preceptors/clinicals

medic0681 · Jul 26, 2013

Consider your community health dept

anh06005, MSN, APRN, NP · Aug 6, 2013

With my program we are responsible for setting up our clinicals and since I am going for FNP my clinical settings must be community based. This means I am calling the doctors offices, asking if they accept students (be prepared for rejection) and going from there. If they are willing to precept you will often times need to talk to someone else on the office staff to set something up. It should be up to the individual DOCTORS whether they are willing to take on a student....not just the hospital in general (unless the hospital has policies AGAINST students I suppose....)

NJprisonrn · Aug 9, 2013

I emailed every school that I was considering to ask if they set up clinicals or at least help you do so. I ended up with 2 schools on the list and only applied to those. Both were hybrid programs, so I do go to class maybe once a week. If that is an option for you, it may be the way to go. It's so much easier having someone assist me with the process. SO far I've found 1 clinical site on my own, but the rest were set up for me. They were great experiences, although I had to drive out of my way to get there. Totally worth it.

cayenne06, MSN, CNM · Aug 11, 2013

I agree with NJprisonRN- finding a school that had clinical sites already in place was top on my list. I have heard so many horror stories from NP students trying to find a clinical placement with adequate hours and patient volume- I did not want to have to navigate that nightmare. What MSN specialty are you looking for?

The drawback for me is that the school I chose is 100% brick and mortar. I will be in school M-F from 9-4:30. I have no idea how I am going to make enough money to survive while I am doing this. I guess maybe the hassle of finding your own preceptor could be outweighed by the crushing stress of trying to make a living while being in school 40+ hours a week.