acute care settings, and
NRSG 637prefers critical care or hospitalist experience - FNP students need family primary care in
NRSG 643, with specialty sites opening up in the later courses - FNP and PMHNP students who want some telehealth hours should say so; USI caps them and requires the preceptor in the same room
- Alaska residents follow a separate USI policy under which the program selects preceptors (the Alaska rule)
- A planned move matters, since USI's state rules follow where you live as well as where the site is
Unsure which rules apply to your course? Say so in the message. Sorting that out is part of the work, and the clinical hours page is a good place to check what each course asks.
Preceptors, practice managers and other programs
Not every message comes from an NP student. If you are a clinician considering a USI student, set the program list to "I'm a preceptor (not a student)" instead of a course, and tell us your specialty, your state and the kind of student you could take. Precepting a USI student explains what USI asks of preceptors.
Practice managers are welcome to write as well, especially about the site details the Preceptor Packet requests or about who signs affiliation agreements for the practice. The same form works for DNP students looking for a project practice partner, NEL and HSL students with a practicum ahead, and RN-to-BSN students with practice experiences in NURS 457, NURS 487 or NURS 492. Name the course and describe what it needs from a site, and your advisor will take it from there.
Keeping USI in the loop
Working with us sits alongside everything USI asks of you. Keep using your USI email for university messages and check it daily, as the handbook requires. If you still have no preceptor or no agreement contact 6 weeks before your course, the handbook asks you to tell course faculty or the Nursing Clinical Coordinator at usi1nursing@usi.edu, whether or not a search is under way (USI's deadlines).
USI approves every preceptor and site, signs every Clinical Education Agreement and sends the approval email, and your packet always goes to USI from your own account. What we add is a search built around USI's process and paperwork details that arrive complete. How it works shows each step.
Send only what the search needs to begin: program, course, term, city and license states. Credentials and site details come later, on USI's forms. Our privacy page explains how we handle what you send.
Questions USI students ask
How will I hear back after I send a message?
By email, from your placement advisor, at the address you enter on the form. Put your course start date in the message, because the desk works the closest deadlines first. If the start is already inside USI's 6-week window for the Preceptor Packet, say so plainly so your advisor knows to move quickly.
Can I get in touch before my first clinical course?
Yes, and earlier is better. USI's first specialty clinical courses, NRSG 643, NRSG 633 and NRSG 653, run in the Fall after NRSG 623 in the Summer, and each later course needs its own approved placement. Starting the conversation months ahead leaves room to plan all three courses and keep a second option in reserve.
I already have a preceptor for one course. Can you help with the others?
Yes. Tell us which course is covered and which are not. Remember that USI's current Preceptor Agreement covers only the course and term listed on it, so even a preceptor who stays with you will need new paperwork for the next course. We can plan the remaining courses around the placement you already have.
Should I still email usi1nursing@usi.edu if I am working with you?
Yes. USI's process runs through that mailbox: your Preceptor Packet and agreement request go there from your USI email, and the handbook asks you to tell the Nursing Clinical Coordinator if you have no placement 6 weeks out. Keep USI informed at every stage, including when a preceptor is confirmed.
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.
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.