NP preceptors in Midland, Odessa and the Permian Basin
TTUHSC teaches on an Odessa campus and at a Midland site, and its Louise and Clay Wood Simulation Center operates inside Medical Center Hospital. Those ties are real, but they are not a placement channel for graduate NP students, who find their own preceptor and send the match to TTUHSC for approval. This guide covers what the Permian Basin offers and how to plan a search that spans two cities.
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TTUHSC in Odessa and Midland
In the Permian Basin, TTUHSC spreads its presence across two cities. The Odessa campus hosts programs from the School of Medicine, the School of Nursing and the School of Health Professions, while Midland serves as the hub for the physician assistant program and has a TTUHSC simulation site on North Garfield. The Odessa Library of the Health Sciences is the local branch of TTUHSC Libraries.
Nursing in the Basin dates to 2009, when the Traditional BSN expanded here, and the Accelerated BSN also lists the Permian Basin among its clinical sites. Those undergraduate students have clinical placements made by faculty. Graduate NP students who live here follow TTUHSC's online model instead: a preceptor near home that they find, with SON staff and faculty approving both the clinician and the facility.
A simulation center inside a working hospital
The Louise and Clay Wood Simulation Center belongs to TTUHSC's simulation program but sits inside Medical Center Hospital in Odessa, on the hospital's 7 West floor. TTUHSC's simulation centers support interprofessional training across its schools, and this one places that training inside an active hospital building.
Keep two things separate. First, simulation and precepted clinical hours serve different purposes, and if you wonder whether any simulation time could count toward an NP course, ask course faculty; the page on what counts as clinical hours covers what TTUHSC publishes. Second, the center's address does not make Medical Center Hospital a graduate NP placement. A clinician who practices there can still precept you, but the facility goes through TTUHSC's approval like any other.
Health systems across the Basin
Medical Center Health System in Odessa, Midland Health and Odessa Regional Medical Center are among the Basin's hospital systems. None of them has an NP-student process that could be read on an official page, so rules you hear secondhand need confirming with the system itself before you plan around them.
Approach these systems the way you would any employer of clinicians: as places your future preceptor may practice. The approval question stays with TTUHSC, which reviews the preceptor and the facility, and the School of Nursing's Affiliation Agreements staff can tell you whether an agreement covers a given site. Independent practices, specialty groups, psychiatric clinics and pediatric offices in both cities belong on your list too, and the affiliation agreements page explains why a site with no agreement needs lead time.
One region, two cities, one schedule
TTUHSC's own site menu groups the campus as Midland/Odessa, and your search can work the same way. A preceptor in the other city is often a realistic option, which widens the pool beyond your own zip code. The cost is the commute on every clinical day, so set it against how many hours your course asks of you each week.
If you work full time as a nurse, a preceptor whose schedule includes long days or weekend shifts can let you build hours around your job. Agree on the pattern before the semester opens and check it with course faculty. Towns farther out in the Basin can be a long drive from either city; the rural West Texas guide covers distance planning and shortage-area designations.
Steps to a Permian Basin placement
- Pin down the courseConfirm which clinical course comes next and what population and setting it requires. Course pages such as AGACNP clinical courses set out TTUHSC's sequences.
- Search both citiesList clinicians in Midland, Odessa and any nearby town you can reach reliably who practice in that setting.
- Ask the practical questionsAvailability in your term, other students already on their schedule, and any onboarding the facility requires of visiting students.
- Check the facilityFind out whether the site already has an agreement with TTUHSC, since a new one takes time to put in place.
- Submit for approvalSend the preceptor and facility for SON review and complete the electronic preceptor agreement for that semester.
- Keep a second nameHold a backup clinician in the Basin in case the first falls through before or during the term.
Why Permian Basin students choose us
We treat Midland and Odessa as one search area, which is how the Basin works in practice. Our search covers clinicians in both cities and the outlying towns, screens each for fit with your TTUHSC course and space in your semester, and pins down the facility's contract standing with TTUHSC before you commit.
Your Basin placement arrives documented: credentials for the preceptor, a summary of the practice, the facility's particulars, and the details TTUHSC's electronic agreement collects every semester. When a preceptor steps away, we open a replacement search immediately. TTUHSC holds the approval, and we hold ourselves to sending its reviewers a file that is finished and within its rules the first time they open it. Short on time? Our need a preceptor fast page explains the quickest route, or use the form below.
Questions TTUHSC students ask
Is Medical Center Hospital in Odessa a TTUHSC clinical site for NP students?
TTUHSC's Louise and Clay Wood Simulation Center is inside Medical Center Hospital, which makes it a simulation location, not a stated graduate placement. NP students find their own preceptor, and any hospital a preceptor practices in needs approval from SON staff and faculty. Ask the School of Nursing whether an agreement covers the facility before you commit to it.
Can I use a preceptor in Midland if I live in Odessa?
Yes, provided SON staff and faculty approve the clinician and the facility. TTUHSC's home-area model is about where you can reasonably train, not a city line. Price the commute into your plan, since clinical hours repeat the trip all semester, and make sure the preceptor's schedule gives you enough days to finish the course's hours.
Which TTUHSC programs have students in the Permian Basin?
The Odessa campus hosts programs from the Schools of Medicine, Nursing and Health Professions, and Midland is the hub for the physician assistant program. The Traditional BSN has taught in the Basin since 2009, and the Accelerated BSN lists it among its clinical sites. Graduate NP students living in the region train with local preceptors.
Who confirms whether a Basin facility has an agreement with TTUHSC?
The School of Nursing's Office of Student Success has a unit named Clinical Placement, Affiliation Agreements, and Preceptor Management, which includes an Affiliation Agreements role and a Graduate Coordinator. Start with your course faculty or the Graduate Coordinator, and ask early, because a site without an agreement needs time before you can train there.
How do I fit clinical hours around a full-time nursing job in the Basin?
Look for a preceptor whose schedule complements yours, such as long days, weekend clinics or evening hours, and agree on the pattern before the term starts. Check it with course faculty so it fits the course's expectations. Talk to your employer early too, since a clinical day that lands on a scheduled shift costs you both.
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.
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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
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