Primary care preceptors for NKU's post-master's FNP certificate

NKU's certificate page lists 36 credits, finishable in as few as 22 months. The coursework is the advanced practice core (MSN 609, 610, 611 and 612), five primary care specialty courses (MSN 620, 621, 622, 623 and 629) and the MSN 630 FNP capstone. Six 1-credit clinicals carry the 750 hours, the same six MSN FNP students take.

Each clinical runs 7 weeks and NKU allows one per session, so the six rotations stretch across at least six sessions. Each rotation comes to about 125 to 150 hours, and NKU asks preceptors to host students two or three days a week. The certificate is 100% online; every clinical hour happens with a preceptor near you.

The design has grown. The 2023-24 catalog showed 35 credits and five clinicals, MSN 650L to MSN 654L. The 2025-26 catalog's FNP block also states 750 required hours, matching today's certificate page. The FNP clinicals page covers the six courses one by one.

Because you're entering with a master's, NKU may ask for the syllabi from your earlier pathophysiology, health assessment, pharmacology and role courses. NKU wants each one to have covered patients across the lifespan; any course that falls short is retaken at NKU, and clinicals wait until the core is complete. Missing the APEA predictor benchmark in MSN 611 adds MSN 680 remediation before specialty work.

Admission starts with an accredited MSN (ACEN, CCNE or CNEA) and a 3.0 MSN GPA, then adds an unrestricted RN license, a thousand hours of clinical RN practice and a PreCheck background check. NKU publishes no clinical-hour reduction for earlier experience, so the full 750 stays on the plan. The prerequisites page gives the course-by-course view.

For the FNP, NKU's FAQ accepts MDs, DOs, NPs and PAs holding a master's or higher, each with a minimum of one year in practice. Primary care is the core setting, with long-term care and hospice also listed. A specialty office, urgent care or cardiology for instance, may supply up to 125 hours in a specialty rotation. NKU's FAQ allows one to four preceptors over the program, so one strong primary care preceptor can carry more than one rotation.

Checks every preceptor must pass

• Twelve months or more in the present role at the present degree level
• An unrestricted license and a practice inside an NKU-approved state
• A staff position at your clinical site and room under NKU's student cap
• No family, friendship, household, supervisory or patient relationship with you

A PA counts only where the state permits PAs to precept. For each credential in detail, see preceptor requirements.

The 2024-25 catalog puts MSN 620, 621 and 622 ahead of MSN 650L, with MSN 623 and MSN 629 as co-requisites, and sets MSN 654L before MSN 655L, which pairs with the MSN 630 capstone. Your specialty coursework moves through adolescents and adults, geriatrics and pediatrics, so a family practice that sees every age keeps clinical time in step with what you're studying.

Map the full run before the first request. Decide which preceptors cover which sessions, where a specialty block fits under the 125-hour cap, and which site needs an affiliation agreement started early. A plan on paper also makes the backup obvious if a preceptor's availability changes mid-certificate. The setting rules page lists the caps that shape the plan.

If you work in health care now, your employer can host clinicals under NKU's three conditions: you train outside your own unit, someone other than your immediate supervisor precepts you, and none of the hours are paid. A primary care clinic in your own health system, away from your department, can meet all three.

The practical question is the calendar. A preceptor available 2 to 3 days a week means your clinical days need protecting at work for the full 7 weeks, six times over. Ask your manager early about schedule flexibility, and choose preceptors whose clinic days fit around your shifts. Employer sites explains the conditions in full.

The certificate is one of seven NKU NP programs that accept applicants only from Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Nevada, Ohio, Virginia and West Virginia. That rule took effect in Spring 2023, and Florida, Virginia and West Virginia joined the list by early 2026. Every preceptor has to practice in an NKU-approved state as well. See NP admission states.

For every clinical you file a self-placement request in Medatrax, no later than 30 days before the session and ideally 90. Your preceptor contributes a resume, license and signed responsibilities form, then builds a Medatrax profile. For a site without an agreement, you give NKU a contact person and NKU negotiates the affiliation agreement. Medatrax emails the approval once all three portions clear.

We treat your six clinicals as one plan. A placement advisor finds primary care preceptors close to home, checks each against NKU's rules, schedules any specialty time under the 125-hour cap and fits the rotations to your work calendar and session dates.

Every request reaches NKU complete, with the CV or resume, license, responsibilities form and site contact gathered in advance. NKU decides every approval; we see to it that nothing in the file holds that decision up. If a preceptor steps away, the next one is already in view. For the degree route, compare NKU's MSN FNP; to begin, send your details through the form below.