When your FIU preceptor drops out mid-semester
A preceptor who leaves partway through a Florida International University (FIU) practicum puts two things at risk: the hours you have earned and the hours still ahead. Secure the first before the preceptor is gone, tell your clinical faculty the same day, and treat the replacement like a new placement, because FIU approves it the same way. We start the replacement search the moment you tell us.
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.
Before the preceptor is gone: lock in your hours
Hours are easiest to protect while the preceptor is still at the practice and still answering messages. Work through these in the first days after you hear the news.
- Enter every clinical day in TyphonFIU takes Typhon NPST entries for 7 days after each clinical day; after that the entry is refused and the hours must be worked again. Close every open day now, while the preceptor can still approve documentation.
- Get the time-sheet log signed to your last dayThe preceptor signs FIU's Clinical Rotation Time-Sheet Log each day or each week, only for hours you have worked. Get signatures for every day up to your last one together.
- Ask about an evaluation for the time servedFIU's 2022 manual has the preceptor rate you twice, halfway through and in the closing days. Ask your clinical faculty whether the departing preceptor should rate your weeks at the practice.
- Keep your own recordNote each date, the hours, the patients you saw and what the syllabus still asks of you.
The Typhon logs guide covers who approves which entries and how the time-sheet log fits alongside Typhon.
Tell FIU the same day
Email your clinical faculty from your FIU account as soon as you know. Say when your last clinical day was, how many hours are logged and approved, how many the course still needs, and whether another clinician at the practice might take over. Hybrid-track students (FNP, PMHNP, AGACNP) should copy the graduate nursing clinical coordinator, whom FIU's handbook makes the main point of contact for placements.
Resist the urge to keep going with whoever is available at the practice. A different clinician, even one down the hall, still has to be approved as your preceptor before supervising you, because FIU's approval attaches to the person as well as the site. FIU's Office of Clinical Education confirms that a site and preceptor have the contracts and documents FIU requires.
Three ways to replace a preceptor
Which route is fastest depends mostly on the site's contract. A mid-term replacement goes through the same approval as any new preceptor.
| Route | What FIU needs | What sets the pace |
|---|---|---|
| Another clinician at the same practice | Approval of the new preceptor; the site's FIU contract already covers the practice | How quickly the new preceptor's details reach your faculty |
| A different practice with an FIU agreement | A new Preceptor Request Form with your faculty's signature | The form, any screening the site adds, and onboarding such as EHR access |
| A practice new to FIU | All of the above plus a new contract through the Clinical Education Department | The contract, which the current handbook puts at 6-8 weeks |
A replacement found this term does not lock in next term. FIU permits a new site and preceptor each semester, so you can keep the new preceptor or plan a different practice for your next practicum.
Making up the lost time
FIU's graduate handbook says clinical hours you miss have to be made up, under the same rules as the rest of the rotation. They must fall inside official semester dates, and any clinical day during a campus break needs your faculty's approval by email before it happens.
Bring the new preceptor up to speed at the first meeting with a fresh preceptor folder: course objectives, competency list, blank evaluation forms, faculty contact details and your goals for the weeks left. Add a one-page summary of the hours already approved so nobody counts them twice. The first day guide covers the folder in detail.
Tell the new preceptor what else the term holds. The final evaluation will now come from them, and FIU's clinical faculty observe each student on at least two separate clinical days with the preceptor present, so a faculty visit may land during the replacement weeks. Evaluations and site visits explains both.
When the term runs out first
If a replacement cannot finish your hours before the term ends, talk to your course faculty about an Incomplete before the final weeks. Under FIU policy 380.0449, an IN is possible only when no more than half the course work is missing and you are otherwise passing, and the work must then be finished within two consecutive terms, summer included, or the grade becomes an F. A preceptor who leaves late in the term usually leaves a gap that fits; one who leaves in week two may not.
Dropping the course is a different route with its own cost: FIU's handbook counts two DR grades in the same course as one course failure. The Incompletes, leave and time limits guide sets out each rule, and delayed graduation shows how a slipped practicum moves the rest of your plan.
Why FIU students call us when a preceptor leaves
A mid-term replacement is a search with a deadline, and we plan for it from the start. For students we placed, a replacement is part of the service; for everyone else, we pick the search up wherever it stands.
We work two tracks at once. We ask whether another clinician at your current practice can take over, since that keeps the existing FIU contract in play, and at the same time we approach practices near you whose patients fit your course and whose FIU agreement status we confirm on the first call. You receive everything the Preceptor Request Form asks for once a preceptor agrees.
FIU's faculty and clinical education staff sign off on the new preceptor, and we see that the request in front of them is complete. Send the course, your city and the hours you still need through the form below.
Questions FIU students ask
Do I lose my clinical hours if my FIU preceptor quits?
Not the ones already recorded and approved. Hours entered in Typhon within 7 days and approved stay on your record. Days never entered, or entered after the 7-day window, are not accepted and must be worked again, which is why catching up on Typhon and the signed time-sheet log comes first.
Can I switch preceptors in the middle of an FIU semester?
Yes, through the same approval as any new preceptor. Changing site and preceptor from one semester to the next is allowed under FIU's graduate handbook, and a mid-term change needs your clinical faculty's sign-off and, for a practice without an FIU agreement, a new contract before the first day with the new preceptor.
Does another NP at the same clinic need FIU approval?
Yes. The site's contract carries over, but the new clinician must be approved as your preceptor, and FIU staff log each new preceptor's license details and expiration date when processing a request. Ask your clinical faculty which details they need, and hold off on counting hours with the new clinician until approval comes through.
Will I fail the practicum if I cannot finish my hours?
Not automatically. Missed clinical time must be repaid under FIU's handbook, and falling short on attendance puts the course at risk. If the term ends with only a small share of the work left and you are otherwise passing, an Incomplete may apply under policy 380.0449. Talk to your course faculty before the final weeks.
What should I give a replacement preceptor on day one?
A fresh preceptor folder with the course objectives, competencies, evaluation forms, faculty contact details and your own goals, plus a short summary of the hours already approved and the patient types you have seen. That lets the new preceptor focus the remaining weeks on what the course still needs.
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.