FIU's online RN to BSN: finding your NUR 4945L preceptor
Florida International University (FIU) is direct about the RN to BSN practicum: "It is best to seek a preceptor within your facility." Your NUR 4945L preceptor must be a BSN-prepared nurse at a site with a current Nicole Wertheim College of Nursing & Health Sciences (NWCNHS) contract, approved by faculty, and not on your own unit. Paid work time never counts toward the hours.
Plan your RN to BSN practicum
Your facility, city and target semester is enough to start.
Start with your own facility
The current BSN Student Handbook (revised February 2026) gives RN to BSN students one piece of placement advice: seek a preceptor within your facility. The 2021 RN to BSN Track Information Package, still linked from FIU Online, goes further. It says the student chooses the preceptor and the setting, and that neither faculty nor advisors go looking for practicum experiences on a student's behalf.
The reasoning is practical. Your own hospital or health system already knows you, may already hold a contract with NWCNHS, and employs BSN-prepared nurses on units other than yours. A preceptor on a different unit, or at a sister facility in the same system, can clear FIU's rules far faster than a stranger across town, because the contract question may already be settled.
Before you ask anyone, find out which facilities already work with FIU. The 2021 package says information on existing South Florida contracts comes from the RN-BSN Program Coordinator or the Clinical Education Department.
FIU's rules for an NUR 4945L preceptor
Under the BSN handbook, your preceptor must be
- A nurse with a BSN
- Working at a site that holds a current NWCNHS contract
- Approved by FIU faculty, with no conflict of interest
- Somewhere other than your exact work location or unit
Two further rules catch students out. No paid time counts toward clinical hours, so practicum hours cannot overlap a shift you are paid for, even on another unit. And an NP or clinical nurse specialist whose only role is primary care provider cannot be approved for NUR 4945L, however experienced. If the most willing mentor you know is an NP in a primary care office, ask them to introduce you to a BSN-prepared nurse colleague instead.
Faculty judge conflict of interest. Someone who writes your performance reviews, a close friend or a relative all invite the question, so describe your working relationship with the preceptor plainly when you submit the request and let faculty decide. Our page on clinicals where you work covers the same-employer rules FIU applies across programs.
The two RN to BSN practicum courses
| Course | Practicum hours (2021 package) | Form named in the current BSN handbook |
|---|---|---|
NUR 4636C Care of Communities: Community Health Nursing | 30 | RN to BSN Clinical Preliminary Form |
NUR 4945L Senior Clinical Practicum | 120 | Practicum Request Form |
The hour figures come from FIU's 2021 information package, so check them against your syllabus when it posts. The forms are named in the current handbook: the Practicum Request Form goes with NUR 4945L, and the RN to BSN Clinical Preliminary Form goes with NUR 4636C.
The rest of the program is online coursework. FIU Online counts 33 credits online plus 27 awarded through clinical proficiency evaluation, while the BSN handbook splits it 30 and 30, within a 120-credit degree. Neither figure changes the practicum, but ask your advisor which split your transcript will show.
Deadlines and lead time
- Apply in the Spring windowThe RN to BSN starts its cohort in Spring. FIU Online lists an application window of August 15 to November 15, with the next start in January 2027.
- Choose your paceThe BSN handbook allows 3 semesters full time or up to 3 years (9 semesters), so the semester you reach the practicum depends on the pace you set.
- Meet the placement deadlineThe 2021 package sets final-semester clinical placement deadlines by term: Summer placements by April 1, Fall by August 1, Spring by December 1.
- Start clearance earlyComplio clearance needs at least four to six weeks, by the same package's count. Each item is listed on our clinical clearance page.
- Allow for a new contractIf your site has no current NWCNHS contract, the 2021 package warns a new one can take 6-9 months or longer, far beyond the 6-8 weeks in the current graduate handbook. The two figures are never squared with each other, so plan around the longer one and ask the Clinical Education Department early; see site contracts.
When your own facility cannot host you
Sometimes the facility advice runs out: a small employer with no BSN nurses outside your unit, a facility with no NWCNHS contract, or a work pattern that leaves no unpaid weekday time. You then need a BSN-prepared nurse somewhere else, and the contract becomes the slowest step.
Work the options in order. First, a different unit at your own facility, since the rule excludes only your exact work location or unit. Second, another facility in the same health system. Third, a facility that already holds a current NWCNHS contract, which the RN-BSN Program Coordinator or the Clinical Education Department can confirm. Only after those, an entirely new site, with the long lead time that comes with it.
Check your employer's own rules as well. Health systems set their own student policies: Baptist Health South Florida's college and university rotation page, for example, bars its employees from completing clinical hours at the facility that employs them. A rule like that can close the own-facility route before FIU's rules even come into play, so read your employer's student-rotation page early.
Out of state, moving, or planning an MSN
The RN to BSN is fully online, so students outside South Florida enroll too, and the practicum travels with you. FIU's 2021 package says practicum requirements are not waived for students who move out of South Florida or out of state, and out-of-state students must self-identify to the RN-BSN Program Coordinator. Our learner location guide covers the formal move report FIU's policy asks for.
On licenses, the RN to BSN/MSN takes either a Florida RN license or an enhanced multistate (eNLC) license. FIU's licensure page lists Nursing (BSN) as meeting Florida's requirements, with other states not determined; the licensure disclosure explains what that means.
If you plan to keep going, the RN to BSN/MSN NP runs 8-9 semesters full time, with the MSN portion delivered hybrid. FIU's MSN tracks each carry their own clinical rules, and FIU's online primary care NP tracks leave finding the clinical site to the student. Compare them on the programs page.
How we help FIU RN to BSN students
We take on the search FIU leaves to you. We start inside your own system, looking for BSN-prepared nurses on units other than yours and at sister facilities, then widen to facilities that already work with NWCNHS. For each candidate we confirm the BSN, the unit, a schedule outside your paid hours and whether the site holds a current contract, and we assemble the details your Practicum Request Form needs.
Because the placement deadline falls months before the semester, we plan backward from yours and flag early when a site would need a new contract. Faculty approve the preceptor and FIU confirms the contract; our part is a request that is complete and squarely inside FIU's rules. Send your facility, city and target semester through the contact form.
Questions FIU students ask
Does FIU find preceptors for RN to BSN students?
The student does the finding. FIU's 2021 RN to BSN package says the student chooses the preceptor and setting and that finding practicum experiences is not a faculty or advisor task, and the current BSN handbook advises seeking a preceptor within your facility. FIU faculty still approve the preceptor, and the site needs a current NWCNHS contract.
Can my charge nurse or a coworker precept my NUR 4945L practicum?
Only if FIU's rules are met. The preceptor needs a BSN, must work at a site with a current NWCNHS contract, and must be somewhere other than the precise unit or location where you work. Faculty approve each preceptor with no conflict of interest, so someone who supervises you day to day is a weak choice.
Can a nurse practitioner be my RN to BSN preceptor?
Not if their sole role is primary care provider: FIU's BSN handbook excludes NPs and clinical nurse specialists working only in that capacity from precepting NUR 4945L. FIU asks for a BSN-prepared nurse. If your only willing contact is a primary care NP, ask them to connect you with a BSN nurse colleague.
Do hours at my paid job count toward the RN to BSN practicum?
No. Paid time is excluded: the BSN handbook counts none of it toward clinical hours. Practicum hours must be separate from any shift you are paid for, so plan them for days you are not scheduled to work and talk to your manager early if you need a schedule change.
What is FIU's RN to BSN clinical placement deadline?
For the final, clinical placement semester, FIU's 2021 package gives three cutoffs: April 1 when that semester is Summer, August 1 when it is Fall, December 1 when it is Spring. It also allows at least four to six weeks for Complio clearance. The package is from 2021, so check today's dates with the RN-BSN Program Coordinator.
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.