Preceptors for Troy's Nursing Education certificate and Accelerated MSN
Troy University's post-master's Nursing Education certificate has one preceptorship, NSG 6676, and its preceptor must be an MSN- or doctorally prepared nurse educator in academia with five years in nursing education and an unencumbered RN license. The Accelerated MSN in Dothan uses preceptors in two final-semester courses, NSG 5549 and NSG 6698, each with its own experience rule. We find educators and clinicians who clear those exact bars.
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 Nursing Education certificate in brief
The certificate is five online courses, 15 semester hours and 180 clinical hours, and Troy offers it at the master's or the doctoral level. Graduates may apply for the relevant specialty certification exam, and every credit must fall within five years of finishing the certificate.
All of the clinical time sits in one course, NSG 6676 Nursing Education Preceptorship, worth 3 semester hours. That makes the choice of preceptor unusually important: one educator shapes the entire clinical side of the certificate, from the first observed class to the last evaluation.
The recruiting rule is the same one every Troy graduate student follows. Item 1 of the MSN manual's Guidelines for Preceptorship/Internship Courses puts the first contact on you and the approval on faculty, and the forms, deadline and agreements work exactly as they do for FNP and HINL students. The Nursing Education certificate page covers the program itself.
Four tests for an NSG 6676 preceptor
Item 13 of the MSN manual's guidelines sets the rule for post-master's Nursing Education students. Read it as four separate tests, every one of which the candidate must pass:
- Graduate preparation: an MSN or a doctorate.
- Role: a nurse educator.
- Setting: in academia.
- Experience and license: at least five years in nursing education, plus an active, unencumbered RN license.
The five years are years in nursing education, not years in nursing. A nurse with two decades at the bedside and three years on a college faculty meets the degree and role tests but not the experience test. The Preceptor Biosketch should show when the teaching career began, and the license copy should show an active RN license with no encumbrance.
A doctorally prepared candidate is welcome but not required. An MSN-prepared educator with the full five years qualifies just as well under Troy's wording.
What "in academia" means for your search
Troy's wording places the preceptor in academia, which points to teaching in a school of nursing or a college nursing program rather than a hospital education department. Staff development educators, unit-based clinical educators and continuing-education coordinators teach every day, but the manual does not name them. If your strongest candidate works in a hospital role, put the question to your faculty advisor before you send the Preceptor Information Form.
Academic preceptors bring their own calendars. A college's terms may not line up with Troy's Fall, Spring and Summer semesters, and Troy counts clinical hours only inside the course you are enrolled in, with none during semester breaks. Agree the teaching weeks you will share before the packet goes in, then keep the clinical schedule form current.
The own-setting rule applies here too. If you already teach at a college as an employee, that college is your work setting and cannot host your preceptorship hours.
Accelerated MSN: the two preceptor courses
The Accelerated MSN (AMSN) is a hybrid, four-semester, 63-credit program on the Dothan Campus for people who are not yet nurses. Its 2026-27 AMSN Student Orientation Manual repeats the MSN sentence that students must contact preceptors, and item 7 applies it to two courses in the final semester.
| Course | When | Preceptor must have |
|---|---|---|
NSG 5549 Clinical Management V: Transition to Clinical Practice (3 SH) | Semester four (Fall 2027 in the current planner) | A BSN plus one year as an RN, or an ASN plus two years as an RN |
NSG 6698 Nurse Leader Internship (3 SH) | Semester four (Fall 2027 in the current planner) | Any one of the four HINL routes |
NSG 5549 sets a lower experience bar than any of Troy's graduate preceptor rules, which widens the pool: a staff nurse with a BSN and one year of practice qualifies. NSG 6698 borrows the HINL list, explained on informatics and leadership preceptors. Troy does not publish clinical hours per course for the AMSN, so confirm the hours your preceptor must cover with your course faculty.
AMSN clinicals that are not preceptorships
The AMSN's other clinical courses, Clinical Management I to IV (NSG 5517, NSG 5535, NSG 5538 and NSG 5546), run face to face and are not preceptor courses. The AMSN manual says their sites are within 60 miles of Troy and/or Dothan, and that pediatric clinicals include two days at Children's Hospital in Birmingham.
The manual does not say who arranges those sites. For the first three semesters, your course faculty and the Dothan BSN and AMSN Assistant Coordinator are the people to ask how your cohort's clinical days are set.
The preceptor courses in semester four are different, and the AMSN manual's item 2 adds the familiar limit: no hours in the area or setting where you work as an employee. AMSN students who already hold a health care job should keep that in mind when they pick a NSG 5549 preceptor. The Accelerated MSN page follows the whole four-semester plan.
How we find educator and transition preceptors
- Confirm the teaching recordFor
NSG 6676we confirm the graduate degree, the academic teaching role and five full years in nursing education before the educator is asked to commit. - Check the RN licenseWe verify an active, unencumbered RN license and have the copy ready for the packet.
- Match the calendarsWe agree teaching weeks that fall inside your Troy semester, clear of any break.
- Fit the AMSN rulesFor
NSG 5549we confirm the BSN-plus-one or ASN-plus-two history; forNSG 6698we confirm which HINL route the candidate meets. - Prepare the paperworkThe Preceptor Information Form, biosketch and license copy reach your faculty advisor complete and early, ahead of the form deadline.
Faculty approve the preceptor and the setting in both programs. We hand them an educator or clinician who meets the written rule on the first read. Start with the form below.
Questions Troy students ask
Can a hospital clinical educator precept Troy's NSG 6676?
Troy's MSN manual asks for a nurse educator in academia, with an MSN or doctorate, five years in nursing education and an unencumbered RN license. A hospital-based educator is not what that wording describes, so raise the candidate with your faculty advisor before sending forms rather than assuming approval.
How many clinical hours is Troy's Nursing Education certificate?
180 clinical hours, all in NSG 6676 Nursing Education Preceptorship, a 3-credit course. The certificate is five courses and 15 semester hours in total, can be taken at the master's or doctoral level, and its credits must fall within five years of completion.
Can an ADN-prepared nurse precept a Troy AMSN student?
For NSG 5549, yes, if the nurse has at least two years of RN experience; a BSN-prepared nurse needs one year. NSG 6698 is different: it follows Troy's HINL list, where the BSN route needs three years in leadership or informatics and no ASN route appears.
Who arranges the AMSN's Clinical Management clinicals?
Troy's AMSN manual says those sites are within 60 miles of Troy and/or Dothan, with two pediatric days at Children's Hospital in Birmingham, but it does not say who arranges them. Your course faculty and the Dothan BSN and AMSN Assistant Coordinator can tell you how your cohort's sites are set.
Do Nursing Education certificate students recruit their own preceptor?
Yes. The MSN manual's rule that students contact preceptors and faculty approve them covers NSG 6676 as it covers every graduate clinical course. You send the Preceptor Information Form, the biosketch and the license copy to your faculty advisor, and the School of Nursing then starts the agency agreements.
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.