Finding a preceptor for your Augusta University NP course

Updated September 27, 2026 · Reviewed by the Augusta Preceptor placement team

The right preceptor fits three things at once: the patients your course names, the setting it needs, and the licensing rules of Georgia or South Carolina. However your course arranges its clinical experiences, the map is the same: independent practices, community health centers and health systems, each with its own rules for students. Our placement desk searches all three for you.

Get matched Chat now

Start your preceptor search

Give us your track, course number, term and home ZIP code, and your placement advisor will begin mapping preceptors who fit that course.

446community health center service sites in Georgia, by our count of HRSA's September 2026 file

309community health center service sites in South Carolina, by the same count

Numbered steps. How our search works: 1 Tell us the course; 2 We map every fit; 3 We confirm the preceptor; 4 We build the packet; 5 We stay on call. — How our search works: 1 Tell us the course; 2 We map every fit; 3 We confirm the preceptor; 4 We build the packet; 5 We stay on call.

What your preceptor has to match in each course

Start with the course, not the clinic. Augusta University's catalog describes each practice course by the patients it covers, and a preceptor whose panel lacks those patients leaves you short of the experience the course is built around.

Patient focus of the clinical courses, from the 2026-27 catalog
Track	Courses	What the catalog describes
DNP-FNP	`NURS 8312`, `NURS 8315`, `NURS 8318`	Adults in primary care; then infants, children and adolescents in primary care; then older adults and their families
DNP-AGACNP	`NURS 8332`, `NURS 8335`, `NURS 8338`	Acute care: Practice II covers adults and older adults with complex urgent and emergent needs, Practice III adults with complex, rapidly changing needs
DNP-PNP	`NURS 8322`, `NURS 8325`, `NURS 8328`	Pediatric primary care, the focus of Augusta University's PNP track
DNP-PMHNP	`NURS 8342`, `NURS 8345`, `NURS 8348`	Psychiatric care; Practice II and III each need a child or adolescent group, an adult psychotherapy group, and individual and peer supervision
Every NP track	`NURS 9192`	The full scope of advanced practice nursing, alongside a preceptor

The catalog gives each course a focus, not a list of approved site types, so confirm the setting with your course faculty before you lock in a preceptor. The track pages go deeper, starting with FNP practice courses and PMHNP practice courses.

The license and state rules a preceptor must fit

Plan on a preceptor who practices in Georgia or South Carolina: the residence rule rests on faculty visiting your clinical site, and the certificate page puts clinical experiences in those two states. Beyond that, Augusta University does not publish preceptor qualifications such as credentials, years of experience or specialty match, so your course faculty sets that bar; the preceptor requirements guide collects what is known.

Georgia's Board of Nursing says any preceptor working in Georgia needs a Georgia license or a multistate compact license, and that clinical instruction in APRN programs must come from a nurse holding Georgia APRN authorization. A Georgia NP practices under a nurse protocol agreement with a delegating physician, and site forms sometimes need that physician's signature.

In South Carolina an NP works under a written practice agreement with a physician. The state's Nurse Practice Act carves out students in approved nursing programs, though it does not say how that reads for an out-of-state graduate program; South Carolina NP practice covers the details.

Where NP preceptors practice in Georgia and South Carolina

Outside hospitals, most NP preceptors work in three kinds of places: independent and physician-owned practices, community health centers, and the outpatient clinics of health systems. Each is reached differently.

An independent practice decides for itself whether to take a student, subject to whatever agreement the site needs with your school. Community health centers are spread widely: by our count of HRSA's September 2026 site file, Georgia has 446 active FQHC service sites and South Carolina 309. Around Augusta, Neighborhood Improvement Project runs 26 of the 44 sites in the Central Savannah River Area, from Augusta and Evans out to Thomson, Waynesboro and Wrens.

Psychiatric preceptors take the most mapping. No health system page in our research singles out PMHNP students, and in Georgia, community service boards anchor many of the mental health shortage designations for low-income residents. The region guides, beginning with Augusta and the CSRA and the Midlands, cover health centers and systems region by region.

Health systems publish their own student routes

Large systems send NP students through portals and set rules that apply to every school's students alike. This is what their own pages said when we read them in September 2026; where only an archived copy could be read, the table says so.

NP student routes at Georgia and South Carolina health systems, from each system's own page
System	Route for NP students	Rule worth knowing
Wellstar, including Wellstar MCG Health	ACEMAPP, for students who already have a preceptor or want help locating one	Deadlines: summer March 30, fall June 30, spring Nov. 15; no contact before decision dates
Piedmont, including Piedmont Augusta	ACEMAPP, with requests entered by the school	Its 2021 guidelines, read from an archived copy, say Piedmont chooses the preceptor
Emory Healthcare	One request form to its Office of APP, then ACEMAPP	Placements arranged outside that process are not honored
Northside Hospital	ACEMAPP once a preceptor is secured	The student or school secures the preceptor; NP to NP; one student per preceptor
Grady Health System	Its own NP and post-graduate packet	The student secures the preceptor, who signs the packet
Atrium Health Floyd	ACEMAPP	Moratorium on new agreements; its active list shows "Augusta University, PA, NP"
Prisma Health	myClinicalExchange	Archived copy: its own staff of a year or more, or Clemson and USC students
AnMed	Its own application	Archived copy: only AnMed employees and Anderson and Clemson students
Self Regional	Request form sent by the program or faculty	Its onboarding policy marks NP requests "Must find provider"

Apart from Atrium Health Floyd's agreement list, the only health care page in our research that names Augusta University is the Augusta VA's, which calls its center affiliated with Augusta University's health care training programs, the College of Nursing included.

What those rules mean for your search

A portal means an agreement comes first. Every system that states a rule wants a school-level affiliation agreement before any student rotates, and some have paused new ones.
A no-contact rule means no cold calls. Atrium Health, Atrium Health Floyd and AnMed ask students not to call their providers, and Wellstar asks for no contact before its decision dates. The portal is the only door there.
Employee priority means your employer may be the open door. Atrium Health offers teammates priority, and Prisma and AnMed consider their own staff. Augusta University's own position on clinicals at your workplace is not published; see clinicals where you work.
Lead times run long. Northside wants compliance 30 days before a rotation, Atrium Health asks for three months, and Emory warns that a new agreement can take several months.

A common mistake: finding a willing NP inside a large system and treating that yes as the finish line. At a system with a portal, the preceptor's agreement is only the start; the system's own review, the school agreement and the deadline decide the rest.

How our search works

Tell us the courseYour track, course number, term, home ZIP code, license and any employer rules. That fixes the patients, the setting and your driving radius.
We map every fitYour placement advisor works through independent practices, community health centers and health system clinics in Georgia or South Carolina within your radius, matched to the patients your course names.
We confirm the preceptorWe confirm willingness, schedule and license, including Georgia APRN authorization where it applies, and check the site's own student rules and lead time.
We build the packetWe gather what your course faculty and the site ask for, so what reaches your faculty is complete and early.
We stay on callIf a preceptor steps away, we start looking for a replacement who fits the same course and keep your hours moving.

Whatever your program does on placement, you get options that meet Augusta University's published rules and your exact course. Read how it works or use the form below.

Questions Augusta University students ask

Can a physician precept an Augusta University NP student?

Augusta University does not publish preceptor qualifications, so the answer comes from your course faculty. Some health systems accept physicians for NP students: Northside lets an MD or DO precept any discipline, and an archived copy of Prisma Health's page lists physicians alongside its NPs. Get your faculty's answer in writing before you recruit a physician.

Does ACEMAPP find a preceptor for me?

ACEMAPP is the scheduling and onboarding platform most Georgia systems use, and whether it connects you to a preceptor depends on the system. Wellstar lets students register for help locating a Wellstar preceptor, while Northside expects the preceptor to be secured before the application. Read each system's own ACEMAPP page before you apply.

How far from home can my clinical site be?

Augusta University does not publish a travel radius. Policy CON14 makes transportation to clinical agencies, and any overnight lodging, your own cost, and faculty must be able to visit the site. Most students are better served by a site within a comfortable daily drive, and we search inside the radius you set.

Can my preceptor be in a different Georgia or South Carolina region from where I live?

The published rule names the two states, not a region, so a site elsewhere in Georgia or South Carolina is not ruled out by it. Travel costs and faculty visits still make distance matter, and your course faculty may have preferences. Near the state line, the wording also leaves room for a Georgia site for a South Carolina resident, or the reverse.

What if my preceptor leaves in the middle of a course?

Tell your course faculty right away, since they oversee the course and its evaluation. Augusta University does not publish a replacement procedure. For students working with us, the placement desk stays on call through the term and starts a search for a new preceptor who fits the same course and setting.

Augusta University systemPlacement processWhat Augusta University publishes about NP clinicals, step by step: residence, compliance, the paid tracking system, course order, faculty visits and grading.Licenses and APRN rulesPreceptor requirementsGeorgia and South Carolina license rules for NP preceptors, what Augusta University says about preceptors, what it leaves out, and what to ask your faculty.Contracts and lead timeClinical agreementsWhat Augusta University policy says about clinical agency contracts, which Georgia and South Carolina systems require one, and why starting early pays off.Augusta University systemGeorgia and South Carolina ruleAugusta University NP students must live in Georgia or South Carolina so faculty can visit. The exact wording, the programs it names, the state line and moving.Placement helpYour own search or oursA fair side-by-side for Augusta University NP students: looking for a preceptor yourself versus having our placement desk search Georgia and South Carolina.Placement helpNo preceptor yetAugusta University NP student, clinical course close, no preceptor? This week: talk to faculty, check request windows, widen the map, try health centers, ask us.

Last checked 2026-09-27

We check these pages against Augusta University's own catalog, program plans, DNP handbook and program pages, and Georgia and South Carolina rules. Your course faculty and the College of Nursing have the final word.

Whatever your program arranges, we find the preceptor who fits.

Tell us your Augusta University track, where in Georgia or South Carolina you live and when your next clinical course starts. We find preceptors near you who fit the course and Augusta University's rules, and hand you everything your faculty and the site need, well before the semester.

Adult, pediatric and older-adult preceptors for NURS 8312 to NURS 8318, acute care for NURS 8332 to NURS 8338
Pediatric primary care for the PNP courses and psychiatric preceptors for NURS 8342 to NURS 8348
Across Georgia and South Carolina, from the CSRA to Savannah, Atlanta and Columbia

Start your placement plan

Program, city and start date is all we need to begin.