How we place NKU nursing students, in NKU's own order

Every NKU rotation moves through the same six stages. NKU's side of each one is covered in our walkthrough of NKU's clinical placement process; here is what happens on ours.

1. Your track and sessionWe pin down your concentration, the next clinical course on your plan and the 7-week session it falls in. Those three facts set the preceptor type, the setting and the date your request is due.
2. A preceptor who fits NKU's rulesWe search near your home for a clinician with the right credential, a year in role and a license in a state NKU approves, who works at the site where you would train.
3. Paperwork and the site contactWe collect the preceptor's CV or resume and license, prompt the Preceptor Responsibilities form, and name the person at the site who signs agreements.
4. Your Medatrax requestYou file the self-placement request in Medatrax with every item attached, aiming for 90 days before the session and well clear of NKU's 30-day minimum.
5. NKU's three-part reviewClinical and Concentration Coordinators review the preceptor, Contracts & Compliance works the contract and compliance side, and Medatrax sends the approval email once all three portions clear.
6. Hours, and a backup planYou log hours in Medatrax for weekly preceptor sign-off. If a preceptor steps away, a placement advisor starts on a replacement straight away.

The track decides who can precept you. NKU accepts an MD, NP, PA or DO in primary care for FNP rotations, an acute care hospital clinician for AGACNP, a PMHNP or psychiatrist for PMHNP, a nurse educator with a master's or higher in nursing education for Nursing Education, and a working nurse leader for Nurse Executive Leadership.

The session decides the calendar. NKU runs every online course in 7 weeks, lets you take one clinical at a time and expects roughly 125 to 150 hours per rotation, with a preceptor on hand two or three days each week. So we ask for the exact course, such as MSN 652L or MSN 665L, and its session name (Spring 1, Summer 2 and so on). Our guide to NKU's 7-week sessions lists the dates.

A preceptor who misses one NKU rule sinks the whole request, so we screen for all of them before an introduction. NKU wants at least one year in the current role at the current education level, an active and unencumbered license, a location in an NKU-approved state, employment at the practicum site and room under NKU's student ratio.

NKU also rules out your supervisor, relatives, partners, roommates, friends, your own primary care provider and anyone studying another specialty. We match the setting to your course too, keeping FNP specialty-office time and AGACNP emergency hours inside NKU's caps. Leads that miss a rule are set aside early, before they cost you time in Medatrax. The full list sits on our NKU preceptor requirements page.

NKU asks each preceptor for a CV or resume, a license and a signed Preceptor Responsibilities form, which arrives as an Adobe Sign e-form. You make sure the Preceptor Agreement is signed, and the preceptor sets up a Preceptor Profile in Medatrax. We track each item and chase anything missing, so nothing sits half-finished. If the site already works with NKU, say so early, because that shortens the contract side.

If the site has no affiliation agreement with NKU, your only task is to give NKU a site contact; NKU negotiates the agreement itself and it has to be final before the term begins. We find that contact early, because a brand-new agreement is the slowest part of any request. How NKU affiliation agreements work explains the timing.

The self-placement request goes in under your own Medatrax account. NKU sets 30 days before the clinical as the minimum and highly recommends 90; your posted deadlines appear in the MSN Clinical Information Canvas. We work to the 90-day mark, so the request you file is already whole.

Review then runs on NKU's side. Coordinators look at the preceptor, the Contracts & Compliance team checks the contract and your PreCheck and Sentry items, and Medatrax emails your official approval when all three portions are done. Our self-placement request guide covers each part.

You record your time in Medatrax and your preceptor verifies it each week; verified entries lock, so accurate daily logging matters. At the end of the term your preceptor completes NKU's evaluation in Medatrax. For course matters, your Clinical Instructor, shown on your myNKU class schedule, is the person to ask.

We stay available for the whole session. If a preceptor leaves or cuts days, a placement advisor looks for a replacement who meets the same NKU rules and prepares the new paperwork, as set out on our preceptor dropped out page. When the next rotation on your plan comes into view, we start its search early.