Questions Keiser nursing students ask us most
These answers cover the broad questions that come up before a Keiser student starts a search with us. Each one points to the guide that goes deeper, so you can read Keiser's own rules in full wherever they decide the answer.
Get your placement plan
Tell us your Keiser program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with the preceptor and site options that fit your Keiser course.
Which Keiser programs do you help with?
Our search matters most in Keiser's online MSN Family Nurse Practitioner program, where Keiser's program page places the search for sites and preceptors with the student. We search for all five FNP practicums, from NUR602A to NUR691A, including the pediatric and women's health courses.
We also help WHNP students, particularly those doing clinicals outside South Florida, where the Graduate Catalog makes site selection the student's job. Doctoral students ask us to locate the practice setting and mentor behind NUR801A and NUR802A, and RN to BSN students ask for the community placement and preceptor tied to NUR4636.
Keiser's campus-based BSN tracks and the ASN arrange clinical rotations through the program, and the MSN (Nursing) has no precepted practicum, so those students seldom need a search. Our programs overview lists every Keiser nursing program alongside its clinical component.
Can you work with a preceptor I found myself?
Yes. You may already have a willing clinician for one course and nobody for the next. Your placement advisor checks the clinician you found against Keiser's rules on role, license, experience and supervision, then helps gather the CV, license details and site contact Keiser reviews, exactly as for a preceptor we sourced.
Tell us about the clinician early, including their specialty and the patients they see, so we can confirm the practice suits the course before you commit a term to it. A qualified preceptor in the wrong setting, such as an adult-only clinic for the pediatric course, still leaves you short of the hours that course needs.
One situation deserves care: a preceptor from your own workplace. Keiser permits it on three conditions: the rotation moves off your home unit, the clinician supervising you cannot be your boss, and clinic time falls outside your shifts. Our workplace clinical rules guide has the detail to check before you ask a colleague.
Will my clinicals be in person, close to home?
That is the whole aim of the search. We look for clinicians who practice within the driving radius you give us, in a state whose board has licensed you as an RN, so each clinic day fits around work and family rather than a long commute.
In-person care also matters under Keiser's rules. Keiser's graduate nursing policy lets telehealth count toward direct patient care hours but caps it at 25% of them, so a practicum built mainly on virtual visits would leave you short. Your hours need real patients, seen at the site under the preceptor's direct supervision.
If you live outside Florida, the license question comes first: Keiser's FNP and WHNP students need a Florida RN license plus one where they do clinicals. Our Florida RN license guide explains the rule.
What happens after Keiser approves the placement?
Approval opens the practical side of the term. Keiser's older graduate clinical manual asks you to give course faculty your plan for clinical course completion, naming the first and last dates and the weekdays you will be in clinic, before the practicum opens. Your preceptor gets Keiser's preceptor agreement, together with the objectives for the course and the criteria used to evaluate you, and faculty orient clinicians who are new to the role.
Once clinic starts, you document every patient encounter for faculty review within 7 days. Your preceptor evaluates you at the midterm point in week 4 and again at the close in week 8, and a Keiser faculty member makes at least one site visit, in person or virtual. Logging itself is covered on our Typhon case logs guide.
Your placement advisor stays reachable through all of it, ready to help if anything changes at the site.
When should I contact you?
As early as you can, and ideally about three months before your next practicum's term opens. Keiser recommends that runway for every clinical course, and graduate practicums start only at the opening of an 8-week term, so a search that misses its window waits for the next start date.
The next graduate terms open on October 26, 2026, January 11, 2027 and March 8, 2027. If your course falls in one of those and nothing is settled, reach out now. The full set of dates is on our Keiser graduate calendar page, and the form below is the quickest way to start. An early start also leaves room for Keiser's side of the process: the preceptor's approval, the site's affiliation agreement and any onboarding the practice runs for students.
How do I decide whether I need a placement service?
It comes down to runway, contacts and the course ahead. A student with months to spare and a strong lead in the right specialty may do well alone; a student with a term six weeks out and no leads usually gains the most from handing the search over.
We set out the three routes, searching alone, working your network and using a service, on our placement help or your own search page. If you are comparing services, our checklist for choosing a placement service lists what the best one does for a Keiser student.
Mixing the routes works too: you might find one preceptor through a colleague and hand us the courses their network cannot reach. Whichever path led to the clinician, Keiser reviews the preceptor and the site against the same standards.
Questions Keiser students ask
Are Keiser FNP practicums usually in hospitals or clinics?
Mostly outpatient clinics. The settings Keiser's FNP guidance names are all ambulatory: public health department primary care, retail clinics, private physician practices, urgent care and fast track units. Those settings see the broad adult, pediatric and women's health caseloads the practicums call for, which is why our searches center on them.
Can I start looking for a preceptor before I finish NUR671?
Yes, and starting early is wise. NUR602A follows NUR501, NUR502, NUR640, NUR650, NUR661 and NUR671, so the search for it should run while those courses are still in progress. Our guide to Keiser's first clinical course lays out the order.
Do you help Keiser nurse anesthesia (DNAP) students?
Keiser describes its Doctor of Nurse Anesthesia Practice clinicals as running through the program's clinical affiliates, which points to rotations arranged by the program rather than a student search. If you are a DNAP student with a question about a particular site, your program's clinical team is the right first contact.
Do clinical hours count if I start before Keiser approves my preceptor?
Keiser's rule is that faculty approve the preceptor arrangement and the site holds a signed contract before clinical hours begin. Hours worked before that point fall outside the rule and put your total at risk, so wait for clearance, then log from your first approved day onward.
Can my preceptor be a physician rather than a nurse practitioner?
Yes for FNP students. Physicians with an MD or DO appear on Keiser's list, alongside its first choice of a master's-prepared FNP and a small share of NPs trained in other specialties. Physician assistants do not appear on Keiser's list, so confirm with your Clinical Coordinator before relying on one.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-25
We check these pages against Keiser's catalogs, graduate nursing manuals, licensure disclosures and program pages. Your course, the Clinical Coordinator and the 2026-27 Graduate Catalog have the final word.
Keiser asks you to find your own preceptor. Let us run that search.
Tell us your Keiser program, your next practicum and where you live. We find preceptors who fit the course and prepare the CV, license and site details your Preceptor/Mentor Information Form needs, about three months ahead.
- Preceptors matched to the course: adult and older-adult primary care for
NUR602AandNUR603A, pediatrics forNUR604A, women's health forNUR605A - CV, license, certification and site contact ready for Keiser's review and the affiliation agreement
- Across Florida, from Miami to Jacksonville, and in the other states where you are licensed
Start your placement plan
Your program, city and next practicum term is all we need to begin.