Can't find a preceptor for your FIU practicum?
Florida International University (FIU) hands the site search to students on its online primary care NP tracks, adult-gerontology and pediatric, so a quiet inbox the semester before a practicum is a common and fixable problem. Stalled searches usually trace back to one of four causes: a practice whose patients do not fit the course, a clinician FIU cannot approve, a site without an FIU contract, or a schedule that does not match FIU's clinical days. Find the one holding you up, then let us run the search.
Get your placement plan
Tell us your FIU program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with the preceptor and site options that fit your FIU course.
Why the search is yours on FIU's online tracks
FIU's Clinical Education page makes identifying the clinical site the student's job on these tracks, with the clinical department then helping put a contract in place with the practice. It covers the online MSN AGPCNP and PNP tracks, the online certificates in those specialties and the online post-BSN to DNP specialties, and in return those students may train outside Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach and Monroe counties.
Hybrid FNP, PMHNP and AGACNP students have FIU's designated clinical department helping them individually, and the handbook names the graduate nursing clinical coordinator as their main contact, so a hybrid student with nothing lined up should start there. The online vs hybrid tracks guide shows where your program sits.
Four places a search stalls, and the fix for each
Before another round of emails, work out which of these is the real block. Each has its own fix.
| Where it stalls | What FIU asks for | What moves it |
|---|---|---|
| The practice sees the wrong patients | Adult and older-adult primary care for NGR 6201L; pediatric primary care for NGR 6301L | Ask each practice about its daily patient mix before you ask about space |
| The clinician cannot be approved | A year or more in the field or specialty, an active license and national certification; no relatives or close friends | Screen every candidate against FIU's list before asking for a commitment |
| The site has no FIU agreement | No clinical day before the contract; 6-8 weeks for a new one in the current handbook | Ask early whether the practice already holds an FIU agreement |
| The days do not line up | Primary care rotations on weekdays, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., inside official semester dates | Confirm weekday availability across the whole term before filing anything |
The full credential rules, including the master's degree line FIU's handbook sets beside its approval of physician preceptors, are on the preceptor requirements page.
Widen the map the way FIU allows
Many stuck searches are simply too narrow. Online-track students may look past FIU's four home counties, so a relative's town or a clinic an hour up the turnpike can work once FIU approves it. Outside South Florida covers Orlando, Tampa, Jacksonville and the rest of the state.
Another state is a separate question: FIU does not say whether online-track students may train there. Check with the Office of Clinical Education first, before any time goes into a practice in Georgia or Texas.
Large systems set their own gates. Baptist Health South Florida's rotation page takes requests only from schools with a signed Master Agreement and Program Letter of Agreement, and Cleveland Clinic Florida's page says only a school's academic representative can arrange a placement. Independent and group practices often move faster, because the clinician you meet can say yes.
Put FIU's own people to work early
Tell your clinical faculty the moment the search stalls, by FIU email, which the graduate handbook treats as the official channel and expects you to check daily. FIU calls rotation setup a joint effort of faculty and student, done in the term ahead of each clinical course, and faculty weigh your past nursing experience in choosing a fitting site.
Ask one question directly: does FIU already hold a contract with any practice near you? The handbook's DNP section refers to a list of Clinical Site Contracts, and the Preceptor Request Form has a box for clinicians already on the approved preceptor list kept in Typhon. A site on either list skips the longest wait; the placement process guide shows the rest of FIU's steps.
FIU's graduate handbook treats clinical days begun before approval and a signed contract as unprofessional conduct, answered with a written warning and then clinical probation. Wait for FIU's confirmation, however ready the practice is.
Pressure mistakes that cost more time
What students regret when the clock is short
- Asking a relative or close friend who practices nearby: FIU rules them out, and the time spent is lost.
- Planning hours on the unit where you work: FIU allows a different unit at a large institution, not your own.
- Accepting a specialty clinic whose patients fall outside the course.
- Counting on winter or spring break for hours: break-time clinical days need your faculty's advance approval by email.
- Leaving the contract question to the end, when a new agreement alone can take 6-8 weeks.
A short screen at the start of every conversation with a practice avoids all five, and it is the screen we run for you.
How we get a stalled search moving
FIU students come to us because we turn a search that has gone quiet into a short list of practices that fit your track, NGR course, city and semester.
- You tell us where you areTrack, practicum course, city, start term and the practices that have already said no.
- We search and screenWe approach practices in your area whose daily patients fit the course and check each clinician against FIU's experience, license and certification rules before you meet them.
- We check the contract earlyWe learn up front whether an FIU agreement is already on file with the practice, so you know whether the 6-8 week clock applies.
- We prepare the paperworkYou receive the preceptor, facility, specialty, address, license and schedule details the Preceptor Request Form asks for, ready for your faculty's signature.
- We stay on callIf the practice changes its mind before or during the term, we start a replacement search right away.
Approval belongs to your faculty and the Office of Clinical Education at FIU; our job is to hand them a complete request that fits FIU's rules the first time. Send your details through the form below or see how it works.
Questions FIU students ask
Does FIU have to find me a preceptor if I can't?
On the online AGPCNP and PNP tracks, their certificates and the online post-BSN DNP specialties, FIU's pages give the site search to the student, with the clinical department helping on the contract. For the hybrid FNP, PMHNP and AGACNP tracks, FIU says its clinical department assists with one-on-one placements. Either way, tell your clinical faculty early so FIU knows where you stand.
Can a physician precept me in an FIU NP practicum?
Yes. FIU's web page and graduate handbook name physicians alongside nurse practitioners, though the handbook adds that most rotations will be with NPs and also lists a master's in nursing as a requirement. In a Florida clinic, the Board of Nursing's rule asks for a Florida-licensed APRN, MD, DO or dentist. Confirm a physician choice with your clinical faculty before the request goes in.
Can I train at the hospital that employs me?
Possibly, but not on your own unit. FIU's graduate handbook allows a different unit at a large institution. Employers can be stricter: Baptist Health South Florida's rotation page, for example, bars its employees from doing student clinical time at their own facility. Read your employer's student policy before you build a plan around it.
When should the search for an FIU preceptor begin?
FIU arranges each rotation in the term ahead of it, so your search belongs in the semester before the practicum, not in its first weeks. A new site contract alone can take 6-8 weeks under the current handbook. If your practicum is in Spring 2027, which starts January 11, the search should be well underway by early fall.
What if my practicum starts in a few weeks and I still have nothing?
Go straight to your clinical faculty and focus on practices that already hold an FIU contract, since a new agreement may not be signed in time. Our urgent placement guide lays out how to use the weeks you have, and you can reach us through the form on this page.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-26
We check these pages against FIU's own graduate handbook, preceptor manual, plans of study, catalog and licensure pages. Your plan of study, your course faculty, your clinical faculty and FIU's Office of Clinical Education have the final word.
FIU asks you to identify your clinical site. We make that the easy part.
Tell us your FIU track, where you live and which semester your next practicum starts. We find preceptors whose patients fit the course, check early whether the site already holds an FIU contract, and prepare everything the Preceptor Request Form asks for.
- Preceptors matched to the course: adult and older-adult primary care for
NGR 6201L, pediatric primary care forNGR 6301L, an organizational mentor forNGR 7940C - Preceptor, facility, license and schedule details ready for the Preceptor Request Form, weeks ahead of the contract clock
- Across Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach and Monroe, or beyond them where FIU approves your site
Start your placement plan
Track, city and semester is all we need to begin.