EKU preceptor and clinical questions, answered
These are the questions Eastern Kentucky University nursing students bring to the placement desk most often. Each answer is short, rests on EKU's catalog, program pages, archived handbooks or Kentucky regulation, and links to the guide that covers the topic in full.
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.
Will EKU expect me to find my own preceptor?
No. EKU runs its nurse practitioner programs from Richmond, so the Kentucky Board of Nursing's rule for APRN programs applies to them. That rule requires the program itself to secure every preceptor its students need and bars it from making a student obtain one, while leaving room for the student's input.
Input shows up in EKU's paperwork. Its 2021-22 MSN handbook asked students to keep the form EKU titled Clinical contract and preceptor information form up to date each semester. The 2020 DNP handbook had students ask for approval of a site before every clinical course. And a 2021 EKU Online story quoted an FNP graduate who picked EKU partly so she could train at her own workplace. The Kentucky rule guide quotes the regulation word for word.
Why put a preceptor option forward at all?
Because the details of a placement shape the rest of your life for a semester. A preceptor near home instead of two counties over, in a practice you respect, on the weekdays you are off, makes NSC 800 sustainable next to a nursing job. EKU's 2021-22 handbook warned that extensive clinical practice hours are required and asked students to weigh them against their employment plans.
Your input lets you steer toward that fit, and a well-prepared option gives EKU everything it needs to evaluate it. Students with no preference can leave the arranging entirely to EKU, which is a sound choice too. Your input or waiting sets both routes next to each other.
How do NSC 800 and the internships fit together?
NSC 800 Advanced Practice Role is EKU's main clinical course for both NP concentrations. You register for it several times, each time beside one of the three concentration courses (NSC 870, NSC 872 and NSC 874 for FNP; NSC 880, NSC 882 and NSC 884 for PMHNP), until the credits reach 8. The internship comes last: 6 credits of NSC 876 for FNP students, which EKU builds around rural primary care, or 5 credits of NSC 886 for PMHNP students.
On hours, EKU's FNP page lists 750 hours of direct patient care as a graduation outcome and says the closing 300 are where everything learned earlier comes together. EKU posts no per-course breakdown and no PMHNP total. Where the 2021-22 handbook and today's catalog disagree, as on the FNP internship's credits (5 then, 6 now), go with the catalog. The clinical hours guide brings the numbers together.
What must be in place before my first clinical day?
EKU's last publicly posted MSN handbook (2021-22) set a gate before any clinical: NP students had to demonstrate advanced health assessment and diagnostic reasoning at a mastery level during the semester right before NSC 800. After that, every semester with a clinical course required these items:
- Professional liability insurance, bought through EKU itself.
- A clean RN license, meaning unencumbered, wherever you hold one.
- Three EKU documents: the preceptor information form, a Clinical Waiver form and, in the FNP track, a Telehealth Checklist.
- Any onboarding documents the clinical site asks of its students.
Nursys e-Notify enrollment was expected at admission. The list may have changed since 2022, so check it with your faculty; the compliance guide covers each item.
Does the state I live in matter?
Yes, in two ways. First, EKU's state authorization page sets out where it will not take online MSN or post-MSN students, for different reasons: Colorado, Louisiana, Tennessee and Washington, where it is not taking online nursing students; New York and Oregon, where FNP and PMHNP students are excluded; Minnesota, where its licensure table says the program does not meet requirements; and Mississippi, where it cites clinical placement restrictions. Missouri, Alabama and North Dakota carry placement conditions.
Second, your clinical site's state matters for licensing and reporting. EKU's catalog expects you to report the location of clinical activity held outside Kentucky, and a move after admission can put your place in the program at risk unless your advisor clears it first. The state authorization guide has the full table.
What does the placement desk do, and what does it cost?
Our placement advisors look for preceptors near you whose practice suits your EKU course, check license and availability against the clinical block, prepare what you submit through EKU's forms, keep your clearance items moving and stand ready with a replacement if a preceptor leaves. How it works breaks that into six steps.
Quotes turn on the course, the specialty, your location, EKU's rules for your state and your lead time, so each one follows a short conversation about your plan. The cost page lists the factors behind each quote.
One principle runs through every answer here: EKU approves the placement. Your input, well prepared, is how you shape it.
Questions EKU students ask
Will I need to travel to EKU's Richmond campus?
EKU's pages for the online FNP, PMHNP, both post-MSN certificates and the DNP each state that no campus visits are required, so clinicals take place in your own community. The archived 2021-22 handbook did expect attendance at some synchronous video sessions, so watch your Canvas course for scheduled meetings.
Is EKU the same as NKU?
No. Eastern Kentucky University is in Richmond, in Madison County. Northern Kentucky University (nku.edu) is a separate university with its own programs, handbooks and clinical processes. Everything on this site concerns EKU, so check which school a source describes before relying on it.
What is EKU's time limit for finishing the MSN?
EKU's sources disagree. The 2021-22 MSN Student Handbook set 7 years for the master's, while the 2026-27 graduate catalog gives master's programs of 41 credit hours or more a 10-year limit, and the MSN carries 47 to 49 credits. Ask your program coordinator which limit applies to your plan of study.
Where do I find my clinical term dates?
EKU's Colonel's Compass lists registration, drop and withdrawal dates by part of term, including the 7F and 7S seven-week sessions and 6F and 6S in summer. For 2026-27, the fall term started on August 24 and the spring term starts on January 25. Your Canvas course carries the clinical schedule itself.
Can you help with DNP clinical hours?
Yes. EKU's catalog asks DNP students to document a 1,000-hour minimum of clinical practice after the BSN, and it sets the hours still owed at EKU when you are admitted. The archived DNP handbook had students seek site approval for each clinical course. We look for a setting where your improvement project fits. See the DNP hours guide.
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.