NP preceptors around Tampa Bay, Lakeland and the Gulf Coast
Around Tampa Bay the biggest system sets an unusual condition: BayCare counts NP students as physician-sponsored, so a credentialed MD or DO sponsor is part of every request, which the school files through myClinicalExchange. Tampa General, HCA Florida's hospitals and Sarasota Memorial post no NP-student route, which puts community practices from Clearwater to Lakeland and Sarasota at the center of a Keiser search.
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Tell us your Keiser program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with the preceptor and site options that fit your Keiser course.
A bay in the middle of your commute
The Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater metro counted 3,418,895 residents in the Census Bureau's 2025 estimate, and that is before Lakeland to the east and Sarasota to the south are added. Keiser teaches nursing at Tampa, Clearwater, New Port Richey, Lakeland and Sarasota, and farther down the coast at Fort Myers and Naples.
Water decides the drive here. Hillsborough and Pinellas face each other across the bay, so a preceptor on the far shore adds a bridge crossing to every clinic day, and Lakeland sits inland on I-4, roughly halfway to Orlando. A practicum that asks for two clinic days a week over eight weeks rewards choosing your side of the bay first and the practice second. The statewide guide compares these systems with the rest of Florida.
BayCare: sponsor, platform and a long runway
BayCare's student pages are the most specific in the region. Both the school and the program must be affiliated with BayCare, and requests are coordinated by the school through myClinicalExchange, where the student opens a non-employee account. APRN students fall under BayCare's physician-sponsored student process, which means obtaining a sponsor who is a credentialed MD or DO. The student finds that physician, and the school helps with the preceptor.
Timing is the second hurdle. BayCare wants DNP and MSN project requests four to six months ahead, well past Keiser's advice to plan about three months before a course, so treat BayCare as a system that plans far out. It also says team members cannot precept in their own unit, which sits comfortably beside Keiser's rule for clinicals at your workplace. BayCare does not publish which schools' programs are affiliated, so ask the Clinical Coordinator about Keiser's FNP before you approach a sponsor.
Tampa General, HCA Florida and Sarasota Memorial
Tampa General Hospital describes an accredited fellowship for NPs and PAs who are already licensed, but no route for NP students from outside programs. HCA Florida sets student rules hospital by hospital and has no Tampa Bay placement page posted; its one Florida facility page on record, in Sanford, has the school rather than the student make the request, as the Orlando guide explains. AdventHealth's west Florida hospitals have no separate APRN student form on record either.
Sarasota Memorial posts no NP-student process, and neither does Lee Health in Fort Myers, which does require an affiliation agreement for visiting medical students. With all of these, the workable path is a preceptor who already practices there and can ask the education office on your behalf while Keiser confirms the agreement side.
Naples and NCH: the learner brings the preceptor
NCH in Naples is one of the few Gulf Coast systems that names APRN students among the visiting learners it coordinates, through its undergraduate and graduate medical education office. It checks for an active affiliation agreement, and its page puts the search where Keiser puts it: finding a preceptor inside NCH falls to the learner or the learner's school.
Naples is also home to Keiser's Doctor of Nurse Anesthesia Practice, whose clinical affiliates that program arranges for its own students. That arrangement belongs to the anesthesia program, so a Naples FNP student plans a primary care search of their own. Family practices, internal medicine offices and urgent cares near home are the natural first calls in Collier and Lee counties.
Matching Gulf Coast settings to each Keiser practicum
Pick the setting for the course before you pick the drive.
NUR602AandNUR603A, 120 hours each in the 2026-27 catalog: family medicine and internal medicine offices seeing adults and older adults.NUR604A, 60 hours with children and adolescents: pediatric practices, or family practices with a solid pediatric panel.NUR605A, 60 hours in women's health: OB-GYN offices and women's health clinics.NUR691A, the Integration Practicum (180 hours in the catalog, 150 on Keiser's program page): a full-scope family practice where you can carry your own patients.
Community health centers and health departments can cover several of these, and Florida's TEACH program pays qualifying centers for APRN students in primary care from accredited Florida-based programs, Keiser's included. The FNP practicum course guide sets out the order and pairing of all five courses.
Why Tampa Bay Keiser students choose us
Our placement desk plans Tampa Bay searches around your side of the water and the rules of whatever system a lead works in. When a lead sits inside BayCare, we map the physician sponsor and the lead time before going further; when it is an independent practice, we confirm the owner will sign an agreement Keiser accepts. Either way, the Clinical Coordinator receives one finished package, with credentials, site contact and clinical days together, about three months ahead, and a backup search is ready to launch if a preceptor falls away mid-term.
Questions Keiser students ask
At BayCare, can an NP precept me, or does it take a physician?
BayCare's onboarding pages count APRN students as physician-sponsored students, so a credentialed MD or DO sponsor is required. The student finds that sponsor and the school helps with the preceptor. Keiser accepts MDs and DOs as FNP preceptors while preferring a master's-prepared FNP, so ask BayCare's student program how an NP working alongside your sponsor fits.
How early should I start on a BayCare request?
Well before Keiser's three-month mark. BayCare asks for four to six months of notice on DNP and MSN project requests, and every request needs the school, the program and a physician sponsor lined up, plus a myClinicalExchange account. Starting five or six months before the term leaves room to settle the affiliation question first.
Does Tampa General take NP students?
Tampa General posts no route for NP students from outside programs. Its advanced practice page describes an accredited fellowship for NPs and PAs who already hold licenses. If a Tampa General clinician is willing to precept you, ask them to learn who handles student agreements there, and bring that contact to Keiser's Clinical Coordinator.
I live in Lakeland. Should I look toward Tampa or Orlando?
Look nearest home first. Lakeland sits on I-4 between both metros, and either direction adds drive time to two clinic days a week. Your license and Keiser's rules are identical on both sides, so choose by commute and course fit. BayCare's sponsor rule applies toward Tampa; AdventHealth's application process applies toward Orlando.
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
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