NKU preceptor requirements, track by track

NKU's Interested Preceptors page sets a baseline that applies to every graduate track. A preceptor has to satisfy each of these:

• Experience: at least one year in the current role at the current education level.
• License: active and unencumbered.
• Location: within the current NKU-approved states, which NKU lists on its state authorization tables.
• Employment: employed at the location where the practicum takes place.
• Capacity: not already at the maximum approved preceptor-to-student ratio, counting students from NKU and elsewhere. NKU does not publish the number.
• Time: a 7-week commitment of "approximately 125-150 hours per student", with availability two to three days a week.

NKU's online FAQ adds one more floor for every concentration: the preceptor holds a master's degree or higher. Taken together, the two pages give the baseline for every track; the concentration rules below sit on top of it.

The Interested Preceptors page lists the credentials NKU accepts across its graduate programs:

• Nurse practitioners with a master's or doctoral degree in nursing and NP certification in the specialty area.
• Psychiatric clinical nurse specialists.
• Board-certified psychiatrists.
• Certified nurse midwives with a master's or doctoral degree in their area of practice.
• Physicians, MD or DO.
• Physician assistants with a master's or doctoral degree, "if allowed as a preceptor by the state."
• Psychologists or graduate-prepared counselors, LPCCs and LICSWs.
• Nurse executives.

Not every credential fits every track. The list is a menu; your concentration decides which items on it can supervise your hours. PMHNP students, for example, can spend some therapy hours with a psychologist, LICSW or LPCC, while Nurse Executive Leadership students learn under a nurse leader rather than a prescriber.

NKU's FAQ breaks preceptor qualifications down by concentration. This is how the tracks compare.

NKU's four NP certificates run on the matching MSN clinical courses, so plan on the same preceptor rules for them. The caps in the last column are explained on NKU clinical setting rules.

Nursing Education has two kinds of preceptor. The 50 direct-care hours in MSN 614L can be done in settings such as wound care, a clinic, an acute care unit, a midwifery practice, an outpatient or surgery center, or a PACU, while the capstone preceptor for MSN 670 must work as an educator. More on the nurse educator clinicals.

Credentials don't override personal ties. NKU bars a clinician from precepting you if they are any of these:

• Your direct or immediate supervisor.
• A relative or family member, a fiancé or a significant other.
• A roommate or a personal friend.
• Your own primary care provider.
• A current student in another specialty.

Clinicals at your own employer are allowed, provided the hours are off your own unit, precepted by someone other than your supervisor, and not on the clock. Clinicals where you work has the detail.

If you are unsure whether a connection counts, raise it with your coordinator before the request goes in rather than after a reviewer spots it.

A 2022 copy of the Interested Preceptors page described a rotation as approximately 125 hours per student; the live page says 125 to 150. The credential list, the one-year rule, the employment and ratio rules and every restriction are otherwise unchanged since then. The 2022 page also pointed to an older state map, which has since given way to NKU's state authorization page.

Some questions have no public answer. NKU publishes no preceptor-to-student ratio, and it sets no published limit on how many of your hours can come from physicians or PAs. The FAQ still lists AGNP preceptor qualifications even though AGNP is missing from NKU's current program list. For anything unsettled, ask your Clinical or Concentration Coordinator through the MSN Clinical Information Canvas.

Every preceptor we bring you has already been screened against this page. A placement advisor confirms the credential fits your track, the license is active in a state NKU approves, the clinician has a year in the role and is employed by the site that will host you, and no supervisory or personal tie on NKU's list applies.

We also plan around the caps that shape your hours, such as the FNP specialty limit or the PMHNP therapy limit, so each rotation builds toward your total instead of stalling it. You get a preceptor whose file answers the coordinator's questions before they are asked. NKU has the final say; we see to it that the preceptor you name fits its rules going in. Tell us your track.