Doing FIU clinical hours where you already work
Florida International University (FIU) lets many nursing students train inside the organization that employs them, but never as part of the job they are paid to do. NP students cannot rotate on their own unit, DNP residency hours at work must sit beyond regular duties and outside scheduled hours, and RN to BSN students may not count paid time.
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.
The rule for each FIU program
FIU answers the question differently in each program, so start with the row that matches yours. In every case the site still needs FIU's contract and approval; being on the payroll replaces neither.
| Program | Can your employer host you? | FIU's limit |
|---|---|---|
| MSN and certificate NP practicums | Yes, within limits | Not on the unit where you work; a different unit at a large institution is allowed (graduate handbook) |
| DNP residency hours (post-BSN and post-MSN DNP) | Yes | Only work beyond regular duties and outside scheduled work hours; the mentor of record cannot be your regular work supervisor |
RN to BSN (NUR 4636C, NUR 4945L) | Yes, and the BSN handbook suggests it | Not your exact work location or unit, no paid time counts, and the site needs a current NWCNHS contract |
| Nurse Anesthesia and pre-licensure BSN | FIU assigns the sites | Placement is arranged by FIU for these programs |
NP practicums: a different unit, not your own
FIU's graduate handbook is brief on this point: you cannot rotate on the unit where you work, and at a large institution you may rotate in a different unit. It does not define a large institution or say how separate the second unit must be, so describe the arrangement to your clinical faculty before the Preceptor Request Form goes in.
Picture an adult ICU nurse in the AGPCNP track who works for a big Miami health system. A primary care clinic the system runs in another building is a different unit; her own ICU is not. Whether that clinic suits NGR 6201L then turns on the ordinary questions: does it see adult and older-adult primary care patients, does the preceptor meet FIU's standards, and does FIU hold a contract with that site.
Hospital rounds get their own limit in the handbook: you may watch them only if the preceptor is not an employee, the time should stay small, and none of it adds to your practicum total. Build your hours around direct patient care with your preceptor, not time spent watching colleagues.
DNP residency hours at your workplace
DNP students have the most room. FIU's graduate handbook lets residency hours take place at your job site, provided the work goes past your normal duties and happens outside the hours you are scheduled to work. Leading a project on your own time fits that description; your usual shift does not, however closely it relates to the project.
The organizational mentor is the second limit. Whoever serves as mentor of record must be someone other than the supervisor you normally report to, and FIU would ideally like a mentor with a doctorate and deep expertise in your area. Post-MSN DNP students may find that person where they practice or elsewhere in the community. Sign-off comes from the DNP Program Director together with the Clinical Education Department, and the contract sits with FIU. The organizational mentor page walks through that approval, and the DNP residency page covers the hours.
RN to BSN: your facility, but not your unit
FIU's current BSN handbook steers RN to BSN students toward a preceptor inside their own facility, then draws the lines. The preceptor must hold a BSN and carry faculty approval, with no conflict of interest, the facility needs a current NWCNHS contract, you cannot train at your exact work location or unit, and no paid time counts toward clinical hours.
For NUR 4945L, the handbook also rules out NPs and CNSs whose only role is primary care provider. A medical-surgical nurse, for instance, might work with a BSN-prepared nurse on a different floor of the same hospital, on days she is not on the clock. The rest of the track's requirements, including its two practicum courses, are on the RN to BSN page.
When your employer's rules are stricter than FIU's
FIU's rules set the minimum, and a health system can add its own. Baptist Health South Florida is one example: its page on student rotations bars employees from logging clinical hours in the facility that employs them. It also takes requests only from partner or affiliate schools that already have a fully executed Master Agreement plus a Program Letter of Agreement, and it wants a Complio profile from each student at least 10 business days before the rotation starts. A site's onboarding can run on its own clock, apart from FIU's.
So check two rulebooks: FIU's, and the student rotation policy of your employer. If the employer says no, that ends the question whatever FIU would allow. Ask the office that handles student rotations or education rather than relying on your manager's reading of the policy, and keep the answer in writing for your clinical faculty.
Family, friends and colleagues
FIU's graduate handbook says you cannot choose family or close friends as preceptors, and the RN to BSN rules require a preceptor with no conflict of interest. Neither document mentions coworkers by name. A colleague from another unit is not excluded by the unit rule, but a close friendship outside work brings the family-or-friends rule into play. If a friend offers to precept, a better use of the offer is an introduction to a qualified colleague you do not know socially.
When a relationship is anywhere near the line, describe it to your clinical faculty before the name reaches the Preceptor Request Form. The full list of who can precept is on FIU's preceptor requirements. Sites and preceptors can change from one semester to the next under the handbook, so a workplace arrangement that suits one practicum does not lock you in for the next.
Why working nurses at FIU choose us
If you keep working through the program, the hard part is the calendar, because primary care rotations in FIU's graduate handbook are clinic days that run Monday through Friday, nine in the morning to five in the afternoon. We find preceptors off your own unit, and often outside your employer entirely, whose clinic days fit around the shifts you already work, and we confirm those days and times before the Preceptor Request Form goes in.
When your own employer is a real option, we test it against FIU's unit rule and the employer's student policy first, so you learn early whether it can work. Approval stays with your faculty and FIU's Office of Clinical Education, and our job is a request that arrives complete and inside FIU's rules on the first pass. See how it works or start with the form below.
Questions FIU students ask
Can I do my FIU NP clinical hours at the hospital where I work?
Yes, with a limit. Your own unit is off the table under FIU's graduate handbook, while another unit inside a large institution can work. That site still has to be under an FIU contract and approved by your faculty and the clinical education office, and your employer may apply stricter student rules than FIU, as Baptist Health South Florida does.
Can my boss serve as my FIU DNP organizational mentor?
Not if your boss is the person you report to day to day. The handbook excludes your regular work supervisor from serving as mentor of record. A doctorally prepared leader elsewhere in your organization, or an expert in the community, can fill the role once the DNP Program Director and the Clinical Education Department sign off.
Do paid work hours count as RN to BSN clinical hours at FIU?
No. Under FIU's BSN handbook, time you are paid for stays out of your clinical total, even though the same handbook suggests finding a preceptor inside your own facility. Hours for NUR 4636C and NUR 4945L need to be unpaid time, away from your exact work location or unit, with a BSN-prepared preceptor your faculty has approved.
Can a coworker precept me at FIU?
FIU's documents do not mention coworkers directly. The graduate handbook bars family and close friends and bars rotations on your own unit, so a colleague on your unit is out. A professional acquaintance on a different unit may qualify if they meet FIU's preceptor requirements. Describe the relationship to your clinical faculty before you submit the name.
Does my employer need a contract with FIU if I already work there?
Yes. Your job and a student affiliation are separate agreements. FIU's Clinical Education page holds every rotation until the contract with the clinical partner is signed, and it is the clinical education office that checks a site has all the paperwork FIU needs in place. Ask early, because the current handbook allows 6-8 weeks for a brand-new contract.
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
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