A placement desk built around Eastern Kentucky University
EKU Preceptor exists for one set of students: nurses in Eastern Kentucky University's online nurse practitioner, certificate, DNP and RN to BSN programs. Everything we do, from the first question we ask to the details we prepare, follows EKU's clinical sequence, its state limits and the Kentucky regulation that shapes how its preceptors are arranged.
Get your placement plan
Tell us your EKU program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with preceptor and site options in your community that fit your EKU course.
Why one university
EKU's clinical path is specific enough to deserve its own service. Nurse practitioner students meet their first preceptor in NSC 800 Advanced Practice Role, which runs beside the three concentration courses, and finish in an internship: NSC 876 for FNP students, NSC 886 for PMHNP students. The School of Nursing is in Richmond, in a county the Appalachian Regional Commission includes in Appalachian Kentucky, and EKU still markets its FNP under the Rural Health FNP name.
A general service would treat those facts as footnotes. Here they are the starting point: the course number decides the setting we search, the state you live in decides whether EKU can enroll you, and Kentucky's rule decides how your input fits in.
Who we work with
We work with students in six EKU programs, and each one has its own clinical piece.
| EKU program | Credits (2026-27 catalog) | Where preceptor help comes in |
|---|---|---|
| MSN Family Nurse Practitioner | 47 | NSC 800 with FNP I to III, then the NSC 876 internship |
| MSN Psychiatric Mental Health NP | 49 | NSC 800 with PMHNP I to III, then the NSC 886 internship |
| Post-MSN FNP certificate | 32, including 9 prerequisite credits | The same FNP clinical courses |
| Post-MSN PMHNP certificate | 34, including 9 prerequisite credits | The same PMHNP clinical courses |
| Post-master's DNP (Organizational Leadership) | 30 to 34 | An approved site for each DNP experience course, toward 1,000 hours beyond the BSN |
| Online RN to BSN | 25 EKU credits in the plan | The NSC 442C clinical |
Students on EKU's Richmond campus, in the BSN or the associate degree, are placed by the School of Nursing in small clinical groups; the BSN clinicals guide explains how those run.
How we see our part
Kentucky's Board of Nursing requires programs like EKU's to secure the preceptors their nurse practitioner students need, and it protects each student's right to have input. We think that input deserves a well-prepared answer. A nurse who works nights in a small town knows better than anyone which clinic could host them, which days they can give and how far they can drive.
Our work is to turn that knowledge into a named preceptor with complete details, delivered through EKU's own process, early enough that nobody is rushing. EKU reviews and approves; we make the review easy. The student input guide shows what that input looks like in EKU's documents.
EKU has the final word on every placement. Our job is to hand it an option that already fits the course, the license rules and the calendar.
Rural care, close to EKU's mission
EKU's catalog calls NSC 876 a concentrated rural primary care practicum, and its online landing pages keep the Rural Health FNP name. Its home county shows why. In federal HRSA data, Madison County carries low-income shortage designations for both primary care and mental health, and nearby Estill, Jackson and Rockcastle counties are classed as Distressed by the Appalachian Regional Commission.
For many EKU students, then, the right preceptor practices in a rural health clinic, a community health center or a small-town psychiatric practice. We search those settings as readily as city practices, and we weigh distance and clinic hours so a rural placement stays workable across a full clinical block. The rural health guide goes further.
How we keep EKU facts accurate
Every EKU fact on this site traces to EKU's 2026-27 catalog, its program and state authorization pages, Kentucky's regulations, or an EKU handbook we name by year. Much of EKU's clinical detail survives only in archived handbooks, such as the 2021-22 MSN Student Handbook and the 2020 DNP handbook, so we label those facts with their year and ask you to confirm the current version with your faculty.
Where EKU's own sources disagree, we show both sides. The 2021-22 handbook asked FNP students for 9 credits of NSC 800 and a 5-credit internship, while today's catalog lists 8 and 6, and the two sources set different time limits for finishing the master's. Your program's current rules always come first.
Reaching the placement desk
Each student works with one placement advisor from the first message to the end of the clinical course, so nobody has to explain their plan twice. Start with the contact form, the chat on any page, or the WhatsApp and text buttons on a phone. If you want the full picture first, read how it works.
Nurse practitioners, physicians and physician assistants who might host an EKU student are welcome to write as well. The preceptor page explains what hosting involves.
Questions EKU students ask
Who runs EKU Preceptor?
An independent placement desk that works for EKU nursing students. EKU's School of Nursing writes the clinical rules and approves every preceptor and site; we help you find and prepare the option you bring to that process, and we stay with you through the course.
Why focus on EKU instead of every nursing school?
Because details decide the outcome. Knowing that NSC 876 is rural primary care, that liability insurance is bought through EKU on an August-to-August year, and which eight states EKU does not enroll MSN students from lets us search in the right place from the first day.
Do you help EKU students who live outside Kentucky?
Yes, in any state where EKU enrolls online students in your program and you hold a valid RN license. EKU's state authorization page, updated in September 2026, bars enrollment from eight states for the MSN and sets conditions for a few others. Your state guide summarizes the rules where you live.
What makes a placement strong in EKU terms?
It is settled before the course opens, the preceptor's practice matches the course setting, the license fits the site's state, the preceptor can commit for the whole clinical block, and site onboarding is finished before the first day. We aim every search at that standard.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-25
We check these pages against EKU's own catalog, program pages and handbooks, and Kentucky's regulations. The current MSN Student Handbook, your course and your faculty have the final word.
EKU secures your preceptor. Your input decides how well it fits your life.
Tell us your EKU program, where you live and when your next clinical course starts. We find preceptors in your community who fit the course and prepare everything EKU reviews, so the option you put forward is ready to approve.
- Preceptors matched to the course: family primary care for
NSC 800andNSC 876, psychiatric care forNSC 886 - Preceptor, license and site details organized for EKU's preceptor information form
- In your own community, wherever EKU enrolls students and you hold your RN license
Start your placement plan
Program, city and start date is all we need to begin.