Your preceptor pulled out: what to do next

Start with your RCF, not your contact list

Your Regional Clinical Faculty member is the link between you, your sites, your preceptors and Clinical Credentialing, so they should hear about a withdrawal from you, and promptly. The catalog routes any change of clinical site through the RCF for the region you live in now.

Put the facts in writing: the preceptor's name, the last day you were or will be there, the hours and visit counts logged so far, and whether anyone else at the practice might keep hosting you. That note gives your RCF something concrete to act on, and it gives you a record.

If the withdrawal pushes back your projected Clinical Bound term, the catalog also expects you to notify your remaining preceptors, your Clinical Credentialing Coordinator and your Academic Advisor.

Before clinicals or mid-practicum: two different problems

Before clinicals, the drop mostly threatens dates. Mid-practicum, it threatens the weekly pace: students starting clinical in 2025 or later need 750 hours across 19 weeks of clinical, and each course has a minimum number of hours per week.

Close out properly with the preceptor who is leaving

How the last days go matters for your record and for the next site. Leaving on good terms also keeps a door open, since a preceptor who cannot continue may know a colleague who can.

• Ask for any outstanding DDATs. Each preceptor completes the DDAT once per week, and FNU says all preceptors must complete it.
• Ask your RCF which evaluations the departing preceptor should finish for the time you spent together, and send the requests while they still have access.
• Bring your Clinical Log up to date for every day at the site while the details are fresh.
• Ask directly for names: other clinicians in the practice, or colleagues nearby who might take an FNU student.

Rebuilding the plan step by step

1. Map what is leftList the hours, the weeks and each visit count you still need, by type. For midwifery that means births, labor management and newborn assessments, not only hours.
2. Look inside the same practice firstAnother clinician there may be able to step in. They still need to meet FNU's preceptor rules and be credentialed before supervising you, so ask your RCF whether a new CSAF is required.
3. Submit the new siteA new site goes in through a CSAF on the Community Map, and your RCF accepts it in My Clinical Plan. The CSAF page covers what the form asks.
4. Let credentialing finishClinical Credentialing sets up the affiliation agreement, insurance and preceptor credentialing. Seeing patients there before it is done counts as grounds for dismissal, even if the wait feels like lost time.
5. Get released and restartOnce your RCF releases the new site and preceptor, hold a pre-clinical orientation meeting with the new preceptor, just as you did with the first.

Making a second withdrawal less likely

You cannot control a preceptor's job change, but you can build in slack. FNU allows up to four sites in most tracks (WHNP reads three in the catalog and four on the website), so a second, smaller site gives you a fallback without breaking any rule.

Before a new preceptor commits, confirm their employer allows precepting and the honorarium; FNU notes that some employers do not let their providers accept individual payments. Point them to the FNU preceptor guide and The Gift of Precepting course, and use the pre-clinical orientation meeting to agree schedule, hours and visit types up front. Our page on asking a preceptor covers that first conversation. Staying in regular touch with your preceptor between RCF contacts also means scheduling friction surfaces while it is still easy to fix.

If the withdrawal came with concerns about your progress

Not every departure is about the preceptor's circumstances. When the RCF or a preceptor judges progress or supervision inadequate, FNU's process runs through three documents in turn: a Problem Identification Sheet, a Learning Plan and, after that, a Performance Plan.

The catalog adds that the RCF or Clinical Director can direct a student to a different site of their choosing, and that such a move is at the student's expense and not optional. Engage with that process openly. A new site arranged quietly on the side will not replace it, and your RCF has to accept any site you use anyway. Ask your RCF what each plan asks of you and by when, and keep a copy of every document.

How we help after a drop

Searching again after a withdrawal is part of our service. Tell us what is left on your plan (hours, weeks and the visit types you are short on) and how far you can travel. If the practice you were at has another clinician who might step in, we look at that first, because it can be the shortest way back.

Otherwise the search targets a preceptor and site that cover your track and the counts you still need, in person near you first, each one checked against the preceptor rules FNU publishes. We help you prepare what the new CSAF and Clinical Credentialing require. Your RCF and Clinical Credentialing approve the replacement, and we pull its details together quickly so their review can begin sooner. Use the form below or see how it works.