Kentucky's preceptor rule: EKU secures your preceptor, and you may have input

The rule, word for word

Section 5 of 201 KAR 20:062 sets the preceptor standards for APRN programs. Its first subsection says a program must meet those standards in addition to the standards of its national nursing accrediting body. The second subsection is the one that shapes your clinical courses:

"The APRN program shall secure all necessary preceptors to students enrolled in the program. A student shall not be required to obtain his or her own preceptor, but may have input into the process." (201 KAR 20:062, Section 5(2))

Read it as three commitments. The program secures the preceptors. No student can be required to obtain one. And students may shape the process with input of their own. Section 1(6) limits the word preceptor to APRNs, physicians and physician assistants who meet the Section 5 standards; what else EKU looks for is covered under preceptor requirements.

The regulation took effect in December 2010 and was amended in 2011, 2014, 2015 and March 2019. The Board recertified it without changes effective January 8, 2026, so it is in force today.

What else the regulation expects of programs

Section 5(2) is not a stray line. Elsewhere, 201 KAR 20:062 treats preceptor supply as a core measure of an APRN program. A proposal for a new program must include "a five (5) year plan for securing clinical sites and preceptors sufficient to accommodate the number of students" (Section 3(8)(b)7).

Section 6(4) lists factors that may lead the Board to visit a program and that can put its approval status at risk. One of them, Section 6(4)(d), reads: "Failure to provide sufficient clinical learning opportunities including securing preceptors for students to achieve stated outcomes." Securing preceptors is part of how Kentucky judges whether an APRN program is doing its job.

The regulation sets no minimum clinical hour count and no preceptor-to-student ratio for APRN programs. Hours follow the national accreditor, which for EKU is CCNE, and EKU's own figures are on the clinical hours page.

What "may have input" means in practice

The regulation does not define input, so EKU's documents are the best guide to what it looks like. MSN and post-MSN students maintain a preceptor information form through every clinical course (2021-22 handbook, archived). DNP students request approval for each practice site on a dedicated form. And EKU Online's 2021 profile of an FNP graduate describes her doing clinicals at her own workplace.

Taken together, input can mean proposing a named preceptor, a practice close to home, a setting in your specialty, clinical days that fit your job, or a unit at your own employer. It can also mean offering nothing: input is a right, not a duty, and EKU's obligation stays the same either way. Whatever you offer, EKU reviews and approves it. Our guide to using your input covers what makes an option strong, and your input vs waiting compares the two routes.

How we work within the rule

Everything we do sits on the input side of Section 5(2). Your placement advisor locates a preceptor and site near you that match your EKU course, confirms the specialty, the license and the site's readiness to host you, and prepares the details EKU's preceptor information form calls for. You put that option forward; EKU secures and approves the placement.

We begin a term or more before NSC 800, hold a second option in reserve, and remain available through the internship in case a preceptor has to withdraw. EKU students choose us because the option they bring is specific, complete and built around EKU's own process. Our help leaves the duty exactly where Kentucky put it; what it changes is how ready your option is. Tell us your program and your first clinical term in the form below.