How we find your Rivier preceptor, step by step
Rivier University's Nursing Student Handbook hands the preceptor search to you. We run it: we match clinicians in your own area to your track's rules, collect what the Preceptor Request Form asks for, and plan every step back from your August 1 or December 1 deadline, so the request Rivier reviews is complete.
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 you hand us, and what comes back
Four details start the search: your Rivier track, the practicum course you are entering (for example NURS 511 or NURS 638P), the city and state where you want to train, and the semester the course runs. If a clinician you know professionally might host you, mention that too. The Handbook encourages students to suggest people they already know, and a warm lead can shorten the work.
What comes back is a preceptor who fits your track's written rules, has said yes to hosting you, and keeps a clinic schedule that can carry your course hours, together with the documents and site details Rivier asks for. Submitting to Rivier stays in your hands. The difference is that the packet you submit is already whole.
The search in seven steps
- Intake and a timing checkYour placement advisor confirms track, course and semester, then counts back from that term's absolute deadline to leave room for the contract.
- State and license checkYour practicum state must show as acceptable for your program on Rivier's State Guide, and you need an RN license there, or a clear path to one in time.
- A shortlist built on Handbook rulesOnly clinicians who match your track make the list: the right credential, enough years in practice and an approved setting.
- Conversations with each candidateWe talk through semester dates, weekly clinic days and the 250 hours an NP practicum needs inside the term, so nobody agrees to a pace that cannot work.
- Documents collectedThe preceptor's license, credentials and CV arrive with the site details a contract needs, ready for the Preceptor Request Form.
- Your submission to RivierYou send the form and Rivier's review and contract begin. If reviewers ask about the preceptor or site, we help you answer fast.
- On call all semesterIf a preceptor steps back or an agency declines you, a replacement search starts right away.
Matched to the rules of your track
Each Rivier track spells out who may precept. Every candidate is filtered against those lines before you hear a name, so the preceptors you meet are ones Rivier's reviewers can say yes to.
| Practicum | Preceptor we look for | What else we check |
|---|---|---|
FNP: NURS 511, NURS 513, NURS 515 | MD, DO or FNP in outpatient family practice, two years or longer | A PA only as a fill-in; Rivier's fallback settings |
PMHNP: NURS 521, NURS 523, NURS 525 | Psychiatrist or PMH-certified nurse, two years or longer | Telehealth prescriber time under 300 of 750 hours |
AG-ACNP: NURS 638P | MD or certified AG-ACNP working as a hospitalist | ICU or ER may substitute |
AG-ACNP: NURS 639P, NURS 640P | MD/intensivist or AG-ACNP in critical care | No telehealth; up to 90 specialty hours each |
Nursing Education: NURS 559P | RN with a master's degree working as a nurse educator | Hospital or academic setting |
| Leadership practicum | RN with a master's degree (business accepted) leading nurses | Course numbers differ by source |
DNP: NURS 895 | An external expert in your project topic | Approved by the committee |
The full FNP rules, including approved alternative settings, are on who may precept Rivier FNP students.
Planned around Rivier's calendar
Rivier's 2026-2027 Handbook recommends locking in a placement four months ahead and treats August 1 (fall) and December 1 (spring) as absolute deadlines for every MSN practicum course, with 30 days for the site contract. Reach the deadline without a confirmed placement or complete records and Rivier asks you to defer a semester.
An older Rivier form still circulates with May 1 and September 1 dates and warns that processing can run twelve weeks or longer. Unless the Clinical Practicum Coordinator tells you otherwise, we work toward the earlier dates, which leaves margin under either reading. The deadlines page sets out both.
Hours cannot begin before the semester's first day, September 8 for fall 2026, so the contract clock and the hours clock run separately.
A preceptor's yes is not Rivier's approval. Hours begin to count once the coordinator signs off on your paperwork and the contract with the site.
Three parties, three jobs
Placements go smoothly when each party knows its part and nobody waits on someone else by mistake.
- You: keep CastleBranch (myCB) current four months before practicum courses, hold an RN license for the practicum state, submit the Preceptor Request Form, finish the Centralized Clinical Placement orientation each August and carry a Clinical Assignment Ticket to every clinical experience.
- Us: find and vet the preceptor, settle the schedule, gather the preceptor's documents and site details, and stand ready with a replacement.
- Rivier: graduate faculty judge whether the site fits your course, and the Clinical Practicum Coordinator confirms paperwork and contracts before hours start.
Rivier's side of that path, in order, is on the placement process page.
When plans change mid-semester
Preceptors change jobs, clinics reorganize, and an agency can turn a student away after screening, for instance because of a background finding or an exemption from a required vaccine. When that happens, the Handbook places no duty on Rivier to arrange a new site, so the gap falls to the student.
That is the moment our replacement search earns its place. FNP and PMHNP students owe 250 hours inside each practicum semester and cannot bank extra hours for later, so speed counts: we look first for someone able to take over quickly, then prepare the new preceptor's documents so the change clears Rivier's review. More is in what to do when a preceptor drops out.
Why Rivier students choose us
We specialize in Rivier's clinical process, so every search begins from Rivier's own rules rather than a generic checklist: the right credential for each course, two years in practice where the Handbook asks for it, a state the State Guide accepts, and paperwork shaped to the Preceptor Request Form. You work with one placement advisor who knows your track and your dates from the first message, and who keeps the plan moving through every practicum you ask us to cover.
The quickest way in is the form below. Name your track, course, city and semester, and your placement advisor replies with the next steps.
Questions Rivier students ask
How far ahead should I contact you about a Rivier practicum?
As early as you can. Rivier's Handbook advises starting the search as much as a year before the practicum semester and securing the placement four months ahead. A shorter window can still work, but earlier contact means more preceptors to choose from and more room for the 30-day contract before August 1 or December 1.
Do you place Rivier students who live outside New Hampshire?
Yes. Rivier's 2026 graduate program sheets allow practicums in your own area, provided the State Guide accepts your state for your program and you hold an RN license there. We search where you live, and the practicums outside New Hampshire page explains the state checks.
Who sends the Preceptor Request Form to Rivier?
You do, as the student. We prepare what travels with it: the preceptor's license, credentials and CV, and the site's details for the contract. Rivier's Clinical Practicum Coordinator and graduate faculty then review the request; if they come back with questions, we help you answer them.
Can you help if I already have one preceptor and need another?
Yes. Some students have one confirmed preceptor and need a second for a later course, a different setting such as the critical care practicums in the AG-ACNP track, or extra coverage. Tell us which course and hours are still open, and the search targets only that gap.
Does Rivier review the preceptor you find before hours count?
Always. Graduate faculty have the last word on each site, and the coordinator checks that forms and the contract are complete before a single hour is logged. Our part is a request Rivier can review cleanly, complete and matched to its rules.
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
Start your placement plan
Track, city and semester is all we need to begin.