When your preceptor drops out mid-course

Updated September 25, 2026 · Reviewed by the Sacred Heart Preceptor placement team

Losing a preceptor partway through a Sacred Heart University clinical course is unsettling, but the rules for what comes next are clear. You tell Clinical Placement at once, get a replacement approved, file a new Contract Request Form and wait for updated clearance before you return. Here is that sequence, what happens to the hours already logged, and how to protect the rest of your 16 weeks.

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Numbered steps. Before you go back: approval, form and clearance: 1 Find the replacement; 2 Get the new preceptor approved; 3 File a new CRF; 4 Wait for updated clearance. — Before you go back: approval, form and clearance: 1 Find the replacement; 2 Get the new preceptor approved; 3 File a new CRF; 4 Wait for updated clearance.

Tell Sacred Heart right away

The online student guide leaves no room for doubt. Any change to your clinical site or preceptor means you notify Clinical Placement immediately, submit a new Contract Request Form and wait for an updated clearance letter. A preceptor walking away mid-course is the plainest example of a change.

Loop in your course faculty or clinical advisor the same day. Sacred Heart's preceptor orientation directs preceptors with concerns to the student's clinical advisor, and the guide's chain of command for clinical problems begins with the preceptor or course faculty before it climbs to program leadership. The sooner the people overseeing your course know, the more options stay open.

Before you go back: approval, form and clearance

The replacement runs through the same gates as your original preceptor:

Find the replacementAnother eligible clinician at the same site is often the quickest choice, because the site's affiliation agreement is already in place.
Get the new preceptor approvedYour academic advisor signs off on the new name, then the NP clinical coordinator reviews that preceptor's credentials. If the preceptor works for a partnering health system, the system's approval comes before Sacred Heart's.
File a new CRFEven at the same site, the change calls for a new Contract Request Form. Moving to a different site can also mean a new affiliation agreement, the slowest step of all.
Wait for updated clearanceReturn to clinical only after the updated clearance reaches your SHU email.

The costly mistake: letting another provider at the practice quietly fill in. Until that person is approved and your updated clearance arrives, those hours count as unapproved and are deleted from E*Value.

The hours you already logged

Sacred Heart's deletion rule targets hours logged while a student is non-compliant or working with an unapproved preceptor or site. Hours you logged while cleared, with the preceptor Sacred Heart approved, sit outside that rule. Ask your course faculty to confirm how those partial hours carry into the replacement placement.

If you can, close out the paperwork that depends on the departing preceptor before their last day. Preceptors review and co-sign student documentation, and the midterm self-evaluation you complete in E*Value is pushed to the preceptor to finish. Ask course faculty which logs, sign-offs and evaluations that preceptor should complete, and bring your E*Value entries current so the record is whole.

Working the 16-week clock

Sacred Heart's catalog gives NP courses 16 weeks, while the online FAQ speaks of a 15-week semester, so check your own course dates. Either way, weeks lost to a switch raise the weekly pace you need:

Average weekly clinical hours, full course versus four weeks lost
Course	Clinical hours	Over 16 weeks	If 4 weeks are lost
`NU 561` or `NU 621` (FNP)	180	about 11 a week	15 a week
`NU 606` or `NU 607` (FNP)	90	about 6 a week	7.5 a week
`NU 571`, `NU 572` or `NU 573` (PMHNP)	180	about 11 a week	15 a week

Raise it with course faculty early if the pace looks out of reach. Sacred Heart's rules offer some routes, including an Incomplete under set conditions and, for MSN FNP students, NU 600 Continuous Enrollment for extra time to finish clinical hours. Our behind on clinical hours guide walks through each.

Keep your next placement on schedule

For FNP students a mid-course switch lands on top of another date: the placement for your next clinical course is due by week 10 of this one. Keep that search running while you replace the current preceptor, and if the new preceptor could also cover the next course, raise it early.

PMHNP students should check the Clinical Placement Team's published date for the next practicum in the same way, and remember that NU 572 needs a site with patients under 18. If the dropout pushes your timeline back despite everything, delayed graduation explains how Sacred Heart handles withdrawals, leaves and time to degree.

How we replace a preceptor

Staying on call after the match is a large part of why Sacred Heart University students pick us. The day a preceptor leaves, your placement advisor goes looking for the successor, first among other eligible clinicians at your current site and then at practices that already hold a Sacred Heart agreement, since both keep the paperwork shortest.

We check the new preceptor against your track's rules, package the new preceptor's credentials for review, and give you the site details your new Contract Request Form asks for, so approval and updated clearance move as quickly as Sacred Heart's process allows. Every change remains Sacred Heart's decision; what reaches it from us is complete. Tell us your course and the hours you have left in the form below.

Questions Sacred Heart students ask

Could a different clinician at my site step in as preceptor?

Often, if they meet your track's rules. Your academic advisor and the NP clinical coordinator review them like any new preceptor, then a fresh CRF and an updated clearance come before your first shift together. Because the site's agreement already exists, this tends to be the quickest replacement available.

Do I lose the clinical hours I already completed?

The deletion rule covers hours earned out of compliance or under someone Sacred Heart never approved. Hours you logged while cleared, with your approved preceptor, are a different category. Ask course faculty to confirm how they count toward the course, and make sure your E*Value logs are complete.

Do I need a new CRF if I stay at the same site?

Yes. A new preceptor is a change, and under the student guide every change brings a fresh form and a fresh clearance, even at the same address. What staying put usually saves you is a new affiliation agreement, which is the step that can take months.

My preceptor quit near the end of the course. What now?

Tell course faculty right away. Depending on timing, an Incomplete or, for MSN FNP students, NU 600 Continuous Enrollment may give you room to finish, and each carries conditions covered in our behind-on-hours guide. Whoever supervises the remaining hours still needs approval and clearance first.

Who do I contact first?

Clinical Placement, immediately, since the guide requires it for any site or preceptor change. Then your course faculty or clinical advisor, who oversee your clinical work, and your academic advisor, who approves the replacement preceptor before the NP clinical coordinator reviews the documents.

ClearanceCleared for Clinical emailWhat Sacred Heart University's Cleared for Clinical email requires, what happens to hours logged without it, and why a new site or preceptor needs new clearance.FormContract Request Form (CRF)The Sacred Heart University Contract Request Form: the six program versions, the fields it asks for, when to submit it and what happens after you send it.SystemE*ValueWhat Sacred Heart University students do in E*Value: clinical and case logs, the student-preceptor agreement, evaluations, DNP hours and the on-time rule.HoursBehind on clinical hoursBehind on hours in a 16-week Sacred Heart University clinical course? Semester-date rules, E*Value logging, adding a second preceptor and your other options.ApprovalPreceptor approvalHow Sacred Heart University's academic advisor and MSN Online NP Programs Clinical Coordinator approve a preceptor, what they receive and what speeds a yes.TimelineDelayed graduationWhen a missing preceptor delays graduation at Sacred Heart University: the registration gate, course order, the six-year limit, withdrawals and the way back.

Last checked 2026-09-25

We check these pages against Sacred Heart's own catalog, program pages and 2026-27 student guides. Your student guide, your academic advisor and your course faculty have the final word.

Sacred Heart asks you to secure your clinical placement. We make that the easy part.

Tell us your Sacred Heart program, your city and your next clinical course. We find preceptors who fit the course and prepare what your advisor, the NP clinical coordinator and the Contract Request Form ask for, early enough for the affiliation agreement.

Preceptors matched to the course: primary care of adults, women and children for FNP, psychiatric care across the lifespan for PMHNP
Preceptor CV, license, board certification and the site's contract contact ready before your week-10 deadline
Close to home in any state where Sacred Heart's program meets licensure requirements, with New York's rule planned around

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