Preceptors for Troy University's online MSN FNP
For Troy University's online Family Nurse Practitioner track, the rule sits in the MSN Student Orientation Manual 2026-27, word for word: "Students must contact preceptors to ask them to serve in that capacity; faculty must approve all preceptors." Here that sentence covers four preceptorships and 780 clinical hours. We run each of those searches for you and bring you preceptors who fit Troy's FNP rules, with the paperwork details ready for your faculty advisor.
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.
The FNP track at a glance
The MSN runs through TROY Online, and its faculty hold office hours both online and at the Dothan, Montgomery and Troy campuses. In its Progression section the MSN manual sets the FNP track at 47 semester hours and 780 clinical clock hours. The 2025-26 Graduate Catalog notes that the track includes a few mandatory on-campus requirements and that clinical work is done in the student's own locale, which is why every preceptor search starts from where you live.
The shortest route takes five semesters from a Fall start: Fall, Spring, Summer, Fall, Spring. Each FNP-specific course comes around just once a year, in a set order, so entering in Spring or Summer stretches the plan past that minimum. Students admitted conditionally to the FNP track must go part time, with eight semesters as the finish line, and Troy's MSN page puts the MSN overall at two to three years depending on pace.
Application deadlines are July 1 (fall entry), November 1 (spring entry) and May 1 (summer entry). Your faculty advisor is matched to you by track and by the campus nearest you, and that advisor receives your preceptor paperwork every clinical semester.
The four FNP preceptorships, in order
| Course | Focus | Credits | Clinical hours |
|---|---|---|---|
NSG 6619 Advanced Health Assessment & Diagnostic Reasoning Preceptorship | Head-to-toe exams; NSG 6649 and NSG 6671 before or alongside it | 3 | 120 |
NSG 6666 Primary Care I Preceptorship | Pediatrics and women's health, with two preceptors | 3 | 180 |
NSG 6668 Primary Care II Preceptorship | Adults and older adults | 3 | 180 |
NSG 6680 FNP Internship | First course that allows hospital-setting hours | 5 | 300 |
Every course is covered in depth elsewhere on this site: NSG 6619 for the first preceptorship and its prerequisite rule, Primary Care I for the two-preceptor semester, Primary Care II for adult and geriatric care, and the FNP Internship for the 300-hour finish.
The pharmacology and pathophysiology requirement for NSG 6619 carries no exceptions, so make sure NSG 6649 and NSG 6671 sit in or before your first clinical semester. A 2024-25 catalog course page names NSG 6670 as the co-requisite for NSG 6680; confirm the current pairing with your faculty advisor before you register.
How the clinical semesters line up
Troy keeps its semester planners inside Canvas rather than on public pages, so the exact order for your cohort comes from your faculty advisor. Two published rules narrow it down: NSG 6619 is a Fall course, and FNP clinical courses are scheduled in every semester but summer. Combined with the five-semester minimum, a full-time Fall start most likely runs like this.
- Fall, year one:
NSG 6619. Your first preceptor and 120 hours of examination and diagnostic reasoning. - Spring, year one:
NSG 6666. Two preceptors across pediatrics and women's health for 180 hours. - Summer: no FNP clinical course. The natural window to recruit and document your second-year Fall preceptor.
- Fall, year two:
NSG 6668. 180 hours focused on adults and older adults. - Spring, year two:
NSG 6680. The 300-hour internship, where hospital settings become an option.
The APEA fee schedule in the MSN manual follows the same four-semester rhythm, tying semesters one through four to NSG 6619, NSG 6665, NSG 6667 and NSG 6670. Part-time and Spring-start students follow a longer plan, so ask your advisor which semester each preceptorship lands in before any search begins.
Who can precept a Troy FNP student
The baseline for any graduate preceptor at Troy is graduate preparation, meaning an MSN or a DNP. For FNP courses the MSN manual accepts a nurse practitioner who holds NP licensure in their practice state and has worked as an NP for a year or more. Nurse midwives, PAs and physicians holding an MD or DO can serve as well, and the Preceptor Biosketch has boxes for MD, DO, PA, CNM, FNP, AGNP, PNP, CNS and RN credentials.
The MSN manual also rules out a preceptor who is your relative. The DNP manual's version of the FNP list omits that line, so DNP students sitting in these same courses should settle it with course faculty rather than assume. NSG 6666 is the one course that calls for two preceptors, and its content spans pediatrics and women's health.
The full qualification rules, including where the two manuals part ways, are on who can precept a Troy FNP student.
Rules that shape every FNP search
Four Troy rules decide which offers you can accept, and they apply across the whole track rather than one course at a time.
- Nothing in the unit or setting where you are employed, even when a qualified preceptor practices there.
- Each preceptor and each site can appear at most twice across the program, so one preceptor can cover no more than two of the four courses.
- Hospital-setting hours wait for
NSG 6680; the first three preceptorships happen in other settings. - A clear, unencumbered RN license for the clinical state, current from day one of the semester to its final day.
Compliance comes before any of it: your documents must clear ViewPoint Screening and remain current from the day you register until the semester closes. The reasoning behind the employer and repeat limits gets its own page: work setting and reuse rules.
Any hour logged before course faculty clear you is lost: it will not count toward the 780, approved preceptor or not.
Forms and deadlines, course by course
For each preceptorship your faculty advisor needs three things: the Preceptor Information Form in its 6/15/2026 revision, typed as a Word file; the Preceptor Biosketch; and the preceptor's license copy. Troy does not process an incomplete set.
Timing differs by course. Under the MSN manual, NSG 6619 paperwork is due by the final day you could drop without academic penalty, while NSG 6666, NSG 6668 and NSG 6680 give you one month from the first class day. Missing either deadline forces a drop of the clinical course and its paired co-requisite, and faculty will process the drop themselves if you leave it. The DNP manual ties every form to the drop date, so DNP students in these courses should confirm which rule governs them; preceptor form deadlines compares the two.
After approval, a School of Nursing letter opens the preceptor and agency agreements, and sites without a formal contract take longer. In Student Self-Service, each didactic course and its preceptorship go in as one registration.
Where Troy's FNP hour figures differ
Current manuals give 780 clinical hours: 120, 180, 180 and 300. In its Progression section, the DNP manual instead gives 135 hours to each of the first three FNP courses, and the 2021-22 Graduate Catalog gave 705 hours for the MSN FNP. Treat 780 as the current figure and confirm your cohort's numbers with your faculty advisor and course faculty. The 780-hour guide sets the figures side by side.
The first course also carries three names in the MSN manual: Advanced Clinical Examination and Diagnostic Reasoning, Advanced Health Assessment & Diagnostic Reasoning Preceptorship, and Advanced Health Assessment and Diagnostic Reasoning on the Preceptor Information Form. Older documents call it NSG 6613, while current ones use NSG 6619. If a prospective preceptor asks which course you are in, the number is the clearest reference.
Why Troy FNP students choose us
We know Troy's FNP sequence course by course, and we treat it as four searches under one plan. For NSG 6619 we look for a practice that gives you steady head-to-toe exams. For NSG 6666 we line up the pediatric and women's health pair together so neither half of the semester stalls. NSG 6668 gets an adult and older-adult practice, and NSG 6680 gets a setting that can carry 300 hours, with a hospital option now that Troy allows it.
Every candidate is checked against Troy's rules before you see the name: credential and NP years, state license, distance from your own workplace, and how often that preceptor or site already appears in your plan. Every field the Preceptor Information Form asks for, plus the Biosketch and license copy, is gathered and checked by us long before the deadline gets close.
If a practice has no formal contract with Troy yet, you hear about it from us early, so the agreement has time to clear. Should a preceptor pull out mid-semester, we go straight to work on a replacement. Approval of each preceptor and setting stays with Troy faculty, and our work is to put a complete, rule-ready request in front of them on the first submission. Share your start term and home state on the contact page, or use the form below.
Questions Troy students ask
Does Troy place online MSN FNP students with preceptors?
Troy's 2026-27 MSN manual gives that step to the student: you reach out to each preceptor yourself, and faculty approve every one. After approval the School of Nursing handles the preceptor and agency agreements. Troy notes strong ties with clinical agencies across Alabama, Georgia, Florida and beyond, yet it publishes no list of sites for students to choose from.
Can a PA or a doctor be my Troy FNP preceptor?
Yes. The MSN manual names MDs, DOs, nurse midwives and PAs as FNP preceptors next to nurse practitioners. An NP preceptor needs NP licensure where they practice and twelve months or more as an NP. Course faculty still approve every preceptor and setting, and the manual's no-relatives line applies whichever credential your preceptor holds.
Can I start Troy's MSN FNP in spring or summer?
Troy takes MSN applications for spring and summer as well as fall. The limit is the FNP sequence: NSG 6619 only runs in Fall and the FNP courses are offered annually, so a non-Fall start adds time beyond the five-semester minimum. Ask your faculty advisor for the planner that matches your start before you line up a first preceptor.
When can Troy FNP students use a hospital preceptor?
Only from NSG 6680, the FNP Internship. The MSN manual bars hospital-setting hours before that course, so the first three preceptorships take place in clinics, practices and other outpatient settings. The internship carries 300 hours, the largest block in the track, so its site deserves the earliest planning of the four.
Which certification exam does Troy's FNP prepare me for?
According to Troy's MSN page, graduates may apply to sit for the national FNP certification exam. The MSN manual requires APEA as nurse practitioner certification preparation and uses Shadow Health courseware during the track. Troy does not name a certifying body on its pages, so ask your faculty advisor which exam fits your plans.
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
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