Finding your own preceptor as a Sacred Heart University student
In Sacred Heart University's online programs, the preceptor search belongs to the student. Sacred Heart offers support along the way, yet its student guides leave no doubt that you identify the site and the clinician. Here is what that means in your program, how to run a search that ends in approval, and how we take the search off your plate.
Hand us the search
Share your program, course and city. Your placement advisor starts looking for a preceptor who fits.
What "you'll secure a clinical placement" means
Sacred Heart states the expectation in its own words. The online MSN FNP page tells applicants they will secure a placement and may need to travel far to reach sites offering the hours required. The 2026-27 online student guide has NP students "identify their clinical practicum sites", and it asks anyone searching for their own preceptor to show professionalism, good judgment and due diligence along the way.
Owning the search is different from owning the decision. Sacred Heart approves every preceptor and site, holds the contract with the site and clears you to start. Your part is to bring a match that suits the course and a packet that lets those approvals happen on the first pass. A search that ignores the reviewers' checklist tends to end in a second search.
Who finds what, program by program
| Program | What you find | What Sacred Heart adds |
|---|---|---|
| Online MSN FNP | A site and preceptor for NU 561, NU 606, NU 607 and NU 621 | Advisor and NP coordinator approval, the site contract, clearance |
| Post-master's FNP certificate | The same four courses and the same search | The same approvals and contract |
| Online MSN PMHNP; PMHNP certificate | A site and preceptor for NU 571, NU 572 and NU 573 | The same approvals and contract |
| Online MSN CNL, NE, NMEL | Potential preceptors and sites or organizations, often in your own community | Advisor approval, the site contract |
| RN-BSN; RN-BSN-MSN | Preceptors and sites for NU 376 and NU 387 | Faculty and advisor approval, the site contract |
| Hybrid FNP/DNP | The NU 552 observation; later rotations together with the Clinical Placement Coordinator | The coordinator arranges or matches later sites |
| Post-master's DNP | A practice site and an external practice mentor | The site contract, DNP project clearance |
The hybrid FNP/DNP is the only program in the table where Sacred Heart takes an active hand in later rotations, and even there its guide tells students to reach out to colleagues, friends, family and co-workers. What follows once you have a name is laid out on the placement process page.
Support is help, not a placement
Sacred Heart's marketing pages sound more hands-on than its guides. Sacred Heart's online FAQ speaks of "ongoing preceptor identification support" from its program coordinators, and the State Authorizations page says a Clinical Placement Coordinator works with the student to secure a placement once a site and preceptor have been identified.
Read those lines as help with your search rather than a promise that someone else will run it. The guide's procedure opens with the student identifying a site and preceptor, and it describes no route for online students to request a school-arranged placement. Where the sources pull in different directions, your program's 2026-27 student guide and your academic advisor settle it. The next online FNP placement must be settled by week 10 of the course that precedes it, as the week-10 deadline page explains.
Waiting for Sacred Heart to assign an online preceptor is the costly mistake. Start your own search the moment your program allows.
Search so the answer is yes
A strong search begins with Sacred Heart's rules, not with a list of clinics. Work through these in order:
- Read the course description first.
NU 606covers children,NU 607covers women's health, andNU 572sets aside at least 100 hours for patients younger than 18, so a general adult practice may not fit every course. - Screen credentials before you call. FNP preceptors are MD, DO, PA or APRN, with board certification for physicians and APRNs; each track's list is on who can precept.
- Stay where you can train. NP clinical hours cannot happen in New York, and you need an active RN license in the state where you do clinicals.
- Ask about the health system early. Practices inside a partnering health system need that system's sign-off before Sacred Heart's.
- Favor sites Sacred Heart already works with. An agreement on file spares you the months a new contract can take, as affiliation agreements explains.
- Leave relatives and close friends off the list. Sacred Heart treats them as a conflict of interest.
- Work your own network first. Colleagues, former instructors and clinicians you have worked beside often say yes fastest.
Questions for a prospective preceptor
Each question below maps to something a Sacred Heart reviewer or form will ask for, so the first conversation doubles as your approval packet:
- Which license and board certification do you hold, and in which state?
- How long have you practiced in this specialty? The FNP portal asks for at least a year of primary care with adults, women or children.
- Does your practice or employer support precepting, and does the practice belong to a larger health organization?
- Who signs student contracts for the site? Sacred Heart's form asks for that contact.
- Which days could you cover, and do they fit the course's weeks?
- Are you comfortable completing student evaluations in E*Value, Sacred Heart's online tracking system?
- May I send your CV, license and certification to my advisor this week?
Collect the answers in writing and the preceptor approval step starts with nothing missing.
Why Sacred Heart students hand the search to us
A preceptor search done well is part research and part persistence, and your placement advisor brings both. We search for a preceptor and site that fit your exact Sacred Heart course in your own community, check every credential against your track before a name reaches you, and assemble the CV, license, board certification and site contract contact in one packet.
That packet is shaped for Sacred Heart's reviewers, so your advisor and the NP clinical coordinator see what they ask for on the first read, and the affiliation agreement can begin early. We track your deadline, stay on call through the rotation and find a replacement if a preceptor drops. Share your program and course in the form below and we get to work.
Questions Sacred Heart students ask
Can I use a preceptor at my current job?
Often, yes. Sacred Heart's online FAQ says many students arrange clinical hours at their current employer, and the contract form has you disclose any job at the site or working tie to the preceptor. RN-BSN students face an own-unit limit. The details by program are on clinicals where you work.
Does Sacred Heart give students a list of preceptors?
Nothing on Sacred Heart's public nursing pages offers students a preceptor directory. The College of Nursing recruits clinicians through FNP and PMHNP inquiry forms on its APRN preceptor portal, and the hybrid FNP/DNP coordinator can match students to available sites. Online students can ask their academic advisor about leads for a course and should keep searching in parallel.
How far will I have to travel for clinicals?
Sacred Heart's NP and admissions pages warn that students may need to travel significant distances, while an online MSN FAQ says clinicals happen at a facility near you. Both statements are Sacred Heart's. Distance depends on your specialty and local supply; Sacred Heart's preceptor portal flags the greatest need in Connecticut, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
When should I start looking for a preceptor?
As early as your program allows. Online FNP placements are due in week 10 of the course before each clinical course, RN-BSN students begin nine months ahead of their first clinical practice course, and DNP students begin the practice-site search around NU 821 or NU 823. A brand-new site can need months for its contract, which is what an early start buys you.
What if a preceptor agrees and then backs out?
Tell Clinical Placement right away. A new site or preceptor means new paperwork, a fresh form and a new clearance, before you return. Our preceptor dropped out page lays out the recovery plan, and our placement advisors line up replacements and the new paperwork quickly.
Related pages
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
Start your placement plan
Program, city and clinical start is all we need to begin.