The Troy preceptorship process, from compliance to your first clinical day
Troy University puts the preceptor search in your hands and the approval in faculty hands. Between the two sit a compliance portal, a three-part packet, a deadline, two agreements and a clearance step, and a gap at any point keeps your hours from counting. Here is the whole graduate path in order, with a guide for each stage.
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.
Three roles, one rule
The rule that shapes every Troy preceptorship opens the preceptorship guidelines in the MSN Student Orientation Manual for 2026-27: the student reaches out and asks a clinician to serve, and nobody precepts without faculty approval. For 6000-level clinical courses, the DNP manual hands DNP students that same task, with a note that faculty may offer names. The RN to BSN manual likewise has students find and approach qualified preceptors, in approved settings, for each preceptorship course.
So the work splits three ways. You recruit. Faculty sign off on the person and the site and, later, clear you to begin. The School of Nursing handles the contracts with the clinical agency. Keep those lanes straight and every later step falls into place; our guide to finding your own preceptor covers the first lane in depth.
The path in ten steps
The steps run in a fixed order because each one depends on the one before it. A preceptor who says yes is step three, not the finish line.
- Clear compliance in ViewPoint ScreeningBackground check, drug screen, titers, physical, CPR card, health insurance and the signed forms all go into ViewPoint Screening, and each has to remain current until the semester's final day.
- Hold the right RN licenseIt must be unencumbered in the state where the hours happen. A request for a preceptor outside Alabama sits idle until you can prove licensure there.
- Recruit a preceptor who fits the courseFor FNP work, a seasoned NP, a physician, a midwife or a PA; for HINL, someone leading in informatics or administration. Skip your own workplace and anyone you have already used in two courses.
- Build the packetThe Preceptor Information Form, typed and saved as a Word file, travels with the biosketch and a license copy in one email to your faculty advisor.
- Meet the form deadlineThe MSN and DNP manuals set different dates, so read the form deadline guide against your own program.
- Faculty approve preceptor and settingCourse faculty rule on both before any contract work with the agency begins.
- The agreements closeA School of Nursing letter to the agency sets the preceptor and agency agreements in motion; both come back signed before your start.
- Faculty clear youClearance is its own step, separate from approval, and it is what makes your hours count.
- Objectives and scheduleHand the preceptor your course objectives, then file the clinical schedule form when the preceptor has signed off on your dates.
- Stay reachable all semesterFlag any change in your clinical days to faculty immediately, and expect that a check-in may come unannounced.
Where the chain breaks
Most delays come from treating the steps as parallel. Faculty cannot act on a packet missing the biosketch or the license copy, because Troy does not process incomplete forms. No agency letter goes out before faculty approve. Nobody is cleared until the signed agreements are back, and for DNP students that file also has to hold the preceptors' signed contracts, refreshed clinical documents and your schedule.
The slowest link is a site that needs a formal contract Troy does not already hold. The MSN manual warns that this route is slower and urges early applications, without naming a number of weeks. That is why the published form deadline is the last safe date for your packet rather than the date to aim for.
Hours you complete before faculty clear you do not count toward the course, even with a willing preceptor and an approved site.
Once the semester is running
Clearance opens the clinical part of the course; it does not end the paperwork. Counted hours belong to the course you are registered in, and the gaps between semesters are off-limits for clinical time, so a preceptor who offers you a week between terms is offering hours that will not count. Tell faculty about any change to your approved days as soon as it happens.
Faculty can make an unannounced visit, whether on site, by phone or over video, and being absent on a scheduled day when one happens earns a zero on the clinical evaluation (schedules and site visits). Student Self-Service expects each didactic course and its paired preceptorship in a single registration submission. Troy's manuals name no hour-logging platform, so follow your course faculty's method for recording time. Falsifying hours is treated as serious misconduct, with outcomes up to suspension or expulsion.
How the path changes by program
The ten steps fit every Troy program that uses preceptors, but the forms, the deadline and the approval point shift between manuals.
| Program | Who makes contact | Where the paperwork goes | What differs |
|---|---|---|---|
| MSN FNP and HINL, post-master's certificates | You | Faculty advisor: form, biosketch, license copy | NSG 6619 forms by the last drop day; other clinical courses within one month of the first class day |
| DNP, 6000-level clinical courses | You; faculty can suggest names | Faculty advisor | All forms by the last drop day; the manual says not to ask the preceptor to sign the form |
| DNP, 8000-level synthesis courses | The manual says nothing about preceptors here | External agency approval in NSG 8820 | Letter of support or IRB approval, then Troy IRB approval before NSG 8830 |
| Accelerated MSN (Dothan) | You, for NSG 5549 and NSG 6698 | The AMSN manual's own Guidelines section | Preceptor qualifications set per course |
| RN to BSN | You, in approved clinical settings | Acknowledgement form in Canvas, approved by lead faculty | The signed agreement returns to the Clinical Placements Specialist |
Post-master's certificate students work under the MSN manual and tick the PMC box on the form. DNP students in the FNP or Nurse Leader track share the 6000-level clinical courses with MSN students, which is why the gap between the two manuals' deadlines matters so much.
Why Troy students hand this process to us
Troy's clinical process is our specialty, and we work the whole chain rather than the first phone call. For each course we find a preceptor who meets Troy's rules for that course, close to home but outside your workplace, and we check the match against every preceptor and site already on your record. We collect every detail the three documents call for, so the packet on your faculty advisor's desk is whole and early.
We also tell you at the outset when a site probably lacks a Troy contract, the one stage Troy's own manual calls slow. Faculty make every approval decision; we hand them a request with nothing missing and nothing outside Troy's rules. If a preceptor quits partway through the term, the replacement search begins that day. Tell us your program and next clinical course in the form below.
Questions Troy students ask
How long does Troy's preceptor approval process take?
Troy publishes no set number of weeks. Its manual flags one route as slower, a site that needs a formal contract Troy does not yet hold, and asks students on that route to move early. The real clock is your form deadline plus clearance: every day spent waiting after approval is a day of the semester you cannot use for hours.
Can I start clinical hours as soon as my preceptor agrees?
No. The preceptor's yes comes before faculty approval, the School of Nursing's letter, the signed agreements and your clearance. Troy counts only hours completed after faculty clear you, so time spent at the site before that point, even with the preceptor present, does not go toward the course.
How are clinical hours recorded in Troy's graduate programs?
Troy's public manuals do not name an hour-logging platform, so use whatever method your course faculty set. In the DNP synthesis courses, clinical hours must be documented, and the portfolio carries reflections on the hours you logged. Accuracy is a conduct issue at Troy, with course failure the starting penalty for false entries.
Do I go through the whole process for every clinical course?
Yes. Each clinical course needs its own approved preceptor and setting, and Troy limits any preceptor or site to two courses in the program, so you will recruit several people over the program. Proof of health insurance is due again every clinical semester, and nothing in your compliance file may expire before the term ends.
What if my preceptor backs out after approval?
Tell your faculty advisor right away, since Troy expects prompt notice of schedule changes. A replacement has to be approved like the first preceptor, with a new packet, before hours with that person count. The preceptor dropped out guide walks through the recovery.
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.