Precepting an ETSU nursing student: what to expect
East Tennessee State University (ETSU) graduate nursing students take their coursework online and their clinicals in person, with a preceptor near home. Whether you practice as an NP or a physician, or lead or teach in nursing, here is what ETSU asks of a preceptor, how ProjectConcert fits in, and how to join our preceptor network.
Join our preceptor network
Tell us your role, specialty and county, and when you could take a student.
Who you would be teaching
The student you take on may be in an MSN track (family NP, psychiatric NP, administration or education), a DNP, including the joint DNP ETSU runs with Tennessee Tech, or a post-graduate certificate. Every practicum happens in person, close to where the student lives.
Your time commitment depends on the course. In ETSU's plans of study, a nurse practitioner population practicum runs 120 hours, health assessment 60, an administration or education practicum 180 and a DNP residency 125; students confirm the figures for their own catalog year, and our clinical hours page has the breakdown. A rotation can be shared, since ETSU's form asks whether a second preceptor will take part.
Under Tennessee's Board of Nursing rule, faculty direct all clinical learning, including the time a student spends with you. You teach in your clinic, office or unit; ETSU's clinical faculty direct the experience and approve you for it.
What ETSU looks for in a preceptor
ETSU pairs the preceptor's role with the course. The Intent Form's sample credentials for NP courses are FNP, ANP and MD, while the catalog calls for a nurse administrator in the executive leadership practicums and experienced academic nurse educators in the education practicums.
Tennessee adds a licensing test. Your license should be unencumbered, at or above the level the student is working toward and valid in the state where you teach, and your competencies should suit the experience. Nursing schools monitor those licenses with Nursys e-Notify.
ETSU has not published a minimum number of years in practice or a cap on students per preceptor. Clinical faculty weigh your background during their review, and the Office of Student Services verifies your credentials. The course-by-course picture is on our requirements page.
From yes to the first clinical day
- The student submits youThe student creates the ProjectConcert entry ETSU calls Preceptor & Clinical Agency Onboarding, chooses a graduate clinical coordinator and attaches the form and your CV.
- Faculty approveClinical faculty decide whether you and your site fit the course.
- Credentials are verifiedThe Office of Student Services checks your license and certification details.
- A contract is put in placeNo clinical can begin until a contract is in place. If your organization has none with ETSU, the College sets one up; ETSU has not published how long that takes.
- You receive a welcome emailIt comes from the Graduate Clinical Placement Coordinator and carries your ProjectConcert username and sign-in details.
Alongside these steps, the student must meet all of ETSU's clinical requirements, such as immunizations and liability insurance, before the first day with you.
Your part in ProjectConcert
ProjectConcert is ETSU nursing's clinical platform, reached at secure.projectconcert.com/etsu. Faculty and preceptors use it to review, approve and report on what students submit.
During the rotation, the student builds the clinical schedule with the self-scheduler and records hours and a patient journal under the Experience menu for your review. For evaluations, the student uses the Schedule User Evaluation option on the course dashboard, and an email with the link comes to you. ETSU's guides describe these as mid-term and final evaluations, and students can add ad hoc evaluations too.
DNP residencies differ slightly: the preceptor completes an evaluation in ProjectConcert, faculty complete their own, and at each semester's close the DNP project chair confirms the hours. The evaluation steps are on our preceptor evaluations page.
The Tennessee incentive for Tennessee-licensed APRNs
If you are an APRN licensed in Tennessee, precepting an ETSU nurse practitioner student may qualify you for the Tennessee Nurse Preceptor Incentive. The Tennessee Hospital Association administers this grant-backed state program with a workforce partner, and it makes one payment per cycle, tiered by approved hours, while funds last.
Joining starts with a one-time UTHSC preceptor course, after which you enroll and log hours on Whitecoat. Qualifying hours must happen at a site approved by a Tennessee program with a current affiliation agreement, and your employer's policy has to allow taking part. The program decides eligibility, so check its page before counting on a payment. The full conditions are on our incentive page. ETSU's own pages list no preceptor benefits beyond ProjectConcert access, since its preceptor page is currently offline.
Join our preceptor network
We connect ETSU students with preceptors whose practices fit their courses, and we would like to hear from you. Tell us your role and specialty, where you practice, the patient populations you see, your license state and when you could take a student. Your placement advisor then matches you only with students whose ETSU course suits your site and schedule.
Before a student's details reach you, we confirm the course, the hours and the timing. We prepare the Intent Form information with you so the student's ProjectConcert entry goes in complete, and we flag early whether your organization will need a contract with ETSU. You get an organized student and a clear timeline, and ETSU's faculty keep the final approval.
Use the form below and choose the preceptor option. A placement advisor will follow up with you.
Questions ETSU students ask
How many hours will an ETSU student spend with me?
It depends on the course. ETSU's plans of study list 120 hours for each nurse practitioner population practicum, 60 for health assessment, 180 for each administration or education practicum and 125 for each DNP residency. Hours can be split with a second preceptor, which the Intent Form allows, and the student confirms the figure for their catalog year.
Do I need a Tennessee license to precept an ETSU student?
Only if you precept in Tennessee. Tennessee's rule links the preceptor's license to the state where precepting happens, so a preceptor elsewhere needs an unencumbered license in that state at or above the student's level. ETSU looks at each out-of-state graduate clinical individually, so the student confirms the state with the College early.
Will my practice have to sign a contract with ETSU?
A contract between ETSU and the site has to exist before a student's clinicals start. If your organization already has one, that step may already be covered; if not, the College sets one up. ETSU has not published how long that takes, so the sooner the student submits, the more time everyone has.
Can I precept more than one ETSU student at a time?
ETSU's Intent Form asks how many students you will supervise at the same time, and ETSU publishes no fixed limit. Clinical faculty consider your student load when they review you, so give an accurate number that includes students from other schools as well as ETSU.
Does ETSU give preceptors continuing education credit?
ETSU's pages do not describe continuing education credit or other preceptor benefits, and its preceptor page is currently offline. The welcome email does give you ProjectConcert access for the rotation. Tennessee-licensed APRNs can also look at the state-funded Tennessee Nurse Preceptor Incentive, which covers students of accredited Tennessee schools.
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
Start your placement plan
Program, city and semester is all we need to begin.