TAMUCC FNP preceptor requirements: who qualifies and who is ruled out
TAMUCC's January 2026 guides set five qualifications for anyone precepting an FNP student, starting with a clean, active license as an NP, MD or DO plus national board certification. They also exclude your supervisor and your relatives. The list is narrower than Texas's own nursing rule, so screen every candidate against it before you make the ask.
Get a preceptor who already qualifies
Tell us your course and where you live in Texas. Every name your placement advisor sends is screened first.
TAMUCC's five qualifications
The FNP Student Clinical Guide (page 6) and the FNP Preceptor Guide (page 2), both revised January 2026, give the same list. A preceptor must have:
- "Active, unencumbered professional license (NP, MD, or DO)"
- "National board certification in family practice or related specialty"
- "Minimum of two years of independent clinical practice"
- "Practice setting appropriate for FNP role preparation"
- "Commitment to teaching, supervision, and evaluation"
The Preceptor Guide adds that the nursing program itself selects and approves preceptors. In practice, your assigned clinical faculty member reviews the preceptor and site for your course, and hours count only after that clearance. Meeting the list makes a provider eligible; the faculty review makes them approved. Keep the list beside you while you screen, because a gap found after the packet is signed means starting over.
Reading each requirement
License. Active means current, and unencumbered means the license carries no board restrictions or conditions. The guide has you verify it yourself through the Texas Board of Nursing lookup for nurse practitioners or the Texas Medical Board lookup for physicians. Because TAMUCC MSN clinicals take place in Texas, the license you check is the one your preceptor practices under here.
Board certification. The wording is family practice or a related specialty. Family nurse practitioners and family medicine physicians holding board certification are the clearest fit. Whether a pediatric or women's health certification counts as related for NURS 5644 or NURS 5645 is a question to put to your clinical faculty member before you commit.
Two years of independent practice. The count is independent clinical practice, so a newly certified NP with a long RN career may still fall short. Ask when independent practice began.
Setting and commitment. The practice should give you the patient mix an FNP needs, and the preceptor must be willing to teach, supervise and evaluate, well beyond letting you observe.
Who cannot precept you
TAMUCC rules out two relationships entirely: a workplace supervisor and a family member. Either one disqualifies a provider who otherwise meets every item on the list.
Your employer is a narrower case. The guide allows clinicals where you work only when the preceptor plays no role in reviewing your job performance and you rotate on a unit other than your own. Both conditions must hold at once. The detail is in workplace clinical rules.
Location is the other hard limit. TAMUCC's MSN handbook confines clinical education to Texas, so an excellent preceptor across the state line cannot count toward your hours; see Texas-only clinicals.
If the only providers you know are a relative or your manager, ask them for an introduction to a qualified colleague at another practice. That keeps the personal connection working for you without breaking the rule.
TAMUCC's list next to the Texas Board of Nursing rule
Texas's APRN education rule, 22 TAC §219.10, is broader than TAMUCC's list. The FNP guide says only that TAMUCC's expectations are consistent with Board of Nursing rules and Texas law; it does not cite the rule by number.
| Point | 22 TAC §219.10 | TAMUCC FNP guides (Jan 2026) |
|---|---|---|
| Who may precept | A licensed APRN, or another currently licensed health care professional able to supervise and teach in a setting suited to APRN education | An NP, MD or DO only |
| Certification and experience | Left to the program's written preceptor criteria | National board certification plus at least two years of independent practice |
| Written agreements | Required among the program, the preceptor and the facility | The affiliation agreement and the Preceptor Agreement Packet |
| Faculty oversight | One faculty member for no more than six students in a clinical course | A clinical faculty member assigned by location, with at least one site visit |
Where the two differ, TAMUCC's stricter list decides who can precept you. How Texas's delegation and prescriptive authority rules shape the pool of available preceptors is covered in Texas NP practice and preceptors.
What a TAMUCC preceptor takes on, and receives
The Preceptor Guide lists the duties: completing the agreement documents, supervising "in accordance with state law and site policy," giving feedback and an end-of-semester evaluation, and reviewing and authenticating everything the student documents. Students cannot sign prescriptions, orders or legal documents, so those remain the preceptor's. Expect weekday hours, generally 8 am to 5 pm, and at least one evaluative visit from your clinical faculty member, described in site visits and evaluations.
In return, TAMUCC offers continuing education credit where the preceptor's certifying body allows it, with a certificate generated from the verified hours log at term's end, thank-you or service-verification letters, recognition through university awards, and backing from faculty along with evaluation tools. The Student Clinical Guide describes preceptors as volunteers. Providers weighing the role can read precepting a TAMUCC student.
Every preceptor we propose is screened against this list
A preceptor who misses one qualification costs weeks: the ask, the packet, the faculty review, then the search all over again. Our placement desk screens first. Before your placement advisor shares a name, we have checked the license in the public Texas board lookup, confirmed national board certification and its specialty, confirmed at least two years of independent practice, and judged whether the practice suits the course you are taking.
We also screen out the relationships TAMUCC excludes, so a match with your own manager or a relative is caught early, and we flag any match inside your employer so the different-unit condition can be checked. The CV, a license copy within 30 days and certification proof then travel with the match into your Preceptor Agreement Packet. Your clinical faculty member approves; our job is handing them a candidate who already fits. See how it works or tell us about your course below.
Questions TAMUCC students ask
Do physician assistants qualify as TAMUCC FNP preceptors?
Not on the published list, which names only NP, MD and DO licenses. The Student Clinical Guide does include a Texas Medical Board lookup labeled for physicians and physician assistants, which is where the confusion starts, but the list itself leaves PAs out. Before approaching a PA, get a written answer from the FNP Clinical Coordinator or your clinical faculty member.
Does my TAMUCC preceptor have to be a family nurse practitioner?
No. An NP, MD or DO can precept you if a national board has certified them in family practice or a closely related field, they have two years of independent practice, and their setting suits FNP training. A certified family physician qualifies on the same footing as a family NP; the certification and the setting are what count.
Are TAMUCC preceptors paid?
TAMUCC's guides mention no payment. The Student Clinical Guide calls preceptors volunteers, and what the university gives them is recognition: continuing education credit where allowed, an hours certificate, letters and awards. Our service is the search, the screening and the paperwork that bring a willing, qualified preceptor to your course.
What preceptor rules apply to TAMUCC Nurse Educator, Leadership and DNP students?
TAMUCC publishes a preceptor qualification list only for the FNP. Nurse Educator students complete the NURS 5459 teaching practicum alongside a preceptor, and DNP students name a community facilitator who opens doors but does not supervise, yet neither program lists preceptor criteria publicly. Ask your course faculty or DNP chair what they expect before you approach anyone.
Can a nurse practitioner with one year of experience precept me?
Not under TAMUCC's FNP rules, which set a two-year floor on independent practice. Texas's broader Board of Nursing rule would not stop them, but TAMUCC's list is the one your clinical faculty member applies. A newer NP can still be a useful contact for an introduction to a more experienced colleague at the same practice.
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
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