NKU's clinical placement process, from Canvas to the approval email

For NKU's online nurse practitioner programs, meaning the three MSN NP tracks and the four NP certificates, the student finds the preceptor and the site. NKU's Students page calls it "each student's responsibility" to learn how a preceptor is identified, a site secured and an affiliation agreement completed. NKU's name for the result is a self-placement request.

That default comes with backup. NKU offers support to students who ask for help finding a preceptor, and placement questions go by email to studentclinicalinfo@nku.edu. What that help covers, and how to ask for it, is on our NKU placement assistance page.

Students in Nursing Education and Nurse Executive Leadership appear on that same Students page, with their own Canvas shells and a Contracts & Compliance contact, so the same route appears to apply. The post-master's DNP project site and the RN-to-BSN practicum have no public placement rule, so check your Canvas shell. The campus BSN and the Nurse Anesthesia DNP work differently: NKU arranges those rotations.

This is the order NKU's own pages describe, from enrollment in Canvas to the day your placement is confirmed. Each step has its own page when you want the detail.

1. Join both Canvas shellsSelf-enroll in your concentration shell (FNP, AGACNP, PMHNP, NED or NEL) and in the MSN Clinical Information Canvas, then switch on email notifications. NKU posts clinical deadlines, handbooks and process changes there, and the "General Clinical Information" section lists what you must clear.
2. Find a preceptor who fits NKU's rulesThe right credential for your track, a year in the current role, a license in good standing, a practice location inside NKU's approved states, and a job at the very site hosting you. The full list is under NKU preceptor requirements.
3. File the self-placement request in MedatraxThe request tells NKU who will precept you and where. What goes in it is covered on the self-placement request page.
4. Collect the preceptor's documentsNKU wants three documents from the preceptor: a CV or resume, a copy of the license and the signed Preceptor Responsibilities form. The preceptor also sets up their own profile inside Medatrax. See preceptor paperwork.
5. Name a site contact if there is no agreementIf the site has never contracted with NKU, you pass NKU a contact there and NKU negotiates the rest. Affiliation agreements explains why this step sets the pace.
6. Wait for all three portions to clearClinical and Concentration Coordinators review the preceptor, and Contracts & Compliance reviews the contract and your compliance record. Once all three portions are approved, C&C finalizes the placement and Medatrax emails the official approval.

Online MSN courses at NKU run seven weeks, and you take one clinical per session. NKU names each session by season and half, so Fall 1 is followed by Fall 2 and spring and summer split the same way, which gives six start dates a year. Fall 2 2026, for example, runs October 21 to December 11, 2026.

NKU's online FAQ sets the floor: NKU needs your preceptor information no less than 30 days before the clinical opens. The same FAQ highly recommends 90 days, and a separate answer on that page makes 90 days the latest point for requests. The deadline that binds your cohort is the one posted in Canvas.

Because a session lasts seven weeks, a point 90 days before a start date falls one to two sessions earlier, depending on the break between terms. In practice you line up the next preceptor while an earlier course is still running. NKU placement deadlines sets the dates out term by term.

A few of NKU's public pages have drifted apart. Knowing where saves you from planning around the wrong one.

• System name. The online FAQ says preceptor details and the Preceptor Agreement go in "via InPlace". Every current nku.edu clinical page and a 2026 NKU job posting name Medatrax, and even the FAQ itself says hours are logged in Medatrax. Treat Medatrax as current.
• Lead time. The FAQ contradicts itself: 30 days as a minimum in one answer, 90 days as the cutoff in another. Plan to the 90.
• Hours. The FAQ's NP total is still 500 to 600 hours, while the FNP, AGACNP and PMHNP program pages now list 750.

When a public page and your Canvas shell differ, go with Canvas. When Canvas is silent, write to studentclinicalinfo@nku.edu and save the answer alongside your clinical records.

NKU's pages point to the same short list of causes whenever a placement stalls.

• A site with no affiliation agreement, since NKU says negotiations may not finish before class starts.
• A request filed with fewer than 30 days to go, which misses NKU's minimum.
• A preceptor who misses a rule: outside an NKU-approved state, under a year in role, not employed at the site, at the student limit, or your supervisor, relative or friend.
• An open item in PreCheck or Sentry, which Contracts & Compliance looks at during its review.

Preceptors sometimes withdraw after approval. NKU's FAQ says a replacement at a site already covered by an agreement, or a preceptor who owns or runs the practice, can be approved within days, while a site needing a new agreement may not be ready before class.

We follow NKU's path in NKU's order and take on the hardest part, the search. A placement advisor matches you with a preceptor and site that suit your track, in one of the states NKU approves and within reach of home, then checks the candidate against NKU's rules before anything reaches Medatrax.

Next we gather what NKU's review needs, from the preceptor's documents to a named site contact for any new affiliation agreement. You submit early with the file already whole, which is the quickest way through a three-part review.

We work alongside NKU's MSN Student Placement Team and stay on call through the session if a preceptor has to step away. NKU makes the final call; our job is to see that nothing reaches Contracts & Compliance half-finished. Tell us your next session through the contact page.