Your Sacred Heart preceptor, found and approval-ready before week 10.
Sacred Heart says it plainly: “you'll secure a clinical placement.” That is exactly what we do for Sacred Heart University nursing students. We find preceptors close to home who fit your NU course and prepare what your advisor, the NP clinical coordinator and the Contract Request Form ask for, early enough for the affiliation agreement.
Start your placement plan
Tell us your Sacred Heart program, your city and your next clinical course. Your placement advisor replies with preceptor and site options that fit.
What Sacred Heart gives you, and what it leaves to you
Sacred Heart gives you the courses, an academic advisor and an NP clinical coordinator who approve your preceptor, a contract team that sets up the affiliation agreement, and the Cleared for Clinical email that opens the door on day one. Finding the site and preceptor is yours: the online programs ask students to identify them.
That is the work we take on. We line up preceptors who fit each course, from primary care for NU 561 to psychiatric care for NU 571, and we gather the CV, license, board certification and site contract contact your Contract Request Form needs. You start each course with your site settled.
Sacred Heart approves every preceptor and site and signs the contract. We make sure what reaches Sacred Heart is complete and fits the rules the first time.
From “I need a preceptor” to Cleared for Clinical
The same order Sacred Heart's own process runs in.
Program, next NU course, city and the week-10 or published deadline in front of you.
Preceptors close to home who fit the course, in a state where your program meets requirements.
CV, license, board certification and the site contact ready for your advisor and the CRF.
Cleared, logging from week one, with a replacement lined up if a preceptor steps away.
Pick your Sacred Heart program
Your clinical courses and hours, who can precept you, where, and when to start looking. From Sacred Heart's own catalog and program pages.
- Who precepts
- An MD, DO, PA or APRN licensed where they practice, board certified, with a year of primary care experience
- Where
- Primary care of adults, women and children close to home, in any approved state except New York
- Start looking
- By the end of week 10 of NU 552, then week 10 of each clinical course for the next one
- Who precepts
- A PMHNP or a psychiatry board-certified physician, with a year of psychiatric experience
- Where
- Psychiatric care across the lifespan, including at least 100 hours with patients under 18 in NU 572
- Start looking
- By the deadline the Clinical Placement Team publishes for each course
- Who precepts
- The same approved preceptors as the matching MSN track
- Where
- FNP primary care or PMHNP psychiatric settings close to home
- Start looking
- Compliance by week 10 of NU 550 (FNP) or NU 509 (PMHNP), before the first clinical course
- Who precepts
- You arrange the NU 552 observation; later courses run through the FNP/DNP Clinical Placement Coordinator
- Where
- Connecticut, New Jersey or neighboring states, never New York
- Start looking
- Before each course starts; hours stay inside the semester dates
- Who precepts
- A practice mentor who is an expert in your project area, not necessarily DNP-prepared
- Where
- An organization where your DNP project can run, often in your own community
- Start looking
- Start during NU 821; the CRF is due before the end of NU 823 and new contracts take 6-8 months
- Who precepts
- A preceptor your advisor approves from their CV and RN license
- Where
- In person on site, in 8-week clinical courses
- Start looking
- By the Clinical Placement Team's published deadline; compliance two weeks before the course
- Who precepts
- A nurse educator or a nurse leader your advisor approves
- Where
- Teaching settings for Nursing Education; leadership roles in your community for NMEL
- Start looking
- By the published deadline; a new site's agreement can take up to nine months
- Who precepts
- A preceptor you identify and your advisor approves
- Where
- Your employer's institution is allowed, just not your own unit
- Start looking
- Nine months before the first clinical practice course
The Sacred Heart pieces you will work with
Named the way the Davis & Henley College of Nursing names them, from the student guides and catalog.
Your program, your clinical hours
Every Sacred Heart nursing program with clinical hours, and who you need for it.
The FNP clinical sequence
What each course asks of a preceptor and a site.
When a clinical course is at risk
Fast help for the weeks that matter most.
Before you start
Does Sacred Heart find preceptors for online NP students?
Sacred Heart's online programs ask students to identify their own clinical site and preceptor; the academic advisor and NP clinical coordinator then approve, and the contract team sets up the affiliation agreement. Finding the right preceptor is the part we take on for you. See finding your own preceptor.
What exactly do you do?
We find preceptors and sites that fit your Sacred Heart course close to home, gather the preceptor and site details your advisor and Contract Request Form need, plan around the affiliation agreement and your week-10 deadline, and line up a replacement if a preceptor steps away. How it works walks through each step.
Who approves the preceptor you find?
Sacred Heart approves every preceptor and site: your academic advisor first, then the MSN Online NP Programs Clinical Coordinator. We make sure what reaches them is complete the first time. The approval guide explains what they review.
I live in New York. Can you help?
Yes. Sacred Heart's NP programs cannot place clinical hours in New York, so we search in a neighboring state where you hold an RN license. The New York guide explains the rule.
How early should I start?
Months early. A new site's affiliation agreement can take up to nine months, and the FNP's next placement is due in week 10 of the course before it. The deadline guide works back from each course.
Sacred Heart asks you to secure your clinical placement. We make that the easy part.
Tell us your Sacred Heart program, your city and your next clinical course. We find preceptors who fit the course and prepare what your advisor, the NP clinical coordinator and the Contract Request Form ask for, early enough for the affiliation agreement.
- Preceptors matched to the course: primary care of adults, women and children for FNP, psychiatric care across the lifespan for PMHNP
- Preceptor CV, license, board certification and the site's contract contact ready before your week-10 deadline
- Close to home in any state where Sacred Heart's program meets licensure requirements, with New York's rule planned around
Start your placement plan
Program, city and clinical start is all we need to begin.