How we find and prepare your TTUHSC preceptor
You tell us your TTUHSC course, your term and where you live. From there we locate a fitting preceptor and site, get both confirmed, and give you a finished file ready for TTUHSC to review. SON staff and faculty make the final call, and our job is to have every detail they check in order before it reaches them.
Start your preceptor search
Tell us your TTUHSC program, clinical course and home area.
What you hand off, and what you keep
TTUHSC gives graduate nursing students the job of lining up their own preceptors, and that search is exactly what you hand to us. You keep your coursework, your TTUHSC compliance items and the approval steps TTUHSC asks students to complete. We take the calls, the follow-ups, the fit checks and the paperwork that usually eat a working nurse's evenings.
Our placement desk is organized around TTUHSC's own sequence: a preceptor and a facility close to your home, approval of both by SON staff and faculty, and an electronic preceptor agreement for every preceptor in every semester. Each step below answers one of those requirements, so TTUHSC can review the clinician you meet through us without chasing missing pieces.
Seven steps from your first message to clinic day
- You tell us the basicsUse the form to send your program and track, the clinical course you need covered, the term it runs, your town or ZIP code, and how far you will drive. Add your work schedule and any clinicians you have already asked, so nobody gets a second call.
- We read your courseYour placement advisor checks what the course calls for: the patient population, the setting (primary care, acute care, psychiatric or pediatric), the weekly clinical pattern, and any certification TTUHSC expects before the first population-focus course, such as ACLS or PALS.
- We search near youWe contact clinicians and practices inside your drive radius whose patients and schedules suit the course. Practices that have hosted TTUHSC students before get an early look, and so do newer options that can start the facility paperwork in time.
- We confirm before we introduceA preceptor reaches you only after agreeing to your dates, your weekly hours and TTUHSC's review steps. You receive the clinician's name, the practice, the location and the agreed schedule, and you decide whether it works for you.
- We build the approval fileWe gather the preceptor's license and certification details, the practice information and the facility's agreement status, and we lay out every answer TTUHSC's electronic agreement will ask you for.
- You complete TTUHSC's stepsYou fill in the electronic preceptor agreement through TTUHSC with every answer already in front of you. SON staff and faculty then review the preceptor and the facility and give the final approval.
- We stay on callAll semester we remain your contact for anything that shifts: a changed clinic schedule, a question from the practice, or a preceptor who has to step away.
What goes into your approval file
TTUHSC approves the person and the place separately, so the file we prepare covers both. These are the items we collect and check before your preceptor's name goes anywhere, arranged so you can move through the electronic preceptor agreement in one sitting.
- The preceptor's professional license, confirmed with the board that issued it, with license type and state
- National certification and population focus, compared against your TTUHSC course
- Practice details: setting, patient mix, clinic days and the weekly hours the preceptor can offer
- The facility's legal name and address, and whether it already holds an affiliation agreement with TTUHSC
- Your rotation dates set against TTUHSC's term dates, so the hours fit inside the semester
Timing around TTUHSC's calendar
TTUHSC's 2026-27 terms open on September 8 for fall, January 11 for spring and May 24 for summer, and graduate clinical courses run the full term. TTUHSC's public pages list no graduate deadline for preceptor submissions, so ask your course faculty or the Graduate Coordinator which date applies to your course, and treat that date as your real finish line.
We suggest contacting us a full semester before your clinical course. That window covers the search, the confirmation and, when a practice is new to TTUHSC, the facility agreement, which moves through TTUHSC's Clinical Placement, Affiliation Agreements, and Preceptor Management unit on its own timeline. Read how affiliation agreements work and when your first clinical course falls to plan backward.
Closer to the term than that? Reach out anyway. A short runway changes the order of the work, with practices already familiar with TTUHSC first in line. Our page on finding a preceptor fast covers that path.
Each new semester, and when plans change
TTUHSC asks for an electronic agreement for every preceptor each semester, so a preceptor you keep from one term to the next still needs a fresh agreement. Before each new term we confirm your preceptor's details are current, settle dates for the new course, and hand you an updated set of answers.
If a preceptor steps away, before the term or partway through it, we begin the replacement search as soon as you tell us, working from the same course needs and drive radius. Let your course faculty know promptly as well, since they supervise the clinical and decide how any change affects your hours. Our backup preceptors page walks through that situation. Planning a move out of Texas? TTUHSC wants 60 days' notice from graduate online students, so tell us early too.
Who handles each part
| Task | You | Our placement desk | TTUHSC |
|---|---|---|---|
| Course and term | Choose from your plan of study | Reads what the course needs | Sets the plan of study |
| Search and outreach | Share contacts you already have | Runs the search | Offers a two-year preceptor list |
| Confirming the preceptor | Accept or decline the match | Secures dates and weekly hours | Reviews at approval |
| Approval details | Look them over | Gathers and checks them | Reviews preceptor and facility |
| Electronic preceptor agreement | Complete it each semester | Prepares every answer | Reviews and approves |
| Facility agreement | Tell us what you know | Confirms status with the practice | Handles affiliation agreements |
| Supervision and grading | Attend clinic and track hours | Stays on call | Course faculty supervise and grade |
Ready to begin? Send your details through the form below, or read how pricing works first.
Questions TTUHSC students ask
How long does a TTUHSC preceptor search take?
It depends on three things: how specialized your course is, how many practices sit within your drive radius, and whether the facility already has an agreement with TTUHSC. A family primary care rotation near a large city usually comes together sooner than a pediatric acute care or psychiatric rotation near a small town. Your placement advisor gives you a realistic read after the first review of your course and area.
Do I still complete TTUHSC's electronic preceptor agreement myself?
Yes. TTUHSC's graduate process asks the student to complete the electronic agreement for each preceptor each semester, and that stays with you. What changes is the effort: you open the agreement with the preceptor's license, certification, practice and facility details already gathered and checked, so it becomes a short task instead of a week of back-and-forth emails.
Can you help with more than one clinical course at once?
Yes. Many TTUHSC plans stack clinical courses across consecutive terms, especially the BSN to DNP, where clinical work continues into the DNP Advanced Practicum courses. We can plan those searches together, line up preceptors in sequence and keep a file for each course, which also speeds up every new semester's agreement.
What if my course faculty question a preceptor after I submit?
Forward the question to us as soon as it arrives. We get the missing detail or clarification from the preceptor and practice, update your file, and send it back to you. If faculty decide the clinician or setting does not suit the course, we return to the search with that feedback built into the next match.
Do you work with post-graduate certificate and Post-Master's DNP students?
Yes. Post-graduate FNP, AGACNP and PMHNP certificate students take the same clinical courses as the MSN tracks, and we search for them the same way. Post-Master's DNP practicum hours can take place at your workplace with faculty approval, and when you want a mentor or site beyond your employer, we look for one that fits the course objectives.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-26
We check these pages against TTUHSC's catalog, Student Handbook, program pages and licensure disclosures. Your course faculty, your program director and the plan of study for your cohort have the final word.
Your TTUHSC preceptor search, run by specialists.
Tell us your TTUHSC track, your next clinical course and the town you'll train near. We find preceptors who fit the course and pull together what SON staff and faculty need to approve both the clinician and the facility, early enough for the electronic preceptor agreement to go through before the term.
- Preceptors matched to the track: family primary care, adult-gerontology acute care, pediatrics, psychiatric mental health
- License, certification and facility details ready for TTUHSC's preceptor and facility approval
- In Lubbock, Amarillo, Abilene, the Permian Basin, Dallas-Fort Worth and the states TTUHSC accepts
Start your placement plan
Your track, your town and your next clinical term is all we need to begin.