When a preceptor or site does not clear NKU's review

NKU's review of a Medatrax self-placement request has three portions. Clinical and Concentration Coordinators review the preceptor, the Contracts & Compliance team reviews contracts and compliance, including your PreCheck and Sentry status, and Medatrax sends the official approval email once all three are approved. NKU does not name the third portion publicly.

Knowing which portion is open tells you who to ask and what to fix. Contracts & Compliance assigns staff by track, and their contacts are listed on NKU's Students page; general placement questions go to studentclinicalinfo@nku.edu. Ask for the reason in writing so nothing is lost between messages. If your session starts soon, copy your Clinical Instructor as well. Our self-placement request guide explains each portion.

• Under a year in their present role at their present level of education.
• A license that is not active and unencumbered, or a location outside NKU's approved states.
• Not employed at the site where the practicum takes place.
• At NKU's cap on students per preceptor, a figure NKU keeps unpublished.
• A conflict: your supervisor, a relative, partner, roommate, friend, your primary care provider, or a current student in another specialty.
• The wrong credential for your track, such as a PA in a state that does not allow PA preceptors, or a non-psychiatric clinician for a PMHNP rotation.
• Missing paperwork: CV or resume, license, the Preceptor Responsibilities form, the Preceptor Agreement or the Medatrax Preceptor Profile.

Paperwork gaps are the easiest to fix. The others usually mean a different preceptor. Every rule, track by track, is on our NKU preceptor requirements page.

On the site side, check timing first. Where a site lacks an NKU affiliation agreement, you give NKU a site contact and NKU negotiates the agreement, which must be final before the term. NKU says that negotiation may not finish before class starts, and a wrong or unresponsive contact slows it further. NKU affiliation agreements explains the process.

The setting can also be a mismatch. FNP specialty offices count for up to 125 hours, AGACNP rotations belong in acute care with emergency or urgent care capped at half your hours, and a Nurse Executive Leadership site outside a hospital needs your concentration coordinator's approval. A site in a state NKU does not authorize for your program cannot host you at all.

Your own file is part of every review. NKU screened you with a PreCheck StudentCheck background check when you were admitted, Sentry holds your clinical compliance record, and the list of required items sits in Canvas under General Clinical Information. Contracts & Compliance looks at that record with each request, and NKU tells you when you are clinically ready.

An expired item can hold up a request that is otherwise perfect. Before you resubmit, log into Sentry and confirm every item is current through the end of the session, and renew anything close to expiry. A move to another state is worth flagging too, since NKU says a change of residency may affect your program status. Our NKU clinical compliance page lists what NKU checks.

1. Get the reason in writingAsk the reviewer which portion is open and what exactly is missing or out of line.
2. Decide: fixable or structuralA missing form or an expired license renewal can be fixed. A conflict, a ratio limit or an unapproved state means a new preceptor or site.
3. Check the calendarCount the days to your session. Near NKU's 30-day minimum, a site with an existing NKU agreement is the safer replacement.
4. Complete and resubmitUpdate or replace the request in Medatrax with every document attached, then confirm receipt by email.
5. Keep your instructor informedIf the session is at risk, tell your Clinical Instructor now rather than in week one.

The surest fix is prevention. Before we introduce a preceptor, a placement advisor checks every NKU rule for your track, confirms the state, the site employment and the year in role, and finds out whether the site already holds an NKU agreement. That screening is why the requests we prepare arrive complete.

If a request has already stalled, send us the reason NKU gave. A placement advisor works out whether the fix is a document or a new preceptor, gathers what is missing, and when a replacement is needed, searches first among sites NKU can clear quickly. Send your course number and session through our contact page to get started.