Finding a preceptor in the Tri-Cities and Northeast Tennessee
Northeast Tennessee is home ground for East Tennessee State University (ETSU), and much of it carries federal primary care shortage designations. For a student that means underserved settings near campus, the College's own nurse-led clinics in Johnson City and two rural counties, and a regional hospital network that takes advanced practice students only through school agreements.
Get your placement plan
Tell us your ETSU program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with the preceptor and site options that fit your ETSU course.
The region, county by county
Each county below appears with its federal shortage designations (HRSA records of September 24, 2026, with HRSA's scores) and its Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) status for fiscal 2027, October 1, 2026 to September 30, 2027.
| County | Primary care designation (score) | Mental health designation (score, status) | ARC, FY 2027 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Washington | Low-income, with Carter and Unicoi (15); ETSU FQHC facility (19) | Low-income area (17, proposed for withdrawal); ETSU FQHC facility (20, designated) | Transitional |
| Sullivan | Low-income, with Hawkins (15) | Low-income area (17, proposed for withdrawal) | Transitional |
| Carter | Low-income, with Washington and Unicoi (15) | Low-income area (17, proposed for withdrawal) | At-Risk |
| Unicoi | Low-income, with Washington and Carter (15) | Low-income area (17, proposed for withdrawal) | Transitional |
| Greene | Low-income (13) | Geographic area (12, proposed for withdrawal) | At-Risk |
| Hawkins | Low-income, with Sullivan (15); Rural Health Services Consortium FQHC (17) | Geographic area (12, proposed for withdrawal); Rural Health Services Consortium FQHC (21, designated) | Transitional |
| Johnson | High-needs geographic, whole county, rural (9) | Low-income area (17, proposed for withdrawal) | Distressed |
| Hancock | High-needs geographic, rural (17) | Geographic area (12, proposed for withdrawal) | Distressed |
Most of the region's mental health area designations are proposed for withdrawal, so they may lapse; check HRSA's shortage area tool before you describe a site that way. The facility designations for the two FQHCs remain in place.
Why shortage areas matter to your ETSU course
ETSU's catalog descriptions for NRSE 5022 (women's health) and NRSE 5024 (children and adolescents) place students with nursing faculty and clinical preceptors in rural, urban and underserved settings. Much of Northeast Tennessee answers that description, from low-income primary care areas in Washington and Sullivan counties to the rural high-needs designations covering Johnson and Hancock.
A designation says nothing about whether a given clinic can host a student; that depends on the preceptor, the site's patients and a contract with ETSU. What it marks is where the federal government has recognized a need for more clinicians, which is exactly the kind of community ETSU's course language names.
When you visit a candidate site, collect its patient mix. On the Preceptor Intent Form, faculty see the site's percentages and daily counts across age groups, with women listed as their own group, and our patient population page shows how faculty weigh those figures.
ETSU's own clinics sit in high-need counties
The College practices where the need is. Its Office of Practice runs a Faculty Practice Network, and ETSU calls its two Johnson City clinics, the Johnson City Community Health Center and the Downtown Day Center Clinic, federally qualified health centers. HRSA's records carry an ETSU FQHC facility designation in Washington County, scored 19 for primary care and 20 for mental health.
Farther out, the network reaches the region's two Distressed counties. In Hancock County, which also holds a rural high-needs designation, ETSU runs school-based health centers at the elementary and middle/high schools in Sneedville. In Johnson County, the Office of Practice lists an extended hours health center in Mountain City.
ETSU's two pages disagree on the roster: the clinics page (April 2026) shows four sites, while the Office of Practice page (June 2025) names five, including University Health Center and the Mountain City site. Ask the Office of Practice which is current; request windows and documents are on our Office of Practice clinics page.
Hospitals and health systems in the region
Ballad Health runs the hospitals across much of this region. It formed in 2018 when two regional systems merged, and its 20 hospitals serve 29 counties that stretch from here into Virginia, North Carolina and Kentucky. Bristol Regional, Holston Valley and Johnson City Medical Center are among its teaching hospitals. Ballad reports affiliations with more than a dozen programs and accepts APP students only from those with a current Ballad affiliation agreement, with each request coming from the program's clinical coordinator.
ETSU's own Ballad-related pages concern other programs: a workplace initiative with the ETSU/Ballad Health Strong BRAIN Institute and the Kingsport ETSU/HVMC Accelerated BSN. For any graduate placement question, go to the graduate clinical coordinator. How other Tennessee systems handle NP students is on our Tennessee NP preceptors page.
VA Mountain Home in Johnson City lists only a pharmacy residency and a psychology internship on its training page, last updated December 2021, and no NP student page was found.
When the best preceptor is across a state line
Ballad's footprint crosses state lines, so a regional search can easily turn up a preceptor in Virginia, North Carolina or Kentucky. That makes the rotation an out-of-state clinical. ETSU reviews graduate clinicals outside Tennessee case by case after admission, subject to approval from the appropriate regulatory bodies, and for MSN students your RN license, unencumbered, must come from Tennessee or from the clinical state.
The preceptor's side shifts as well. Tennessee's rule ties a preceptor's license to the state where the teaching takes place, so a Virginia preceptor needs a Virginia license at or above your level. Read our guides to clinicals outside Tennessee and to Virginia first, and raise the plan with the College before you recruit. The review of the preceptor itself stays the same as for a Tennessee site.
Why Northeast Tennessee students choose us
Our placement advisors search the region county by county, from Johnson City and Kingsport practices to rural clinics in Johnson and Hancock counties, and match each candidate to the population your ETSU course covers. We verify the preceptor's license and certification dates, gather the patient mix the Intent Form asks for, and tell you early if a site has no contract with ETSU yet.
When a site belongs to a system that routes students through their school, we tell you so you can bring it to the graduate clinical coordinator in good time. Placements are in person, close to home, and we stay with you through the term, including a replacement search if a preceptor steps away. Name your county and course in the form below.
Questions ETSU students ask
Is Johnson City a health professional shortage area?
Washington County, where ETSU's Johnson City clinics sit, shares a low-income primary care designation with Carter and Unicoi counties (score 15), and ETSU's federally qualified health center holds its own facility designation (19). The county's low-income mental health designation is proposed for withdrawal, while the ETSU FQHC's mental health facility designation (20) remains designated.
Can I do NP clinicals at ETSU's clinics in Sneedville or Mountain City?
Those clinics belong to the College's Faculty Practice Network, and the Office of Practice considers rotation requests only after each window opens: spring requests on October 1, summer on March 1 and fall on May 1. Accepted students also need their background check, immunizations, TB test, CPR and ETSU trainings on file in ProjectConcert.
Does VA Mountain Home take nurse practitioner students?
Its internships and fellowships page lists only a pharmacy residency and a psychology internship, and it was last updated in December 2021. No nurse practitioner student page was found. If you work there, ask ETSU's graduate clinical coordinator how to proceed before you plan around it.
What does proposed for withdrawal mean on a shortage designation?
It is a status HRSA shows on a designation that may be removed. In the September 2026 records, most Northeast Tennessee mental health area designations carry it, while the FQHC facility designations stay in place. Check HRSA's shortage area tool for the latest status before you rely on one in an application or outreach message.
Which counties near ETSU does the ARC rank as distressed?
For fiscal 2027, the Appalachian Regional Commission ranks Johnson and Hancock counties Distressed and Carter and Greene At-Risk. Washington, Sullivan, Hawkins, Unicoi and Sevier sit in the Transitional band, and Knox alone is Competitive. Statewide, Tennessee has 6 distressed and 12 at-risk Appalachian counties, and it saw more status changes than any other state.
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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