How we take a TAMUCC placement from search to cleared hours
You tell us your TAMUCC course, your Texas city and the semester ahead. We find a preceptor who fits, check the site against TAMUCC's agreement records and gather every document the Preceptor Agreement Packet asks for. Your clinical faculty member gives the clearance, and we stay on call until your hours are signed.
Get your placement plan
Tell us your TAMUCC program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with the preceptor and site options that fit your TAMUCC course.
What we need from you to begin
A search starts with a short intake, through the form on any page or a chat with the placement desk. The details that shape it most are your TAMUCC program, the clinical course coming up next, where you live in Texas and how far you can drive on a clinic day. Because TAMUCC generally keeps clinical time to weekdays, 8 am to 5 pm, we also ask which days your job leaves open.
Tell us what you have already tried. A clinic that turned you down, a name a classmate passed along or a site you spotted in Typhon all help us skip repeated work. We also ask where your CastleBranch tracker stands, since TAMUCC stops clinical attendance whenever an item lapses.
Six steps from intake to your first counted hour
- Map the courseYour placement advisor pins down the rotation's needs: a broad assessment caseload for
NURS 5624, pediatric visits forNURS 5644, women's health forNURS 5645or the full family panel ofNURS 5746. - Search close to homeWe contact Texas clinicians near you whose patients fit that course and whose clinic days line up with yours. Every MSN rotation stays inside Texas, as TAMUCC's handbook requires.
- Screen before you hear a nameEach candidate is checked against TAMUCC's FNP standard: license type and status, national board certification, at least two years practicing independently, and no supervisory or family tie to you.
- Confirm the site's agreementWe read the site's status the way Typhon's Clinical Site Directory records it. If no active agreement exists, we find the person authorized to sign for the site, so the "Initiate Affiliation Agreement" request you file is complete.
- Prepare the packetWe collect the preceptor's CV, a license copy dated within 30 days and proof of board certification, ready for the DocuSign Preceptor Agreement Packet you complete each semester and upload to Canvas.
- Clearance, then on callYou send your clinical faculty member an intended schedule, and they clear you to start. Until the hours log is signed, we stay on call and restart the search at once if your preceptor steps away.
How we screen a preceptor for TAMUCC
Every preceptor we put forward has already passed the checks TAMUCC's clinical faculty will run. For FNP students the list is specific, and we apply all of it before a name reaches you:
- An NP, MD or DO license that is active and unencumbered, checked on the state's nursing or medical board look-up
- Board certification at the national level, in family practice or a related specialty
- Two or more years practicing independently
- A setting that suits the course, so pediatric and women's health time counts toward TAMUCC's specialty minimums
- No role as your workplace supervisor or relative and, at your own employer, a different unit and no part in your job evaluation
The full standard, including the gray areas, is on TAMUCC's preceptor requirements.
Who does what at each stage
TAMUCC and our placement desk each own distinct parts of the path; the split tells you where to send each question.
| Stage | TAMUCC | Our placement desk |
|---|---|---|
| Finding the preceptor | Leaves the search to the student, with Typhon as a starting list | Runs the search near your home and screens every candidate |
| Affiliation agreement | Contracts with the site; the Affiliation Agreement Liaison handles expirations | Checks the site's status and names the signer for a new request |
| Preceptor Agreement Packet | Routes the DocuSign packet through administration; your clinical instructor verifies it in Canvas | Gathers the CV, a recent license copy and certification |
| Clearance | Your clinical faculty member approves the site and preceptor and clears your start | Hands over a complete file so the review has what it needs |
| Hours and logs | Typhon logging; the FNP Clinical Coordinator signs the hours log | Stays on call and finds a replacement if a preceptor withdraws |
Timing that shapes every search
Two TAMUCC rules set the calendar. A site with no active agreement needs a new one, and TAMUCC tells students the signing can take as long as three months, longer with big health systems. Hours earned before both the agreement and a completed packet exist will not count, so late paperwork eats straight into your semester.
That is why we check agreement status early in every search, and why a site already under a TAMUCC agreement is often the quickest route when your course is close. When the first clinic day is only weeks away, that difference can decide the semester. Hours also have to fit inside the term, with nothing carried forward. The details live on affiliation agreements and the academic calendar.
DNP, educator and leadership searches
Some TAMUCC searches look different from the FNP's. DNP students need a practice organization willing to write a Letter of Support and a community facilitator who opens doors without supervising, and the DNP chair approves the practice experiences. We look for organizations whose leaders and settings fit your project and your track.
In the MSN Nurse Educator track, the 135 practicum hours of NURS 5459 call for a teaching preceptor in an academic or clinical teaching setting. Leadership in Nursing Systems students need a nurse leader to host the 135-hour NURS 5469 capstone. Both practicums must wrap up before the last week of the semester, so a preceptor's availability matters as much as their title. Each program's hours are set out on the programs page.
What you hold when the search is done
A finished placement gives you more than a name to call. You receive the preceptor and site, credentials already checked against TAMUCC's list, the site's agreement status, the documents the packet asks for and a draft weekday schedule that covers your course hours. If the site needs a new agreement, you also have the signer's details. Your placement advisor walks through each item with you, so nothing in the packet surprises you or your clinical faculty.
From there the forms go through TAMUCC's DocuSign, your clinical faculty member clears you, and your hours begin, logged in Typhon from the first day. The cost page explains how a quote is put together, or send us your program, course and Texas city through the form below.
Questions TAMUCC students ask
How long does a TAMUCC placement search take?
It depends on your course, your city and whether the site already holds a TAMUCC agreement. With an active agreement, things move once the preceptor says yes and the packet is signed. A new agreement adds TAMUCC's processing time of up to three months, so we tell you early which path your match needs.
Do I still submit TAMUCC's forms myself?
Yes. The affiliation agreement request and the Preceptor Agreement Packet run through TAMUCC's DocuSign forms, and the signed packet goes into Canvas for your clinical instructor. We prepare every detail those forms ask for, so you are not chasing a preceptor's CV or license copy while the semester runs.
Can you check a preceptor I found on my own?
Yes. Send us the name and the site, and we run the same screen we apply to our own candidates: license, board certification, years of independent practice, relationship to you and fit with the course. We also check the site's agreement status, then fill any rotations your lead does not cover.
Can I meet the preceptor before committing?
You should. TAMUCC's guide recommends a face-to-face meeting, bringing your CV and the course objectives, when you do not already know the clinician. We arrange the introduction and brief the preceptor on TAMUCC's course, schedule and paperwork ahead of that conversation.
What happens if my preceptor leaves partway through the term?
Tell your placement advisor right away. We restart the search for someone suited to the same course and prepare the new packet details. TAMUCC recommends extra days and backup preceptors, and a missing preceptor earns no extension, so speed matters. See backup preceptors.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-26
We check these pages against TAMUCC's catalog, FNP clinical guides, MSN and DNP handbooks and college pages. Your course, your clinical faculty member and the handbook for your cohort have the final word.
TAMUCC makes the preceptor search yours. Let us run it for you in Texas.
Tell us your TAMUCC program, your next clinical course and where in Texas you can drive. We find preceptors who fit the course and gather what the affiliation agreement and the Preceptor Agreement Packet need, early enough for both to clear.
- Preceptors matched to the course: pediatrics for
NURS 5644, women's health forNURS 5645, broad primary care forNURS 5746 - CV, license, board certification and the site's agreement status ready for TAMUCC's paperwork
- In Corpus Christi, the Valley, San Antonio, Houston, Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth and across Texas
Start your placement plan
Your program, city and next clinical semester is all we need to begin.