Who can precept a University of Southern Indiana graduate nursing student

The five conditions in USI's handbook

USI's Graduate Nursing Handbook holds every preceptor in the graduate APRN tracks to one standard, whatever the setting. The list below comes from the University Clinical Requirements and Clinical Evaluation page (modified August 2026) and the clinical FAQ. A clinician who misses any single item cannot be approved, however generous the offer.

Every preceptor must

• Keep an unencumbered license, issued by the U.S. state or territory of their practice, from approval through your last clinical day.
• Be certified in their specialty area; for NPs and PAs, USI requires the board certification to line up with your track.
• Bring a year or more of experience working as an advanced provider in that same specialty.
• Sign an agreement with USI that is approved before you start: the Preceptor Agreement in Part Five of the Preceptor Packet.
• Have no family or romantic relationship with you.

Beyond the five, USI's roles page expects one-to-one teaching and a preceptor who is in the building, in person, whenever you are with patients. Any procedure you perform needs direct supervision from a privileged clinical preceptor.

Board certification that matches your track

Certification is where a willing clinician can turn out to be the wrong fit. USI requires NP and PA preceptors to hold board certification in the specialty that corresponds to your track, so a family nurse practitioner suits the FNP courses but not the psychiatric ones. Physicians fall under the general rule that every preceptor be certified in their specialty area.

The Course Requirements page then spells out, track by track, which professions may teach you:

The BSN-to-DNP twins of these courses (NRSG 843 and the other 800-level numbers) share the same lists. The reasoning behind the PA and physician rows, and the PMHNP exception, is on PA and physician preceptors.

The signed agreement and what it covers

The agreement USI means is the Preceptor Agreement on page two of Form G, signed by the preceptor. With that signature the preceptor also confirms reading the Preceptor Orientation Packet, a document USI sends only on request through usi1nursing@usi.edu, which you pass on with the packet. The practice signs a separate document, the Clinical Education Agreement, through the person named on the request form, and students are not permitted to sign it.

Today's Form G limits the Preceptor Agreement to whatever course, term and year appear in Part One. Its 2019 edition lasted one year and could be renewed for a second, so older advice that one signature covers the whole program no longer applies. If the same preceptor will teach you again later, ask the Nursing Clinical Coordinator whether to list both courses now or file again next term.

Every clinician who teaches you needs a signature of their own. A second NP or physician in your preceptor's office can take you only after an additional Preceptor Agreement for them is approved, as the additional preceptors page explains.

Why USI students choose us to find a qualifying preceptor

Every preceptor we bring you has been checked against this page first. Before a name reaches you, the placement desk confirms license status in the preceptor's state, board certification and certifying board, years in advanced practice and the fit with your exact NRSG course, so a PMHNP student hears only from PMHNPs and psychiatrists and an AGACNP student only from acute care teams.

Then we gather what Parts Two, Three and Four of the packet ask for, plus the site's authorized agreement signer, so your paperwork reaches USI typed, complete and early. Approval and the agreement itself stay with USI; what we control is that everything it receives already fits its rules. Tell us your track and home city in the form below, or read how it works.