The College's nurse-led clinics as clinical sites
East Tennessee State University (ETSU) runs its own nurse-managed clinics through the College of Nursing's Office of Practice, and students can apply there for a precepted rotation. Requests open on fixed dates, October 1 for spring, March 1 for summer and May 1 for fall, and anything sent earlier is not considered. Treat a clinic request as one strong option running alongside an outside preceptor search.
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Tell us your ETSU program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with the preceptor and site options that fit your ETSU course.
Which clinics take students
The Office of Practice supports a Faculty Practice Network of nurse-managed clinics in Johnson City, Mountain City in Johnson County and Sneedville in Hancock County. It handles the network's administration and reviews requests for clinical rotations, projects and grants at those clinics. ETSU's two clinic pages name the sites differently, and both versions are worth knowing.
| Site | Office of Practice page (updated 2025) | Clinics page (updated April 2026) |
|---|---|---|
| Johnson City Community Health Center | Listed as a rotation site | Listed at 2151 Century Lane; described as a Federally Qualified Health Center |
| Johnson City Downtown Day Center Clinic | Listed as a rotation site | Listed at 202 West Fairview Avenue; described as a Federally Qualified Health Center |
| University Health Center | Listed as a rotation site | Not listed |
| Hancock County school-based health care, Sneedville | One school-based health center listed | Two listed: Hancock County Elementary and Hancock County Middle/High |
| Mountain City Extended Hours Health Center | Listed as a rotation site | Not listed |
Because the lists disagree, ask the Office of Practice which sites are accepting students for your term before you plan a practicum around any one of them.
The three request windows
Each term has its own opening date, and the Office of Practice says requests sent before that date are not considered.
| Term you want | Requests open | Rotation starts |
|---|---|---|
| Spring | October 1 | January |
| Summer | March 1 | May |
| Fall | May 1 | August |
The fall entry on the Office of Practice page mentions August of the following academic year, yet its own example, a May 1, 2025 opening for Fall 2025, points to the same calendar year. Confirm with the office which fall a May request covers.
The windows sit close to the term. Summer is the tightest: ETSU's approved calendar starts the complete summer 2027 term on May 17, about eleven weeks after the March 1 opening, and full-time FNP students carry two 120-hour practicums that summer. ETSU publishes no decision date, so run an outside search in parallel. The summer clinical semester page covers what lands there.
Documents the clinics ask for
Accepted students owe the Office of Practice a set of documents that forms the most itemized clinical list ETSU publishes. In brief:
- A criminal background check completed within the past 12 months.
- Immunization proof: a yearly flu shot, MMR, hepatitis B, varicella, and a Tdap or Td booster within ten years.
- A negative TB skin test each year, or a chest X-ray if the skin test is positive.
- ETSU trainings in HIPAA (Parts One and Two), bloodborne pathogens, portable fire extinguishers, hazard communication and emergency preparedness.
- Proof of current CPR.
The office says these closely match what nursing students met at admission, so much of it may already sit in ProjectConcert; it checks each accepted student's file and reports what is missing. How each item is uploaded is covered on the clinical health requirements page.
The background check must be from the past 12 months. A check completed at admission two years ago will not satisfy the clinic list, so look at its date before you apply.
Who the clinics serve
ETSU's clinics sit in some of the region's highest-need places. HRSA's shortage-area files, in records dated September 24, 2026, list an ETSU FQHC facility designation in Washington County with a primary care score of 19 and a mental health score of 20, both designated. Hancock County, home of the school-based centers, has been a rural high-needs primary care shortage area since 1979, and all of Johnson County, where Mountain City sits, has carried a rural designation since 1990.
The Appalachian Regional Commission rates Johnson and Hancock counties as distressed for fiscal 2027, its lowest economic tier. Several area mental health designations, Hancock's among them, are marked proposed for withdrawal, so treat those as subject to change. For a student, these clinics mean practicing where access is hardest, which suits ETSU's FNP emphasis on underserved rural and urban groups.
Match the clinic to the course. School-based centers serve children and teenagers, an obvious question to ask about for NRSE 5024, while the Johnson City community clinics see a broader mix. Confirm the actual numbers with the clinic before you complete the Intent Form's grid; see patient population mix.
Projects, grants and DNP work at the clinics
Rotations are not the only route in. Faculty and students can propose projects at the clinics, with requests due at least four weeks before the planned start; grant-implementation requests are due at least four weeks before the grant deadline.
That matters most to DNP students. An older ETSU DNP project guide says a practice site must agree before faculty approve a site-based project, so a clinic can be a project home as well as a place to log hours. For the 40 interprofessional practicum hours every ETSU DNP concentration requires, ask course faculty which settings count; the DNP interprofessional hours page explains the two routes ETSU describes.
The office sits in 310 Nicks Hall. Its published roles include an Office of Practice Coordinator and an Office of Practice Credentialing and Contract Specialist, among others. Address questions to the office by role rather than hunting for a name.
Why a clinic request and an outside search belong together
The Office of Practice reviews each request, and ETSU does not publish how many are accepted or when answers go out. It also does not describe itself as placing students at outside sites. A student who waits on a clinic reply before starting an outside search can lose most of a term's lead time, especially for summer.
We run the outside search while your clinic request is pending. We find a preceptor in your own community whose patients fit your course, gather every credential and site detail the Intent Form and the ProjectConcert onboarding entry ask for, and flag the contract need early. If the clinic says yes, you hold a well-documented backup; if not, your placement is already moving. Start with the form.
Questions ETSU students ask
When can I request a spring rotation at an ETSU nurse-led clinic?
Spring requests open October 1 for the January start, and the Office of Practice says requests sent before a window opens are not considered. Summer requests open March 1 and fall requests May 1. ETSU does not publish when decisions are made, so keep an outside preceptor search moving while you wait.
Are the College's clinics open to students from other schools?
The Office of Practice says students, including ETSU nursing students, can apply for precepted rotations, so its wording is not limited to ETSU. It reviews every request. For accepted ETSU students it checks the ProjectConcert file and reports missing documents, so much of what it needs may already be on file.
Is University Health Center still a rotation site?
It appears on the Office of Practice page, last updated in 2025, but not on the clinics page updated in April 2026, which lists four sites. The Mountain City Extended Hours Health Center shows the same gap. Ask the Office of Practice which sites are taking students in your term before you request one.
Do I need a new background check for a clinic rotation?
Possibly. The clinic list asks for a criminal background check from the past 12 months. If yours is older, expect to repeat it through the College's specified vendor, and ETSU's graduate catalog puts the background check fee on the student. Check the dates in your ProjectConcert file before you apply.
Can a clinic rotation cover a whole practicum?
ETSU's pages do not say how many hours a clinic rotation provides. Your requirement comes from your plan of study, for example 120 hours for each FNP population practicum. Ask the Office of Practice what schedule it can offer, and ask course faculty whether a second preceptor is needed to reach the total.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-25
We check these pages against ETSU's own catalog, College of Nursing pages, plans of study and ProjectConcert guides. Your plan of study, your syllabus, your course faculty and the graduate clinical coordinator have the final word.
ETSU asks you to lead the preceptor search. We make it the fastest part of your program.
Tell us your ETSU concentration, where you live and which semester your next practicum starts. We find preceptors who fit the course's patient population and prepare everything your Preceptor Intent Form and ProjectConcert entry need.
- Preceptors matched to the course: young and middle adults for
NRSE 5012, older adults forNRSE 5014, women forNRSE 5022, children forNRSE 5024, psychiatric care forNRSE 5405 - Credentials, license numbers, certification dates and the site's patient mix ready for faculty approval
- In your own community, in Northeast Tennessee or wherever ETSU approves your clinicals
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