Questions UofM nursing students ask us
Short answers to the questions that come up most, from which students we work with to what makes a preceptor qualified in Tennessee. Where a topic has a full guide of its own, the answer points you straight to it.
Get your placement plan
Tell us your UofM program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with the preceptor and site options that fit your UofM course.
Which UofM students do you work with?
Our focus is the graduate side of the Loewenberg College of Nursing: the MSN concentrations in Family Nurse Practitioner, Adult-Gerontology Acute Care NP, Psychiatric-Mental Health NP, Nursing Education and Nursing Leadership, the graduate certificate in each, and students who enter through the RN-to-MSN pathway. Each of these carries precepted practicum or immersion hours completed near where the student lives. RN-to-MSN students choose one of the five concentrations, so their practicums follow that concentration's rules and timeline.
The BSN runs on a different model. UofM says its BSN students are assigned clinical placements, so Traditional and Accelerated BSN students receive their clinical sites through the college. RN to BSN students, and anyone unsure where their plan fits, are welcome to ask; a placement advisor will say plainly how we can help.
How does your service fit with UofM's own process?
It sits alongside whatever support your track provides. UofM describes its MSN clinicals as practicums done in person near home, and its Bulletin makes an approved preceptor agreement form a condition of starting clinicals, with the Office of Community Partnerships and Practice doing the approving. Our work happens ahead of that approval: finding a clinician who fits, confirming the site and assembling the details the review needs.
For how placements run in your particular track, your track coordinator and faculty advisor are the people to ask. Useful questions: what support the track offers, how far ahead it wants preceptor details, and whether a practice you are eyeing already has ties to the college. If you are weighing your options, our comparison of the three routes puts your own network, UofM's process and a placement service side by side.
Who can precept a UofM NP student?
Tennessee's Board of Nursing looks for two things in a preceptor: proven competence in the clinical area, and an unencumbered license, valid where the teaching happens, that sits at or above the credential the student is pursuing. UofM adds a requirement of its own: in every NP track, at least one rotation has to be precepted by a nurse practitioner. Course descriptions add setting detail, such as an AG-ACNP preceptor whose practice includes inpatient care.
UofM's Bulletin refers to preceptor qualifications without publishing a full list, so the final word on who qualifies for your course comes from clinical faculty. Every candidate we bring you is checked against that standard before you hear a name. The Tennessee practice guide and the rotation rules go further.
Where can my clinicals take place?
Close to home, within the limits UofM sets. Your RN license must be valid in Tennessee or in whichever approved state hosts your clinicals. California is excluded, because UofM reports no authorization for distance education there. UofM's published lists of authorized states disagree with one another, so check your state with LCON before settling on a site. The three states that meet at Memphis (Tennessee, Mississippi and Arkansas) are all compact members for RN licensure, which helps students living near the lines.
Our searches cover the whole Memphis metro, including DeSoto County and north Mississippi and West Memphis and east Arkansas, along with Jackson, Nashville, Knoxville, Chattanooga and UofM students living in other states. Wherever you are, the search starts from your address and works outward.
Can clinical hours run on weekends, breaks or short timelines?
Weekend days depend on your preceptor's schedule and on your clinical faculty approving the plan you submit. University breaks and holidays are handled differently: UofM's Bulletin keeps practicum days off them unless program faculty and administration arrange otherwise.
Speed has a floor as well. Clinical faculty receive your planned schedule on the Monday of week two, and any revision reaches them in writing seven days before it applies. A practicum's hours cannot be finished in less than seven weeks, however many days a preceptor can offer. Every clinical day needs your clinical faculty's approval in advance, and an absence faculty did not approve costs you the course. The clinical hours limits guide covers each rule in detail.
What if I already work in a clinic or hospital?
UofM limits practicum hours at a current employer. They are allowed only under compelling circumstances, with faculty and program administration approving and documenting the arrangement. Faculty weigh what counts as compelling, so raise any special situation with your clinical faculty before planning around it. Colleagues and former coworkers who practice at other organizations can still be a strong place to look.
Tell your placement advisor where you work at intake, and the search steers toward practices outside your employer from the first call. When the only fitting practice nearby belongs to your employer, your advisor flags it early so you can take the question to faculty in good time. The workplace clinicals guide explains the UofM rule and what approval involves.
Questions UofM students ask
Do you work with preceptors who want to teach UofM students?
Yes. Nurse practitioners and other qualified clinicians who would like to host a UofM student can reach us through the preceptor page. We pair them with students whose course and schedule suit their practice, and we handle the details the preceptor agreement form asks for, so their time goes to teaching.
Do I still need Complio and myClinicalExchange if you find my preceptor?
Yes. UofM requires DISA Complio for compliance tracking and uses HealthStream myClinicalExchange to onboard students with clinical sites. A site holds your approval until each required document is accepted, so your background check, drug screen, immunizations and AHA BLS need to be current and stay current through the placement. We review them with you while the search runs.
Do UofM NP students have to come to campus?
Yes, briefly. Expect as many as three brief campus visits across an NP plan, each one to three days long, with dates posted at least six months ahead. Every NP track must attend the January 2027 session. Build your practicum schedule around those dates so a campus visit and a clinical day never land together.
Can one preceptor supervise me for more than one course?
In some cases. An NP student may go back to a former site for the residency; so may a Leadership student, provided the preceptor qualifications are met. Education students, by contrast, take the residency somewhere new. FNP students still need a nurse practitioner preceptor and a family practice rotation somewhere in the sequence, and clinical faculty confirm each placement.
What grade does a UofM practicum require?
UofM sets a B as the minimum in practicum courses. Companion clinical and didactic courses run side by side in one semester, and both must be passed. If one has to be repeated, its companion is repeated too. A steady, well-matched placement for the whole term protects both grades, which is why a backup plan matters from the start.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-27
We check these pages against UofM's 2026-27 catalog, the LCON Academic Bulletin, program pages and licensure disclosures. Your clinical faculty and your plan of study have the final word.
Whether UofM helps or you start alone, we find the preceptor.
Tell us your UofM concentration, your next practicum and the town you train near. We find preceptors and sites that fit the course and prepare what the preceptor agreement form needs, early enough for approval before the first clinical day.
- Preceptors matched to the rotation rules: an NP preceptor, family practice for FNP, inpatient and critical care for AG-ACNP
- License, certification and site details ready for the preceptor agreement form, with your Complio items in order
- Across the Mid-South, Tennessee and the states UofM serves
Start your placement plan
Your concentration, your town and your next clinical semester is all we need to begin.