Finding your own preceptor as a Rivier graduate nursing student

Updated September 26, 2026 · Reviewed by the Rivier Preceptor placement team

Rivier University's Nursing Student Handbook puts it plainly: "It is the student's responsibility to identify a qualified preceptor." That applies to every MSN track and post-master's certificate. Here is what the policy asks of you, where Rivier helps, and how to run a search that ends with a site faculty can approve.

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Hand us the search

Tell us your track, city and practicum semester.

2years in practice Rivier requires of FNP and PMHNP preceptors

1 yearbefore the practicum, when Rivier advises starting the search

Numbered steps. A search method that holds up: 1 Write down your track's rules; 2 Draw your search map; 3 Start with people you know; 4 Send a short, complete first message; 5 Screen before you commit. — A search method that holds up: 1 Write down your track's rules; 2 Draw your search map; 3 Start with people you know; 4 Send a short, complete first message; 5 Screen before you commit.

What the policy says and whom it covers

The graduate Practicum Placement Policy (Handbook p. 73) says practicum placement "is viewed as a student responsibility." The track sections say it again in their own words: FNP students and psychiatric NP students each "are required to secure" their placements (pp. 75-76). The acute care, Nursing Education and Leadership tracks sit under the same general policy, and so do the certificates.

Rivier's other programs work differently, as the table shows.

Who arranges the practicum, by Rivier program
Rivier program	Who arranges the practicum
MSN FNP and FNP certificate	You secure it
MSN PMHNP and PMHNP certificate	You secure it
MSN AG-ACNP and AG-ACNP certificate	You secure it, under the general graduate policy
MSN Nursing Education and certificate	You secure it, with a master's-prepared nurse educator
MSN Leadership in Health Systems Management	You secure it; the catalog says placement follows your interests, goals and learning needs
DNP	Shared: you and your faculty guide identify an external expert
BSN, ABSN and ASN	Rivier assigns clinical agencies, which may be up to 60 miles away
MSN APRN Degree Completion	No practicum course is listed

The help that comes with the responsibility

Owning the search is not the same as searching unaided. Per the Handbook, the graduate Clinical Practicum Coordinator works with faculty to point you toward a willing clinician, and the options faculty suggest come from Rivier's contract resources. The same page is frank that no option can be promised to match what you want, and that the last word on a site's suitability belongs to graduate faculty.

Two more lines in the policy shape the work. Rivier tells students to start hunting up to twelve months ahead, and it welcomes names of clinicians you already know through your nursing work. Someone you have shared a unit or clinic with is precisely the lead the policy pictures, provided that person clears your track's rules. How the coordinator and faculty divide their roles is covered on the Clinical Practicum Coordinator page.

Why the search takes longer than students expect

Rivier's own Handbook warns that NP clinical sites are in short supply. It points out that students enrolled elsewhere cross into New Hampshire looking for preceptors, and that certain schools run waiting lists, so the clinician you call may already be fielding requests from several programs.

Rivier's own rules then narrow the field. An FNP preceptor must bring two or more years in outpatient family practice, and a physician assistant may cover a day here and there but never as the lead preceptor. A PMHNP preceptor needs two years and psychiatric credentials. Acute care students need a hospitalist first and a critical care preceptor after that. Beyond the clinician, the organization has to sign a contract with Rivier, and it may bring onboarding rules of its own, which Rivier's older practicum form says take priority over Rivier's.

None of this is a reason to wait. It is the reason to start early and to screen every lead before the first conversation.

A search method that holds up

Write down your track's rulesCredentials, years in practice, allowed settings and any caps, starting from the FNP preceptor requirements or your own track's page.
Draw your search mapYour practicum happens where you hold an RN license, in a state Rivier's State Guide accepts. List practices and units within a drive you can repeat all semester.
Start with people you knowAsk clinicians you know professionally first, then ask each of them who else might precept.
Send a short, complete first messageYour track, course number, semester dates, the hours you need, and what Rivier will ask of the preceptor.
Screen before you commitConfirm license, certification, years in practice and schedule with the checklist below.
Ask who signs contractsFind out whether the site has worked with Rivier and who handles its student affiliation agreements.
Keep a second lead warmTreat every yes as provisional until the Clinical Practicum Coordinator confirms your contract.

Questions to settle with a preceptor before you submit

A friendly yes is not the same as a preceptor who clears Rivier's review. Settle these points first, then assemble the Preceptor Request Form packet.

Which license does the clinician hold, in which state, and is it current?
Which credential applies: MD, DO, FNP, psychiatrist, PMH certification, hospitalist or intensivist, or a master's-prepared RN educator or leader?
How long has the clinician practiced in this role? FNP and PMHNP preceptors need at least two years.
Is the setting one Rivier approves for your course, such as outpatient family practice for FNP Practicum I?
Can the schedule deliver 250 hours inside the semester for an FNP or PMHNP practicum, with nothing before the first day?
For PMHNP, how much of the time would be telehealth? Rivier caps it at 300 of the 750 hours.
Will the clinician share a current CV and complete Rivier's preceptor forms?
Who at the site handles student contracts, and how long does their review usually take?

When the search stalls

If the four-month mark is near and nobody has said yes, tell the Clinical Practicum Coordinator now, not at the cutoff. Rivier asks anyone still unplaced, or still missing records, on August 1 (fall) or December 1 (spring) to push the practicum back a semester, and that shift means a revised Program of Studies.

Widen the map before you lower the bar. If no primary care office will take you, the Handbook opens two substitutes for FNP students: outpatient internal medicine during Practicum I, and pediatric, OB or women's health practices during Practicum II. PMHNP students may train with any age group, inpatient or outpatient. Those allowances open doors a narrow search misses. If you are already stuck, can't find a preceptor sets out the next moves.

Why Rivier students hand the search to us

Rivier asks you to identify a qualified preceptor, and we make that the easy part. We search your area for clinicians who already meet your track's rules, contact and screen them, and confirm credentials, years in practice, setting and schedule before anything reaches Rivier. We ask each site up front about contracting with Rivier, so the affiliation step starts clean.

You get a preceptor who fits, with the preceptor's license, credentials and CV in hand, well before Rivier's cutoffs. Faculty and the coordinator still decide; what we control is that their first look at your file finds nothing missing and nothing outside Rivier's rules. If you are weighing whether to search alone, compare your options on placement help versus searching alone, or start with the form below.

Questions Rivier students ask

Does Rivier find preceptors for its nurse practitioner students?

Not on the graduate tracks. There, Rivier's Handbook hands the job of naming a qualified preceptor to you, with faculty and the coordinator offering support and options from Rivier's contract resources, though no particular choice is promised. Clinical agencies are assigned by Rivier only in the BSN, ABSN and ASN programs.

Can a clinician I already work with be my Rivier preceptor?

Rivier's policy openly welcomes clinicians you know from work as preceptor suggestions. It sets out no separate rule on employers or coworkers, so run your situation past the Clinical Practicum Coordinator. Whoever you choose must still meet your track's credential, setting and experience rules, and the site must be able to contract with Rivier.

Does Rivier have a preceptor list I can search?

The Handbook describes help from faculty and the Clinical Practicum Coordinator rather than a searchable preceptor list. Ask the coordinator which options exist within Rivier's contract resources for your track and area, and keep your own search running alongside them so one path is never your only path.

What if the clinician I found works in a specialty clinic?

For FNP students, the lead preceptor has to come from outpatient family practice. Specialty time fits only inside the 120 alternative hours: outpatient cardiology, endocrinology or pulmonology and telehealth in NURS 515, urgent care in NURS 513 or NURS 515. Dermatology, orthopedics, ENT, GI, oncology and several other specialties are not approved. See alternative practicum hours.

How early should I start looking for a preceptor?

Twelve months out is Rivier's advice, with the placement locked in four months before term. Given how thin NP sites are and how many programs chase the same clinicians, a year leaves room to vet leads, recover from a refusal and still land before the fall or spring cutoff.

ProcessPlacement process, step by stepHow a Rivier University graduate practicum comes together: the preceptor search, request form, site contract, CastleBranch, CCP orientation and day one.FNPFNP preceptor requirementsWho can precept a Rivier University FNP student: an MD, DO or FNP in outpatient family practice with two years in practice, plus PA limits and patient volume.PMHNPPMHNP preceptor requirementsRivier PMHNP preceptors: a psychiatrist or PMH-certified nurse with two years in practice, any age group, inpatient or outpatient, and a 300-hour telehealth cap.AG-ACNPAG-ACNP preceptor requirementsRivier AG-ACNP preceptors: an MD or AG-ACNP hospitalist for Practicum I, an intensivist or AG-ACNP in critical care for II and III, and no telehealth hours.State GuideRivier's State GuideRivier's State Guide colors each state green, yellow or red for every nursing program: the red and yellow states, the unlisted ones, and what each color means.StuckCan't find a preceptorNo preceptor yet for your Rivier practicum? Why searches stall, the wider settings Rivier's Handbook allows, the deadlines that matter and what to do this week.

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 for NURS 521, a hospitalist or intensivist for NURS 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.