The Lowcountry: Charleston, Beaufort and Orangeburg
The Lowcountry stretches from Allendale County, facing Georgia across the Savannah River, to Charleston and the Beaufort coast. Our research found no posted NP route for other schools' students at any of Charleston's four hospital groups, while three health center networks run 67 of the region's 76 sites. Those networks and independent practices anchor an Augusta University student's search here.
Find a Lowcountry preceptor for your course
Tell us your track, where you live and the course you are planning for.
Eleven counties from the river to the sea
The Lowcountry grouping takes in Allendale, Bamberg, Beaufort, Berkeley, Calhoun, Charleston, Colleton, Dorchester, Hampton, Jasper and Orangeburg counties, 1,307,301 people in 2025, up 9.6% since 2020. Charleston (159,423) is the largest city in any of South Carolina's four regions, followed by North Charleston and Mount Pleasant.
Orangeburg is the nearest main city at roughly 75 driving miles from downtown Augusta; Beaufort is 110, Summerville 130, Hilton Head Island 135 and Charleston 145. Allendale County, with 7,355 residents, borders Georgia directly. Allendale, Bamberg, Colleton, Hampton and Orangeburg are nonmetro counties, home to 12.3% of the region.
Charleston's hospital groups and what they publish
MUSC Health runs University Medical Center and Shawn Jenkins Children's Hospital in Charleston and MUSC Health Orangeburg. Its education page lists fellowships and residencies, and the MUSC College of Nursing's placement pages serve MUSC's own students. On March 3, 2026 MUSC Health also took over Palmetto Primary Care Physicians: 31 physicians, 95 advanced practitioners and 40 practices across the Lowcountry, the Midlands and Myrtle Beach.
Roper St. Francis Healthcare (Roper Hospital, Bon Secours St. Francis Hospital, and hospitals in Mount Pleasant and Berkeley County) posts a student page only for a BSN summer externship. Novant Health bought East Cooper Medical Center, Hilton Head Hospital and Coastal Carolina Hospital in Hardeeville from Tenet, according to a February 1, 2024 release, and Trident Medical Center and Summerville Medical Center belong to HCA. We found no NP student page for either group.
Where a system publishes nothing, ask your course faculty whether an agreement with the site already exists; clinical agreements explains why new ones take lead time.
Three health center networks carry the region
HRSA lists 76 active health center service sites in the Lowcountry, 17 in schools and 14 on mobile units. Fetter Health Care Network runs 29 around Charleston, Johns Island, Summerville, Moncks Corner and Walterboro. Beaufort-Jasper-Hampton Comprehensive Health Services runs 24, from Beaufort, Port Royal and Saint Helena Island to Ridgeland, Hardeeville, Hampton and Estill.
Family Health Centers has 14 sites around Orangeburg, Denmark, Holly Hill, Saint George and Saint Matthews, the part of the region nearest Augusta. Low Country Health Care System adds sites in Bamberg, Fairfax and Orangeburg, and GENEHIS Health Care has three in Goose Creek and Walterboro.
Shortage areas along the rural edge
Nine of eleven counties are whole-county geographic primary care shortage areas; Charleston County alone has no geographic or population designation. The highest scores sit in the rural inland counties: Allendale's high needs area scores 21, Hampton 19 and Bamberg 17, while the low-income designation for Calhoun and Orangeburg, also 19, is proposed for withdrawal.
Mental health designations reach Charleston too, which is covered county-wide for its low-income residents. The high needs area spanning Bamberg, Calhoun and Orangeburg scores 18, Dorchester's scores 17, and the Coastal Empire area covering Allendale, Beaufort, Colleton, Hampton and Jasper scores 15.
Placing Augusta University's four NP tracks in the Lowcountry
The College of Nursing asks NP and post-graduate certificate students to live in Georgia or South Carolina so faculty can visit you, your preceptor and your site; the two-state rule quotes the wording. Every Lowcountry county qualifies, and each course points to a different corner of it.
| Course | Focus | Lowcountry settings |
|---|---|---|
FNP NURS 8312, NURS 8318 | Adults, then older adults | Fetter, Beaufort-Jasper-Hampton and Family Health Centers sites; family practices in Summerville, Bluffton and Orangeburg |
FNP NURS 8315 | Infants, children, adolescents | The 17 school-based sites; family practices with young patients |
AGACNP NURS 8332 to NURS 8338 | Acute care of adults | Hospitalist and specialty groups, confirmed site by site given the missing hospital routes |
PNP NURS 8322 to NURS 8328 | Pediatric primary care | Community pediatric practices in Charleston, Berkeley and Dorchester counties |
PMHNP NURS 8342 to NURS 8348 | Psychiatric care and group work | Behavioral health groups in the Orangeburg, Dorchester and Coastal Empire shortage areas |
NURS 9192, every track | 240-hour final practicum | A proven earlier site with room for the full block |
South Carolina preceptors practice under a physician practice agreement (South Carolina NP practice); for your own license, see RN license rules.
Why Augusta University students in the Lowcountry choose us
However your course arranges its clinical experiences, a Lowcountry search succeeds on groundwork. Your placement advisor maps the health center networks and independent practices within your driving range, confirms each site's student process directly because the big hospital groups post so little, and matches your preceptor to the exact course and track. You receive a preceptor who meets Augusta University's rules, with the file your faculty and site need prepared early.
Questions Augusta University students ask
Can Augusta University NP students train at MUSC in Charleston?
MUSC Health's public pages list fellowships and residencies, and its College of Nursing's placement pages cover MUSC's own students; nothing we read in September 2026 addressed nurse practitioner students enrolled elsewhere. That leaves the question with MUSC and your course faculty. The Palmetto Primary Care practices MUSC acquired in 2026 had no posted student rules either.
Is Orangeburg a practical base for Lowcountry clinicals?
It is the region's closest main city to Augusta, about 75 driving miles, and Family Health Centers runs 14 sites in and around it. The Bamberg, Calhoun and Orangeburg high needs mental health area scores 18, which makes the area worth a look for DNP-PMHNP students as well as FNP students.
What about Beaufort, Bluffton and Hilton Head Island?
Beaufort-Jasper-Hampton Comprehensive Health Services runs 24 sites across that corner, and Novant Health owns Hilton Head Hospital and Coastal Carolina Hospital in Hardeeville. Beaufort and Jasper share a geographic primary care shortage designation scored 8. Beaufort is about 110 driving miles from downtown Augusta.
Does Allendale County have any clinical options?
It is small, 7,355 people, and HRSA scores its high needs primary care shortage at 21, the Lowcountry's highest. Low Country Health Care System lists a site in Fairfax. For a student living there, our search also looks across the river into Georgia and north toward Barnwell and Aiken.
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
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