Questions Troy nursing students ask about preceptors and placement
Short answers to the questions Troy University nursing students ask most, grouped by topic, each pointing to the page that covers it in depth. When a question turns on your own course or deadline, your faculty advisor has the final word, and our placement desk can help you plan around the answer.
Get your placement plan
Tell us your Troy program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with the preceptor and site options that fit your Troy course.
About Troy Preceptor
What is Troy Preceptor? An independent placement service built for Troy nursing students. We find preceptors who meet Troy's rules for your course, in your own area, and gather what your preceptor packet needs, so the recruiting Troy's manuals assign to students is handled by specialists in Troy's process.
Which programs do you help? The online MSN in Family Nurse Practitioner and in Healthcare Informatics and Nursing Leadership, the post-master's certificates, every DNP route, the two preceptor courses in the Accelerated MSN, and the RN to BSN. The how it works page shows the steps for each.
Who approves the preceptor you find? Troy faculty, without exception. Your course faculty sign off on both the preceptor and the setting, after which the School of Nursing issues the agency paperwork. We hand you a packet that leaves them nothing to chase.
Who finds the preceptor at Troy
Does Troy assign preceptors to graduate students? Not under its 2026-27 manuals, which put the first contact with a preceptor on the student and the approval with faculty. The DNP manual lets faculty suggest names for 6000-level courses, and the RN to BSN manual has students locate qualified preceptors in approved settings themselves.
What does the Clinical Placements Specialist do? Troy names that role as the place signed RN to BSN agreements return to, and its 2020 disclosure names it as the contact for approval steps in several states. The Clinical Placements Specialist guide has more.
Does Troy publish a list of clinical agencies? No list or preceptor database appears on Troy's pages. The MSN manual speaks only in general terms, describing the graduate program's agency relationships in Alabama, Georgia, Florida and beyond as good.
Who can precept you
Can my supervisor or a coworker precept me? Not where you work. Every Troy graduate manual keeps clinical time out of the unit or setting that employs you, so a colleague could only precept you somewhere else entirely.
Can a relative precept me? The MSN manual rules out preceptors who are related to you. The DNP manual's FNP list says nothing either way, so DNP students should ask their faculty advisor before counting on a family member.
Can I use the same preceptor again? Yes, up to twice across your program. A third use of any preceptor or site is off the table.
Can a physician or PA precept an FNP student? Yes. Besides nurse practitioners who have worked as NPs for a year or more, Troy accepts physicians with an MD or DO, nurse midwives and PAs. See FNP preceptor requirements for the full list.
Licenses, states and compliance
Do I need a license in the state where I do clinicals? Yes. Troy requires an unencumbered RN license valid in that state from the first to the last day of the semester, and out-of-state preceptor requests wait until you show it.
Can I do Troy clinicals in any state? Troy's online nursing disclosure answers state by state, but every row is dated December 15, 2020, and Louisiana's approval ended October 12, 2022. Start with the clinicals by state table, then ask the Clinical Placements Specialist and Troy's state authorization office for a current answer.
Where does compliance paperwork go? Into ViewPoint Screening, where each item has to remain current from the day you register until the semester closes. The MSN web page names LabCorp and Certified Background instead, a mismatch worth raising with your faculty advisor.
Hours and scheduling
When do my hours start counting? Only after faculty clear you. Hours logged before clearance do not count, even with an approved preceptor and a signed agreement.
Can I do clinical hours over a semester break? No. Clinical time counts only within the dates of the course you are registered for, and the breaks between semesters are off limits.
Which system do I log hours in? Troy's manuals name none, so record hours exactly as your course faculty direct. False clinical-hour information means course failure and can lead to suspension or expulsion.
Can faculty visit without warning? Yes, by phone, video conference or in person, and an absence on a scheduled day during a visit brings a zero clinical evaluation. Hour totals by program are on Troy clinical hours.
Working with us
When should I get in touch? The moment you know your next clinical course. Earlier contact gives you more preceptors to choose from and time for any new agency contract to close.
What do you need from me? Your program, the NSG course, your city and state, the start semester, where you work, and any preceptors or sites already used.
Do you help post-master's DNP students? Yes. In NSG 8820 you need approval from an external agency or setting for your DNP Synthesis Project, and we look for a setting whose work fits your project question.
What does it cost? Each quote is built for your search, and the cost page explains what shapes it.
Can you help if I am already stuck? Yes. If your search has stalled, the can't find a preceptor page shows how we pick it up from where you are.
Questions Troy students ask
Is Troy's online MSN FNP fully online?
Mostly. Troy's 2025-26 graduate catalog describes the FNP track as online apart from a few required on-campus components, and it expects clinicals to happen where each student lives. The Healthcare Informatics and Nursing Leadership track has no on-campus requirements. Your faculty advisor can tell you which campus visits apply to your cohort.
Does Troy provide professional liability insurance for clinicals?
Troy's documents disagree. The 2026-27 DNP manual lists professional liability insurance as provided by Troy University, the MSN manual and MSN web page leave it out, and the 2025-26 graduate catalog says students can get it through the School of Nursing. Ask your faculty advisor what applies to your program this year.
Do Troy graduate nursing students need a Tdap vaccine?
The MSN web page, the DNP web page and the DNP manual list Tdap within ten years as a graduate clinical requirement. The MSN manual's immunization policy names only ASN and BSN students for Tdap. Because the sources differ, confirm with your faculty advisor and keep a current Tdap in ViewPoint Screening if asked.
What happens if my preceptor forms are late?
Under the MSN manual, paperwork for any clinical course other than NSG 6619 is due no later than one month after classes begin, and a miss means withdrawing from that clinical course and the course paired with it; faculty withdraw you if you do not. The form deadlines page compares the MSN and DNP dates.
Do I register a preceptorship separately from its didactic course?
No. Troy's MSN manual has you register each paired didactic course and preceptorship together in Student Self-Service, in one submission. If you are unsure which courses pair up in your semester, the semester planner your program provides and your faculty advisor will show you before registration.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-27
We check these pages against Troy's own 2026-27 MSN, DNP, AMSN and RN to BSN orientation manuals, program pages, degree maps and state authorization pages. Your faculty advisor, your course faculty and the School of Nursing have the final word.
Troy asks you to recruit your preceptor. We make that the easy part.
Tell us your Troy program, where you live and which semester your next clinical course starts. We find preceptors who meet Troy's rules for the course, check the setting against Troy's limits, and prepare everything the Preceptor Information Form and biosketch ask for, well ahead of the form deadline.
- Preceptors matched to the course: a graduate-prepared NP or physician for
NSG 6619, pediatrics and women's health forNSG 6666, adults and older adults forNSG 6668 - Preceptor Information Form details, a biosketch and a copy of the preceptor's license, ready for your faculty advisor
- In your own area, in Alabama or a state where Troy can offer clinicals, never in your own work setting
Start your placement plan
Program, city and semester is all we need to begin.