Nurse-educator and nurse-leader preceptors for Rivier's online MSN tracks
Rivier University's online Nursing Education and Leadership in Health Systems Management tracks follow the same placement rule as the NP tracks: you identify a qualified preceptor. For Education, look for a registered nurse who holds a master's and teaches as a nurse educator in a hospital or academic setting. For Leadership, look for a registered nurse with a master's, business degrees included, who holds a nurse leadership role.
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.
The two preceptor profiles side by side
Both tracks take their preceptor rules from the same page of Rivier's Nursing Student Handbook (p. 74), and both sit under the graduate Practicum Placement Policy, which treats practicum placement as a student responsibility. The Handbook's wording for these two tracks turns on the preceptor's license, degree and current job rather than on years in practice. That puts the CV and a clearly stated current role at the top of what you gather from any candidate, before you talk dates or projects.
| Rule | Nursing Education | Leadership in Health Systems Management |
|---|---|---|
| License | RN | RN |
| Degree | Master's degree | Master's degree; a business master's is acceptable |
| Current role | Nurse educator | Nurse leader |
| Setting | Hospital or academic setting | Wherever the nurse leadership role sits |
| Practicum course | NURS 559P with seminar NURS 559S | NURS 571P (2026 sheet) or NURS 562 and NURS 564 (2025-26 catalog) |
What a nurse-educator preceptor does for NURS 559P
NURS 559P Advanced Clinical Education Practicum (2 credits) is paired with the 1-credit NURS 559S seminar and offered every fall and spring. In the catalog's description you teach in three kinds of setting, classroom (didactic), clinical and lab, under a nurse-educator preceptor, so the strongest preceptor is one who teaches in more than one of those settings.
Good candidates include a clinical nurse educator in a hospital's professional development team, a nursing faculty member at a college or an ASN program, or a simulation educator, provided each is an RN with a master's degree in an educator role. Ask whether you could lead part of a class, run a skills station and support a clinical group, because that range mirrors the course description.
The same practicum appears in the Nursing Education post-master's certificate. Certificate students who arrive without clinical work in their master's add coursework before it, so check your Program of Studies for the semester when NURS 559P lands.
What a nurse-leader preceptor looks like
For the Leadership track, your preceptor is an RN with a master's degree working in a nurse leadership role. Rivier accepts a business master's here, which opens the door to nurse executives who earned an MBA. Think of a chief nursing officer, a director of nursing, a nurse manager or a quality director who is also an RN.
The 2025-26 catalog adds that leadership practicum placements follow each student's interests, goals and learning needs. Use that line when you choose. A student who wants to run a unit gains most beside a nurse manager, while one aiming at system strategy may learn more next to a chief nursing officer or a service-line director.
The role matters more than the title on the door. A preceptor who lets you sit in on budget meetings, staffing decisions and quality reviews gives you the leadership work the course is built around, which a title alone cannot promise.
The Leadership course-number conflict
Rivier's documents disagree on which Leadership practicum you register for. The 2026 program sheet lists NURS 571P Advanced Nursing Leadership Practicum alongside NURS 570 Advanced Nursing Leadership Theory. The 2025-26 catalog lists two practicums instead: NURS 562 in the fall and NURS 564 in the spring, paired with NURS 561 and NURS 563.
The difference decides how many semesters need a preceptor, one practicum course or two. Ask your Program Director which version your Program of Studies follows before you promise a nurse leader a schedule. The Education and Leadership practicums page follows that disagreement in detail.
NURS 571P also appears in the DNP Systems Leadership Bridge, and DNP students arriving with under 500 supervised master's hours take NURS 715 with a nurse leader as preceptor. The DNP practicums guide covers both.
Deadlines and where you can do it
The calendar rules reach these tracks too. The Handbook's absolute placement cutoffs, August 1 before a fall term and December 1 before spring, apply to every MSN practicum course, not only the NP ones, and your clinical requirements go into CastleBranch four months before any practicum. Contracts with the site need 30 days; see placement deadlines for the full timeline.
Both tracks are fully online, and you can complete the practicum in your own area with an RN license in that state. Rivier's State Guide treats these two tracks a little differently from the NP tracks: Alabama, closed to FNP and PMHNP students, is open for Education and Leadership. Their columns are red in seven states, among them California and Washington, and yellow in three, where a call to the Program Director comes first; the State Guide page has the full picture.
If you move to another state after acceptance, Rivier's change-of-residence policy asks for written notice to the Dean at least 90 days before the move, and it names the Leadership and Nurse Educator tracks alongside the NP tracks; see moving during your program.
How we match educators and leaders
Rivier Education and Leadership students choose us because we give these searches the same rigor as an NP placement. We confirm each candidate is an RN with the right master's degree in a current educator or leader role, near you and in a state Rivier accepts. For NURS 559P we look for educators who teach across classroom, clinical and lab settings; for Leadership we match the preceptor's role to the goals you name.
We collect the preceptor's license and credential records and CV for Rivier's Preceptor Request Form, time the search to Rivier's deadlines and stay on call if a preceptor changes roles mid-semester. Rivier's faculty and coordinator sign off on each site and preceptor, and we send them an Education or Leadership request that is complete and matched to the Handbook from the start.
Questions Rivier students ask
Can my own unit's nurse educator precept my Rivier Nursing Education practicum?
Possibly. The Handbook's test is an RN, a master's degree and a current nurse educator role in a hospital or academic setting, and it invites you to suggest people you know through work. Confirm the educator's degree first, then raise the arrangement with course faculty, since the final call on the site belongs to graduate faculty.
Does a Rivier Leadership preceptor need a nursing master's degree?
No. Rivier's Handbook accepts a master's degree in business for a Leadership preceptor, as long as the preceptor is an RN working in a nurse leadership role. An RN director of nursing with an MBA fits the wording; an executive who is not a nurse does not.
How many hours is the Rivier NURS 559P practicum?
Rivier's program sheet and catalog list NURS 559P as a 2-credit practicum with a 1-credit seminar, and neither gives clock hours. The Leadership practicums are listed the same way. Ask your course faculty or Program Director for the expected hours before you settle a weekly schedule with your preceptor.
Can a Nursing Education practicum take place in a nursing school?
Yes. The Handbook allows a nurse-educator preceptor in a hospital or an academic setting, so a college nursing program qualifies when the preceptor is an RN with a master's degree in an educator role. The school still has to sign a contract with Rivier, and the Handbook allows 30 days for that step.
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.