Finding your own preceptor at Loyola New Orleans

Loyola's own words on who searches

Three Loyola documents say the same thing in different ways. The FNP practicum letter opens with it: "Preparing for the practicum will involve selecting a practicum preceptor and site." The graduate bulletin's FNP, AGACNP and PMHNP certificate entries place practicums with preceptors in the student's own geographic area. And Loyola's standard contract with sites spells out the student's part in one line: "Student is responsible to contact a Facility preceptor."

The DNP practicum requirements letter follows the same pattern for project practicums: students pick their own sites, begin early and keep several preceptor candidates open. The FNP letter also describes the affiliation agreement as a contract with a facility the student selected. Put together, the split is clear: you find and secure the preceptor, and the School of Nursing handles the contract, the compliance review and the Exxat processing.

Where the FNP guide tells you to look

Loyola's 2025 FNP Orientation and Practicum Guide lists five places to start. Each one reaches a different kind of clinician, so working several at once widens the field.

• Your workplace network. Colleagues who are NPs or physicians, or who know one, are often the warmest lead. If you end up training where you are employed, Loyola's attestation rules apply, as explained on practicum at your own workplace.
• Student peers. Classmates a term or two ahead can tell you which practices host students and how the paperwork went.
• Professional organizations such as AANP. Membership, meetings and local events put you in front of practicing nurse practitioners.
• State NP organizations. Chapters in your own state connect you with clinicians near home, which suits the bulletin's expectation of local placements.
• Community contacts. Clinics, health departments and practices you already know through your nursing work.

Add the Explore Clinical Locations map inside Exxat Prism, where every organization shown already has a Loyola affiliation agreement. A listed site still needs a clinician who agrees to teach you, but its contract step is already done.

Matching the preceptor to your course before you ask

A willing clinician helps only if Loyola will accept them for that course. Every FNP practicum, from NURS G823 to NURS G833, sits in outpatient primary care. NURS G829 (FPCM III) needs 150 pediatric and 50 obstetric hours, so an adult-only practice cannot cover it, while FPCM I and II may be supervised by an NP, MD, DO or PA.

Loyola's DNP letter casts a wider net for project preceptors: nurse leaders at the director, chief officer or patient care vice president level, other organizational administrators, APRNs and physicians. Settings range from health departments and CDC programs to ethics committees, nursing associations and health care organizations. Relatives, your employer and your own direct supervisor are all ruled out. License, certification and experience rules for every track are on Loyola's preceptor requirements.

Why Loyola students choose us for the search

Loyola hands you the search, and running it is our specialty. Our team matches you with preceptors suited to your specific Loyola course, whether that is FPCM III's pediatric and obstetric mix, acute care shifts or a DNP project setting, at practices you can reach in person and in states on Loyola's approved list.

We approach each practice the way it prefers, confirm the clinician meets Loyola's standards before anyone signs, and hand you a complete Wishlist package. If a preceptor withdraws mid-term, the replacement search starts the same day. Approval of every placement rests with Loyola's placement office and faculty; we see to it that the file they open is whole and built to Loyola's rules from the start. Tell us your program and term.