How to ask a preceptor for an FNU rotation

Know your ask before you make it

A clinician's first questions are how many hours, how many weeks and when. FNU's practicum is 750 hours over at least 19 weeks, with weekly minimums of 20 hours in your first clinical course, 28 in the second and 24 in the third. Tie your start to your projected Clinical Bound term, and say whether you're asking them for the whole practicum or part of it.

Check fit before you ask. They need a valid, unencumbered US license, a year in an advanced-practice or medical role and the right credential for your track, and they can't be family. The preceptor requirements page covers the FNP 40% share for MDs, DOs and PAs and the PMHNP 135-hour cap for therapists, so you only approach people whose hours will count.

Have one line ready on who approves what. Your Regional Clinical Faculty member (RCF) and Clinical Credentialing review the site and preceptor; a yes from the clinician starts that process rather than finishing it.

Where to find people worth asking

Start with FNU's Community Map, which FNU describes as "over 20,000 active clinical sites and preceptors throughout all 50 states." It is built from preceptors and sites FNU students have used before, so many of the people on it have hosted an FNU student already. Clinicians can also add themselves through FNU's Preceptor Inquiry Form, which puts their contact details on the map.

Then widen the net: colleagues from past jobs, clinicians you've worked alongside, alumni in your region, and Case Days, the RCF-run seminars that are open to students, alumni, preceptors and applicants. Students on nursing forums report that networking works. Your Clinical Advisor can help you work through leads and troubleshoot when replies dry up.

What FNU gives preceptors

These come from FNU's preceptor pages and catalog. Describe them the way FNU does, and don't put a number on the honorarium, because FNU doesn't publish one.

• An honorarium, paid after you finish the practicum. FNU says it is based on the program and the number of hours. Some employers don't let clinicians accept individual payments, and preceptors can donate the honorarium to FNU, where donations help fund a Preceptor Scholarship for students.
• The Gift of Precepting, an ANCC-approved course worth 6 contact hours, plus other CE sessions that FNU says include pharmacology.
• 10% off FNU's non-matriculating (non-degree) courses. FNU's non-matriculating page said in September 2026 that it wasn't taking those applications, so check what is open before you mention it.
• DynaMed access, which you set up by registering your preceptor through the FNU library's DynaMed link.
• Documentation of precepting hours for recertification, with a confirmation of hours and CE credits emailed to the preceptor.
• Support from your RCF, plus the FNU Preceptor Guidebook and online training.

FNU also holds a Preceptor Celebration Week in the second week of August and keeps a Featured Preceptor archive, worth mentioning to clinicians who value recognition.

What precepting asks of them

Be straight about the work. Preceptors who know the load up front can plan for it; here is the sequence FNU takes them through.

1. CredentialingAfter you submit their details, FNU emails them Preceptor Login instructions, and Clinical Credentialing works with the site on an affiliation agreement and certificates of insurance. FNU insures you, the student, with general and professional liability coverage.
2. OrientationThe Gift of Precepting course and the FNU preceptor guide, then a pre-clinical orientation meeting with you that follows a 10-point agenda set in the catalog.
3. Faculty visitsYour RCF makes a Pre-Clinical Site Visit to your primary site and a Clinical Site Visit around your halfway point, which may be virtual or in person. The RCF also contacts preceptors monthly.
4. EvaluationsA DDAT that FNU's troubleshooting page says each preceptor completes once a week, plus an MDAT and EDAT for midwifery and WHNP students or an EDAT alone for FNP and PMHNP, through the Preceptor Login. See preceptor evaluations.

A first message that gets a real answer

Keep first contact short and specific, and make it easy to forward to a practice manager. Whether it goes through a mutual colleague or as a brief email, cover these five parts.

1. Who you areYour name, that you're an RN in FNU's program for your track, and how you found them.
2. What you needYour course numbers (for an FNP, FNP751 to FNP753), the start term, hours per week and the total hours you're asking them to cover.
3. What FNU handlesThe affiliation agreement, insurance exchange and credentialing run through FNU's Clinical Credentialing, and your RCF supports them through the practicum.
4. What they getThe honorarium, CE, course discount, DynaMed access and hours documentation, in FNU's own terms.
5. The next stepAsk for a short call and offer to send FNU's preceptor page. If you hear nothing, follow up once after a week.

After they say yes

Contact your RCF, then submit the Clinical Site Approval Form through the Community Map and record the rotation in My Clinical Plan. Clinical Credentialing starts only once your RCF accepts the CSAF, and it can take several months.

Keep the preceptor in the loop while that runs. If your Clinical Bound term moves, FNU expects you to tell your preceptors along with your RCF, Clinical Credentialing Coordinator and Academic Advisor. Share the placement timeline so they know roughly when to expect you.

If the site asks for a rotation fee, don't pay it yourself. FNU reviews site fees case by case and, if it agrees, pays against an invoice from the site; it won't pay fees without an invoice or cash handed to a site.

How we reach preceptors for you

A placement advisor contacts clinicians who fit your track and location, explains what FNU asks of preceptors and what it gives them, and brings you the ones open to a conversation, along with the details your CSAF will need. We describe the honorarium, CE and other perks in FNU's own wording, so every clinician knows exactly what FNU offers. Clinicians who want a plain explanation can read precepting FNU students.

A preceptor's yes is where FNU's review begins, with your RCF looking at the CSAF and the credentialing team vetting the preceptor, and the clinicians we introduce already fit your track. If you've already worked the map and your own network without luck, can't find a preceptor sets out next steps, or use the form below.