How we find your ETSU preceptor, from first message to first clinical day

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

East Tennessee State University (ETSU) leaves the preceptor search for graduate nursing students largely in their own hands. We run that search for you: we find a preceptor near home whose patients fit your course, assemble everything the Preceptor Intent Form and ProjectConcert ask for, flag the contract early and stay on call all semester. Your faculty make the decision; our job is a file with nothing missing when it lands with them.

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Start with three details

Your program, your city and the semester your practicum begins.

The process, step by step

Every placement follows the same order, built around the way ETSU reviews a preceptor. You stay in charge of every ETSU submission; we do the searching, checking and preparing that make each submission strong.

You tell us the courseProgram, concentration, the NRSE course from your plan of study, your city and the term the practicum starts.
We read the course's focusEach ETSU practicum centers on a population or role, so the search starts there, not with whoever has an open calendar.
We search your communityWe contact clinicians within a workable drive whose practice sees that population, and confirm interest, dates and planned hours.
We build the fileEvery credential and degree, each license and board certification number with its expiration, the patient mix and the CV, checked before you see them.
You submit to ETSUYou open a new Preceptor & Clinical Agency Onboarding entry in ProjectConcert, choose the coordinator from its dropdown and attach the finished form.
We watch the approvalsFaculty sign-off, a credential review by Student Services, the agency contract and your own compliance items. If an entry comes back, we fix what the comment asks.
We stay on callOnce hours begin, we remain available, and if a preceptor steps away we start a replacement search at once.

What we need from you

A strong search starts with precise inputs. The more of these you share at the start, the faster we can move and the fewer candidates fall away later.

Your concentration and the exact course, such as NRSE 5022 or NRSE 5405, taken from your plan of study.
Your home address or ZIP code and the longest drive you will accept.
The semester and start date, plus days of the week you can give to clinicals.
Any preceptor or site you have already approached, and what they said.
Whether you work for any agency you would train at, since the Intent Form asks.
Where your clinical requirements stand in ProjectConcert.

Send them through the form on this page. Your placement advisor replies with a plan for your course.

How we match a preceptor to your course

Fit with the course is the test ETSU's faculty apply, so it is the test we apply first. The FNP practicums each center on one population: young and middle adults in NRSE 5012, women in NRSE 5022, older adults in NRSE 5014, children and adolescents in NRSE 5024. PMHNP courses need psychiatric care, Nursing Administration courses a nurse administrator, and Nursing Education courses experienced academic nurse educators.

Level matters too. Under Tennessee's board rules, a preceptor's unencumbered license must sit at or above the level you are working toward, in the state where the teaching happens, so an NP course calls for an NP or a physician; the Intent Form offers FNP, ANP and MD as sample credentials. We also note how many students a preceptor already supervises, which the form asks. The preceptor requirements page has the detail.

The file we prepare before you submit

Two documents carry your preceptor to ETSU's reviewers: the Preceptor Intent Form and the onboarding entry in ProjectConcert. A single missing expiry date or a patient mix that does not match the course can send the entry back, so we complete and check every field first.

Your file holds the preceptor's degrees and credentials; every license number with its state and expiry; every certification number with its expiry; the agency's name and street address; the hours you plan; any co-preceptor; and how the site's patients split across children, teens, women, adults and older adults, both as a percentage and as a daily number. The posted form is dated and lists retired course numbers, so we fill whichever current version the graduate clinical coordinator gives you. Our ProjectConcert submission guide walks through the upload.

Contract, approval and your first day

Four gates stand between a willing preceptor and day one. Faculty accept the preceptor for your course; Student Services confirms the credentials; ETSU and the agency sign a contract; and your own requirements, immunizations and liability insurance among them, are complete. No contract turnaround time appears anywhere on ETSU's pages, so we bring up the agreement the same day a preceptor accepts.

After approval, a welcome message from the Graduate Clinical Placement Coordinator gives your preceptor access to ProjectConcert, and you build your schedule in the self-scheduler. Hours and the patient journal go into ProjectConcert from your very first shift. The full sequence is on the placement process page.

ETSU makes every approval decision. Our job is a file so complete that the review goes smoothly on the first pass.

Who we help

We work with ETSU students in every program that needs a preceptor search: the MSN concentrations and the RN to MSN bridge, both doctoral routes (the ETSU DNP and the joint DNP with Tennessee Tech), the post-graduate certificates, and RN to BSN students arranging the R.N. Practicum. Traditional, Accelerated and LPN to BSN students have their clinicals arranged by the College, and we help them plan ahead for graduate study.

DNP students also bring us their residency sites for NRSE 6801 to NRSE 6804 and the 40 hours of interprofessional practicum each ETSU DNP student must complete. ETSU students often live in Northeast Tennessee, the Tri-Cities or around Knoxville, while online graduate students may be farther away; we search wherever ETSU approves your clinicals. See every program on the programs page.

Questions ETSU students ask

How long does a preceptor search take?

It depends on the course population, where you live and how close the term is. ETSU sets no published date for proposing a preceptor and gives no contract timeline, so the safest plan is to start as soon as you know your next practicum course. Tell us your start date and we will say plainly what the timeline looks like.

Who submits the ProjectConcert entry?

You do, because it sits in your student record and names the graduate clinical coordinator you pick from the dropdown. We prepare every piece that goes into it, from the completed Intent Form to the preceptor's CV, and help you read and answer any comment that comes back.

Can you work with a preceptor I already found?

Yes. We check that the preceptor fits the course's population focus, collect the credential and license details the Intent Form asks for, and flag the contract question. If you have a preceptor for one practicum but not the next, we search for the courses still open.

Do you place ETSU students outside Tennessee?

We search wherever ETSU approves your clinicals. Out-of-state graduate clinicals depend on approval from the appropriate regulators, and ETSU reviews each one after admission, so confirm your state with the College first. Our clinicals outside Tennessee page explains the rules.

OverviewClinical placement processThe ETSU graduate placement path in order: preceptor search, Intent Form, ProjectConcert entry, approvals, contract, schedule, hour logs and evaluations.Intent FormPreceptor Intent FormThe ETSU Preceptor Intent Form explained field by field: what it asks, what clinical faculty read in it, and the outdated course numbers still printed on it.ApprovalPreceptor approvalThe ETSU sign-offs before your first clinical day: faculty approval, the credential check, the contract, your own requirements, and fixing a rejection.Placement helpCostWhat shapes a quote for an ETSU preceptor placement: your course's population, clinical hours, how many practicums, where you live and how soon you start.Placement helpYour options comparedThree ways ETSU nursing students line up a preceptor: searching alone, leaning on the coordinator and College clinics, or a placement service. How to choose.

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 for NRSE 5014, women for NRSE 5022, children for NRSE 5024, psychiatric care for NRSE 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

Start your placement plan

Program, city and semester is all we need to begin.