Rivier University NP practicums in Arizona
Arizona residents can study in either of Rivier University's online nurse practitioner tracks: Rivier's State Guide shows green for the FNP, the PMHNP and each graduate program beside them. The catch is local: Arizona's nursing board expects a school from outside the state to hold its approval before that school's APRN students start any clinical rotation there, and that question comes before the preceptor hunt.
Get your placement plan
Tell us your Rivier program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with the preceptor and site options that fit your Rivier course.
What Rivier's State Guide says about Arizona
Here is Arizona's row, taken from the January 2025 edition of Rivier's guide (its colors match the February 2022 copy on the licensure page).
| Rivier program | Color | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| FNP (MSN and certificate) | Green | OK to accept |
| PMHNP (MSN and certificate) | Green | OK to accept |
| Nursing Education (MSN and certificate) | Green | OK to accept |
| Leadership in Health Systems Management | Green | OK to accept |
| DNP | Green | OK to accept |
| ASN/BSN pre-licensure | Yellow | Limiting criteria: call the program director |
| RN-BSN | Green | OK to accept |
Green is Rivier's shorthand for OK to accept. The guide speaks to acceptance, not to Arizona licensure, and it has no AG-ACNP column, so acute care applicants should put Arizona to the Program Director by name. The State Guide page walks through the colors.
The approval AZBN wants first
AZBN's remit covers APRN education along with pre-licensure schools. In an advisory opinion last revised in November 2020, the Board tells every out-of-state program to apply and be approved before a single student does clinical experiences in Arizona. APRN tracks get a shorter route, a streamlined review, when the board back home already approves that track and the school's national accreditation is in good order.
Once approved, a school keeps records for the Board: how its students, preceptors, faculty and director are licensed, where each student is placed, and whatever the annual survey or an audit asks. That work is Rivier's, not yours, yet it decides whether your Arizona plan holds; ask the Program Director before you call a clinic.
Two separate green lights are needed here: Rivier's, which Arizona already has, and AZBN's approval of the program.
Credentials Arizona asks of preceptors
Arizona sits in AANP's full practice category, so the pool reaches past physicians: an FNP or a PMH-certified NP with enough experience can teach you. The Board's opinion attaches licensing terms to whoever precepts. A nurse practitioner brings Arizona APRN certification plus an RN license with no encumbrance, whether Arizona's own or multistate. A physician brings an Arizona medical license with no encumbrance. Rivier layers its own criteria over those, detailed in the FNP preceptor requirements.
Clinics cluster in greater Phoenix and around Tucson; Prescott Valley and Lake Havasu City-Kingman are far smaller markets. Among big systems, students tend to read up on Mayo Clinic in Arizona, Banner Health, HonorHealth, TMC Health and Phoenix Children's, each with its own student terms.
Your license, the compact and Nashua
Rivier's license rule follows the site: your RN license has to be good in the state that hosts the practicum, and AZBN applies the same test to APRN students enrolled with schools elsewhere. Compact membership dates to January 2018 for Arizona, so a multistate license held by an Arizona resident reaches New Hampshire too. The APRN Compact is another matter. Arizona has not adopted it, and too few states have enacted it for it to operate, so your eventual NP credential will be Arizona's.
Campus time pulls you east a few times. FNP students spend nine days in Nashua spread over three intensives, the PMHNP cohort meets there on three weekends, and the AG-ACNP MSN needs ten days. For 2026-27, the FNP intensives fall between August 24 and September 4, then January 4 to 15; the campus intensives page lays them out.
Why Arizona students choose us
Every Arizona search we run starts with the AZBN question, so a preceptor is never asked to commit before the program side is settled. From there we look near you for FNPs, psychiatric NPs, psychiatrists and physicians who meet Rivier's criteria and carry the credentials the Board lists, then gather the preceptor's license, credentials and CV for the Preceptor Request Form, paced to the August 1 and December 1 cutoffs.
Graduate faculty at Rivier decide on each site, and our submissions are built so nothing is missing when they open them. The request form sits just below this section; how it works explains what happens after you send it.
Questions Rivier students ask
Can an Arizona resident enroll in Rivier's online FNP?
Rivier's own chart says yes: the January 2025 State Guide shows Arizona green for the FNP. Your practicum can sit close to home once your RN license is valid in Arizona and a qualified preceptor agrees. Since AZBN wants out-of-state APRN programs approved ahead of clinicals, ask the Program Director about that early.
What credentials must an Arizona preceptor hold?
AZBN's advisory opinion sets them out. An NP who precepts holds Arizona APRN certification and an RN license with no encumbrance, Arizona-issued or multistate; a physician holds an Arizona medical license in good order. Rivier adds its own standards, such as two years in practice for FNP and PMHNP preceptors, before graduate faculty sign off.
Does Arizona still fund its preceptor grant?
It looks unfunded. Arizona built the grant to reward unpaid preceptors of graduate learners, NP students among them, with rural primary care first in line. The budget committee's latest report shows nothing appropriated for fiscal 2026 or 2027, and money left from earlier years returns to the state once June 2026 ends, so ask preceptors on the strength of your preparation.
I'm relocating to Arizona during the program. Where do I start?
Write to the Dean at least 90 days before the move, as Rivier's Handbook requires, and research Arizona's barriers yourself, since that burden sits with the student. Then secure an RN license valid in Arizona and ask the Program Director about AZBN's approval rule.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-26
We check these pages against Rivier's own Nursing Student Handbook, program sheets, catalog, academic calendar and State Guide. Your program of study, your course faculty, your Program Director and the Clinical Practicum Coordinator have the final word.
Rivier asks you to identify a qualified preceptor. We make that the easy part.
Tell us your Rivier track, where you live and which semester your next practicum starts. We find preceptors who meet your track's rules, check early whether the site can contract with Rivier, and prepare everything the Preceptor Request Form asks for, well ahead of August 1 and December 1.
- Preceptors matched to the track: an MD, DO or FNP in outpatient family practice for
NURS 511, a psychiatrist or PMH-certified NP forNURS 521, a hospitalist or intensivist forNURS 638P - Preceptor license, credentials and CV ready for the Preceptor Request Form, with the site's contact details for the contract
- In your own area, in New Hampshire or any state Rivier's State Guide accepts
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Track, city and semester is all we need to begin.