Your APU preceptor, found close to home and cleared before the term starts.
APU says it plainly on its BSN to DNP page: students are responsible for finding a clinical site and preceptor, with help from APU staff, faculty and student placement coordinators. That search is what we do for Azusa Pacific nursing students, from the San Gabriel Valley to San Diego, with everything APU's placement team needs ready the first time.
Start your placement plan
Tell us your APU program, your city and when your next clinical term starts. Your placement advisor replies with preceptor and site options that fit.
What APU provides, and what it asks of you
Azusa Pacific University (APU) gives you the courses, clinical faculty, a Graduate Placement Team that vets preceptors, and a School of Nursing that signs the affiliation agreement every clinical site needs. It also asks you to find a site and preceptor near home and report them through the Graduate Preceptor Request form, and its guidelines are candid that placements are not guaranteed.
We take the search off your plate. We line up preceptors who fit each course, from primary care in GNRS 600 to the PMHNP population courses, and we gather the clinic's legal name, legal signer and office contact that the request form asks for, so the placement team can clear the site quickly.
APU's placement team clears every site in writing before your first day. We make sure what reaches them is complete and fits APU's rules the first time.
Built for Southern California clinicals
APU's MSN nurse practitioner applicants must live in Southern California, and clinicals happen close to home. APU's own guidelines are frank about the terrain: fit for your level and population comes before distance, one- to two-hour commutes each way are common, and Saturday and evening clinicals are scarce, especially in family practice.
We search where you live, whether that is the San Gabriel Valley, the Inland Empire, Orange County or San Diego, and we check early whether the site already holds an APU affiliation agreement so your hours count from the first week.
From your program plan to hours in Medatrax
In the same order APU's own clinical process runs.
Program, GNRS course, city and the term your clinical starts.
Preceptors near you who fit the course: family practice, adult primary care, pediatrics, psychiatry or a CNS.
Preceptor credentials, clinic legal name and signer ready for APU's Graduate Placement Team and the affiliation agreement.
You log weekly from the first approved day, and a replacement is ready if a preceptor steps away.
Pick your APU program
Your clinical courses and hours, who can precept you, where, and when to start looking. From APU's own catalog, handbooks and program pages.
- Who precepts
- An MD, DO, NP, or a PA with an on-site physician, in family practice; a pediatric provider for your 135 pediatric hours
- Where
- Family practice and primary care close to home in Southern California; pediatric clinics or family practices that see at least six pediatric patients a day
- Start looking
- Clinicals follow advanced pathophysiology, pharmacology and health assessment at B- or better; tell APU about a new preceptor 6 to 8 weeks before the term
- Who precepts
- An MD, DO, NP, or a PA with an on-site physician, in adult and older-adult primary care
- Where
- Internal medicine, family practice and geriatric settings close to home in Southern California
- Start looking
- Take 2 to 6 clinical units of GNRS 600 a term with faculty approval, 90 to 270 hours each term
- Who precepts
- A pediatric provider in primary care; GNRS 532 splits between a pediatric specialty and primary pediatric practice
- Where
- Pediatric clinics and pediatric specialty practices in your part of Southern California
- Start looking
- GNRS 542 carries the summative OSCE for PNP students
- Who precepts
- A psychiatrist or a PMHNP for each population course
- Where
- Outpatient psychiatry, community mental health and other psychiatric settings close to home
- Start looking
- One population course at a time; each has its own Graduate Preceptor Request form on the PMHNP form
- Who precepts
- A clinical nurse specialist in your population focus (adult-gerontology or pediatric)
- Where
- Hospital and health-system settings; pediatric students take GNRS 530 and GNRS 531 in place of GNRS 520 and GNRS 521
- Start looking
- APU's request form lists 180 hours for each CNS clinical course
- Who precepts
- NP-track preceptors for GNRS 600 (FNP or AGPCNP), then residency mentors for the DNP project
- Where
- Primary care close to home for the 750 direct-care hours; your project organization for the residency
- Start looking
- APRN-track students stay in GNRS 600 continuously at 90 to 270 hours a term; 8 months of RN experience before year two
- Who precepts
- A residency site and mentor that support your DNP project
- Where
- An organization where your scholarly project can run; coursework is online
- Start looking
- Up to 500 hours may transfer in from your master's program; GNRS 732 repeats until the hours are met
- Who precepts
- A nurse educator preceptor for the GNRS 663 capstone
- Where
- An academic or staff-development setting in the state where you hold your license
- Start looking
- APU's Nursing Education site form makes finding the preceptor and setting your responsibility
- Who precepts
- A health care leader who signs a learning contract with you
- Where
- Your employer or up to three other organizations named on Practicum Survey A
- Start looking
- Survey A is due April 15 for fall and September 15 for spring on APU's published calendar
The APU pieces you will work with
Named the way APU names them, from the catalog, the SON student hub and the request forms.
Your program, your clinicals
Every APU nursing program with clinical hours, and who you need for each course.
Southern California, region by region
Where NP students look for preceptors in your part of Southern California.
When a clinical term is at risk
Fast help for the weeks that matter most.
Before you start
Does APU place graduate nursing students with preceptors?
APU runs a shared model. Its placement staff help and weigh distance to the site, but APU also expects students to find a site and preceptor near home and report them, and its guidelines say placements are not guaranteed. Pre-licensure BSN and ELM clinicals are different: APU assigns those.
What does APU need before I can start at a site?
A Graduate Preceptor Request form for each preceptor, an affiliation agreement between APU and the site, your CastleBranch or Complio requirements and written clearance from APU's placement team. You may not report to the site until that clearance arrives.
How many clinical hours are in APU's FNP program?
The MSN FNP includes 540 clinical hours in GNRS 600, and 135 of them must be pediatric. BSN to DNP students on the FNP track complete 750 direct-care hours within the DNP's 1,000 total.
What happens if I cannot find a preceptor in time?
APU's guidelines say a student who cannot be placed must drop the course within the first third of the semester, with late-drop fees waivable and next-term priority placement in some cases. Starting the search a term ahead is the best protection.
Do you work with APU students outside the Azusa campus?
Yes. We search across Southern California for students on every APU campus, including the Inland Empire and San Diego, and in each of the 16 regions our guides cover.
APU says the clinical site and preceptor are yours to find. We make that the easy part.
Tell us your APU program, where you live in Southern California and when your next clinical term starts. We find preceptors who fit the course and prepare what APU and the site need before anything is approved.
- Preceptors matched to the course: primary care for
GNRS 600, pediatrics for the PNP courses, psychiatric care for PMHNP - Credentials, license and site details ready for APU's review and the affiliation agreement
- Close to home, from the San Gabriel Valley and the Inland Empire to San Diego
Start your placement plan
Program, city and term is all we need to begin.