Savannah, Brunswick and Coastal Georgia NP Clinicals for Augusta University Students
Coastal Georgia runs from Screven County, a short drive from Augusta, past Savannah and Brunswick to St. Marys. Any address here meets Augusta University's residence rule, and three hospital systems, 53 health center sites and South Carolina's Lowcountry across the river give NP students real choices.
Find a coastal Georgia preceptor
Give us your city, track and upcoming course, and your placement advisor begins the search.
Ten counties from Sylvania to St. Marys
The Coastal Regional Commission covers Bryan, Bulloch, Camden, Chatham, Effingham, Glynn, Liberty, Long, McIntosh and Screven counties. The Census Bureau's 2025 estimate puts the region at 791,272 residents, 8.4% above its 2020 base, with 311,855 in Chatham County alone. Savannah (149,440) leads; Hinesville, Statesboro and Pooler each top 30,000.
Distance from campus changes sharply along the coast: Sylvania is roughly 60 driving miles from downtown Augusta, Statesboro 80, Savannah 125, Brunswick 195 and St. Marys 225. Only Bulloch, Camden and Screven count as nonmetro under USDA's 2023 codes, 20.4% of residents, so most of the coast is metropolitan.
Savannah's hospitals, Brunswick's system and the health centers
Savannah has two hospital systems. Memorial Health University Medical Center belongs to HCA Healthcare; its site could not be read for our research and the web archive shows no student page. St. Joseph's/Candler runs St. Joseph's Hospital and Candler Hospital; its nursing page mentions a pipeline for nursing students and an RN residency, with no student placement process.
Southeast Georgia Health System operates a Brunswick Campus and a Camden Campus in St. Marys. According to an archived copy of its students page from January 2026, it lists clinical preceptorships and routes rotation requests through an Education Liaison, with no NP-specific portal or deadline posted. Augusta University's own site describes the Medical College of Georgia's Brunswick clinical campus, run in partnership with Southeast Georgia Health System; that page concerns medical students, not NP rotations.
HRSA counts 53 health center service sites, at least one in every county, including 11 mobile vans and eight school-based sites. Curtis V. Cooper Primary Health Care runs 19 in Savannah, Bloomingdale, Rincon and Springfield; Coastal Community Health Services runs 13 from Pooler down to Brunswick, Darien and St. Marys; J.C. Lewis Primary Health Care has nine in Savannah; Diversity Health Center has eight in Hinesville and Ludowici; East Georgia Healthcare Center serves Statesboro and Sylvania. None of these pages names Augusta University.
Where the coast is short of clinicians
Primary care shortage is patchier here than inland. Bryan is the one county with no geographic or population HPSA, and Chatham and Effingham are covered only in part, through Northwest Savannah and North Effingham, both proposed for withdrawal. McIntosh's low-income HPSA scores 22 and Bulloch's 20; Liberty, Long and Screven are whole-county geographic designations.
Mental health designations reach all ten counties: the Gateway Behavioral Health Services low-income HPSA across Bryan, Camden, Glynn, Liberty, Long and McIntosh (scored 18), the Ogeechee area in Screven (18), Chatham's low-income designation (17), the Pineland area in Bulloch (15) and a geographic HPSA in Effingham (13).
For placement, that means density around Savannah and need on the fringe: primary care preceptors cluster in Chatham and the health center networks, while psychiatric preceptors are short everywhere, so PMHNP students gain most from an early start.
The residence rule on the coast, and the river next door
On the coast the residence requirement is easy to meet. Augusta University's NP tracks and post-graduate certificates accept residents of Georgia or South Carolina, on the reasoning that faculty visit the student, the preceptor and the clinical site. A home in Savannah, Brunswick or Kingsland qualifies; the published rule sets no distance from campus. The wording is on the Georgia and South Carolina rule.
South Carolina counts too. The Lowcountry, from Hardeeville in Jasper County to Bluffton and Hilton Head Island in Beaufort County, lies across the Savannah River, and a site there must fit South Carolina's practice rules (Lowcountry South Carolina). Visit frequency and format are unpublished, so ask your course faculty about a Camden or Glynn County site before you commit.
Coastal settings for each Augusta University track
| Track | Courses | Coastal settings to explore |
|---|---|---|
| DNP-FNP | NURS 8312, NURS 8315, NURS 8318 | Curtis V. Cooper and J.C. Lewis sites for adults; the eight school-based sites for young patients; family practices in Statesboro, Hinesville and Brunswick for older adults |
| DNP-AGACNP | NURS 8332, NURS 8335, NURS 8338 | Inpatient and urgent services at Memorial Health, St. Joseph's, Candler and the Brunswick Campus, current steps checked first |
| DNP-PNP | NURS 8322, NURS 8325, NURS 8328 | Pediatric primary care offices in Chatham, Effingham and Bryan counties, and health center sites that see children |
| DNP-PMHNP | NURS 8342, NURS 8345, NURS 8348 | Community behavioral health across the Gateway, Ogeechee and Pineland areas, and outpatient psychiatric groups in Savannah |
| All four | NURS 9192 | The 240-hour final practicum in a setting wide enough for your track's full scope |
Psychiatric students face one extra filter: NURS 8345 and NURS 8348 build in youth group work and adult psychotherapy groups, so group access is the first thing we confirm for PMHNP students. The PNP practice courses page covers the pediatric sequence.
Why coastal Georgia students choose us
Whether or not your placement comes with program help, we find you a preceptor on the Georgia coast, or across the river in South Carolina, who meets Augusta University's rules and fits your current course. We search beyond the three hospital systems into health center networks and private practices, confirm licensing and APRN authorization for the state where you train, and assemble the documents your faculty and the site will ask for well before the term.
Should a preceptor leave mid-term, your placement advisor restarts the search close to home. Read how it works, or start with the form below.
Questions Augusta University students ask
Can I do Augusta University NP clinicals in Savannah?
A Savannah home and a Savannah site both fall inside Georgia, which Augusta University's residence rule accepts with no mileage cap from campus. Faculty review of each preceptor and site still applies. NP students in Chatham County commonly look at the Curtis V. Cooper and J.C. Lewis health center sites, private practices and, for acute care, the city's hospitals.
Does Southeast Georgia Health System take NP students?
An archived copy of its students page lists clinical preceptorships and names an Education Liaison as the route for rotation requests, but it posts no NP-specific process or deadline. When its Brunswick or Camden campus fits your course, we confirm the current steps first and keep Coastal Community Health Services sites and Glynn County practices in the search alongside it.
Can I live in Savannah and do clinicals in Bluffton or Hilton Head?
Augusta University's rule covers both states, so a Lowcountry site can work for a Georgia resident. The site must meet South Carolina's practice rules and your RN license has to cover the state where you train; both states belong to the Nurse Licensure Compact. We check both before you commit.
I live in Statesboro. Does that count as coastal Georgia?
Bulloch County belongs to the Coastal Regional Commission, so Statesboro is on this page, though it sits much closer to Augusta than Savannah does. East Georgia Healthcare Center has sites in Statesboro and Sylvania, and Bulloch's low-income primary care designation scores 20. We search Bulloch, Screven and Effingham first, widening toward Savannah only if your course needs it.
Where do PMHNP students find preceptors near Savannah?
Start with community behavioral health providers serving Chatham County, private psychiatric practices and group programs in Savannah, then the Gateway service area to the south. Chatham carries a low-income mental health shortage designation scored 17. With youth and adult group work required later in the track, we confirm group access first.
Related pages
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 8312toNURS 8318, acute care forNURS 8332toNURS 8338 - Pediatric primary care for the PNP courses and psychiatric preceptors for
NURS 8342toNURS 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.