Your preceptor dropped out. Here is what to do next.

Updated September 26, 2026 · Reviewed by the Corpus Christi Preceptor placement team

A preceptor who pulls out, a week before the term or halfway through a rotation, does not move TAMUCC's calendar. The hours still have to be finished inside the semester, so the next few days matter most: tell TAMUCC, protect the hours you already have, and get a qualified replacement through the paperwork quickly.

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Tell us your TAMUCC program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with the preceptor and site options that fit your TAMUCC course.

The first 48 hours

Tell your clinical faculty memberThey clear every site and preceptor, and they will need to clear the replacement too. Early notice gives them room to fit a new schedule and site visit into the term.
Bring your Typhon log up to dateEnter every encounter you completed with the departing preceptor while the details are fresh, so the record of what you have earned is complete.
Plan for the end-of-term signaturesThe Clinical Hours Log and the preceptor's evaluation of you are DocuSign forms completed at the end of the semester. Ask your clinical faculty how the hours already worked will be signed, and keep the departing preceptor's contact details.
Call your backupTAMUCC advises keeping backup preceptors for short-notice cancellations. If you have one, reach out today. If not, the search starts now.
Divide hours left by weeks leftCount the hours you still owe and the clinic weeks before the last class day. That figure tells you whether one replacement is enough or whether you need two preceptors running in parallel.

Before the term or mid-rotation: two different problems

A withdrawal before the semester begins is mainly a search problem. You still have the full term for hours, so the key question is whether the replacement's site holds an active TAMUCC agreement. If it does not, the wait of up to three months for a new agreement becomes the risk, and a site already showing current dates in Typhon should move to the top of your list.

A withdrawal in the middle of a rotation is mainly an hours problem. Every week spent replacing the preceptor comes out of a fixed window, and the new preceptor needs a packet of their own plus fresh clearance from your clinical faculty before logging resumes. A clinic that can take you several days a week matters as much as a perfect specialty match, especially in the 270-hour NURS 5746 capstone.

What a replacement has to clear

Before you log another hour with a new preceptor

A clean nurse practitioner or physician (MD or DO) license, backed by national board certification in family practice or a neighboring specialty
Two full years or more of practicing independently
No role as your workplace supervisor and no family relationship
A site with an active TAMUCC affiliation agreement, confirmed in Typhon's Clinical Site Directory
Their own Preceptor Agreement Packet for this term, including a CV and a license copy printed in the last 30 days
Clearance from your clinical faculty member to restart

Our preceptor requirements page spells out the standard, and the Preceptor Agreement Packet page walks through DocuSign. If the replacement practices at a larger system, expect that system's own onboarding on top of TAMUCC's, which is one reason a smaller clinic can get a rotation moving again sooner.

Why the semester will not stretch

TAMUCC's FNP guide is firm here. Losing a site or preceptor is not treated as an extenuating circumstance, and extensions past the last class day are kept for events on the scale of a hospitalization. The minimum hours for each course also cannot be carried into the following term, as our no-rollover guide explains.

That is why the guide urges students to schedule extra clinical days and keep backup preceptors from the outset. Our backup preceptors page shows how to build that cushion; this page is for the moment when the cushion was not there.

DNP students face a parallel rule. The DNP handbook says a student whose clinical site becomes unavailable must find another site, and that failing to find one within the program sequence leads to a required leave of absence.

A preceptor's exit does not pause the semester: the hours you still owe are due by the last class day.

If the hours still fall short

Talk with your clinical faculty member before the drop and withdrawal dates on TAMUCC's calendar pass, not after. TAMUCC grants an Incomplete only to a student who is passing and was stopped by something outside their control, and running short of time does not qualify. Until it is resolved, an Incomplete holds up the next course in the sequence, just as a failed or withdrawn course does. Bring your Typhon totals and the replacement plan to that conversation, so the options are weighed against real numbers.

With each course offered only once a year under the MSN handbook, that hold can cost far more than one term. Our delayed graduation page shows how to limit the damage and protect the rotation after this one.

How we replace a preceptor for TAMUCC students

Replacement searches are where our placement desk stays on call. Tell us the course, the hours you still owe, your city and the days a week you can give, and we look for Texas clinicians who meet TAMUCC's standard at sites whose agreement status fits the weeks you have left. If you are short in a particular population, such as pediatrics, the search targets that as well.

Each lead comes with the CV, license and board certification details the new packet needs, so the only remaining waits are DocuSign and your clinical faculty's clearance. Use the form below and choose "Already started, behind on hours" as your timing so the desk sees the urgency straight away.

Questions TAMUCC students ask

Do the hours I completed with my old preceptor still count?

TAMUCC's published guides void hours for missing paperwork, not for a preceptor leaving. Hours earned while the site's agreement was active and that preceptor's packet was complete were logged under the rules. Keep your Typhon entries current and ask your clinical faculty member how those hours will be signed on the Clinical Hours Log.

Can I get an extension because my preceptor quit?

TAMUCC's FNP guide keeps extensions past the last class day for extreme situations such as hospitalization, and it does not count a lost site or preceptor as an extenuating circumstance. Plan to finish inside the term with a replacement, and raise any risk to your hours with your clinical faculty early.

Does my new preceptor need a separate Preceptor Agreement Packet?

Yes. TAMUCC requires a packet from every preceptor every semester, so a replacement who joins mid-term signs a packet of their own, with a fresh CV and a recently dated license copy. If they practice at a different site, check that site's contract dates in Typhon's Clinical Site Directory as well.

Can my replacement preceptor work where I work?

Possibly. TAMUCC accepts hours at your employer if the new preceptor has nothing to do with your performance reviews and you train on a unit other than your own. Your direct supervisor cannot precept you, and neither can a family member, wherever they practice.

What if my DNP practice site falls through?

The DNP handbook requires you to find another site. Faculty and your DNP chair may assist, though they are not required to identify one for you. If nothing turns up before your program sequence moves on, the handbook makes a leave of absence mandatory, so begin the new search the week the site withdraws.

BackupsBackup preceptorsTAMUCC tells FNP students to line up backup preceptors and extra days. What a replacement must clear, why a lost preceptor brings no extension, what to do.DocuSignPreceptor Agreement PacketTAMUCC's Preceptor Agreement Packet: a DocuSign agreement for each preceptor every semester, with a CV and a license copy from the last 30 days, then Canvas.HoursNo rollover and extensionsTAMUCC clinical hours must be finished inside each course's semester. When extensions apply, how incompletes work and what stops the clock early.Catching upBehind on clinical hoursBehind on TAMUCC clinical hours, or short on pediatrics, women's health or geriatrics? Find the gap, add time TAMUCC counts, and finish inside the term.StuckCan't find a preceptorStuck without a preceptor for your TAMUCC clinical course? Why Texas searches stall, what Typhon gives you, and a search plan built on TAMUCC's rules.

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 for NURS 5645, broad primary care for NURS 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

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