Metro Atlanta clinicals for Augusta University nurse practitioner students
Nearly half of Georgia lives in the 11 Atlanta Regional Commission counties, and the region has more hospitals and clinics than any other. Its biggest systems ration outside NP students closely, though: Emory runs one central request, Northside and Grady want the preceptor named first, and Wellstar works to fixed deadlines.
Find a preceptor in metro Atlanta
Tell us your county, your track and your next clinical course, and your placement advisor maps the options near you.
Eleven counties, 5.2 million people
The Atlanta Regional Commission covers Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Douglas, Fayette, Forsyth, Fulton, Gwinnett, Henry and Rockdale counties. Census estimates put 5,206,965 people there in July 2025, up 4.8% on 2020; Fulton and Gwinnett each pass a million, and Cobb and DeKalb each top 770,000. Atlanta counts 529,110 residents, followed by South Fulton, Sandy Springs, Roswell and Johns Creek.
All 11 counties are metropolitan under the USDA's 2023 codes, and downtown Atlanta sits roughly 150 driving miles from downtown Augusta. The catalog's Wellstar MCG Atlanta Campus serves Medical College of Georgia clerkships; the College of Nursing's campuses are in the city of Augusta and in Athens.
What each Atlanta system tells outside NP students
| System | Hospitals in the region | Its own student page |
|---|---|---|
| Emory Healthcare | Emory University Hospital, Midtown, Saint Joseph's, Johns Creek, Decatur, Hillandale | One request form to its Office of APP; placements arranged outside that process are not honored; the school enters ACEMAPP only after approval |
| Northside Hospital | Atlanta, Cherokee, Duluth, Forsyth, Gwinnett | Student or school secures the preceptor and a sponsoring physician; NP to NP or MD/DO; one student per preceptor; compliant 30 days ahead |
| Grady Health System | Grady Memorial and its neighborhood health centers | NP/Post-Graduate packet signed by a preceptor the student has secured; handled in the order received |
| Wellstar Health System | Kennestone, Windy Hill, Cobb, Douglas, North Fulton | ACEMAPP applications on fixed dates each term; with or without a preceptor in hand |
| Piedmont Healthcare | Atlanta, Eastside, Fayette, Henry, Rockdale | ACEMAPP requests in August, February or April (archived page); older 2021 guidelines say Piedmont assigns preceptors |
| Children's Healthcare of Atlanta | Arthur M. Blank, Scottish Rite, Hughes Spalding | No public NP student page found |
The pages split two ways. Northside and Grady put the preceptor first: nothing is filed until a named clinician agrees, and Northside also wants a signed Exhibit A from the sponsoring physician. Emory, and Piedmont under its older guidelines, allocate their own preceptors, so a private arrangement carries no weight there; Emory adds that signing a new school agreement is a matter of months. Grady adds that clinical faculty need a current, unencumbered Georgia nursing license.
Health centers and the metro's patchy shortage map
HRSA lists 83 health center service sites across the metro, 16 of them school-based and 9 mobile vans; Fayette has none. Medcura Health runs 16 sites from Smyrna to Stone Mountain and Conyers, Southside Medical Center 15 from Jonesboro to Norcross, and Family Health Centers of Georgia 14, including Douglasville, McDonough and Morrow. Saint Joseph's Mercy Care Services has 8 in Atlanta, and smaller centers serve particular communities in Peachtree Corners, Clarkston, Lawrenceville and Palmetto.
No metro county is a whole-county geographic primary care shortage area. Designations follow low-income residents instead: all of Clayton and Rockdale and parts of DeKalb, Fulton and Gwinnett. The top scores, 20 for Clayton and southwest Atlanta, are among 8 of the 25 designations HRSA has proposed for withdrawal. Mental health runs differently: Douglas, Fayette and Henry are whole-county geographic shortage areas, and DeKalb and Forsyth carry low-income designations named for the DeKalb Community Service Board and Avita Community Partners.
Fitting Augusta University's four tracks to the metro
- DNP-FNP:
NURS 8312adults andNURS 8318older adults fit health center networks and suburban internal medicine groups; forNURS 8315, family practices with young patients and the 16 school-based sites add children and adolescents. - DNP-AGACNP:
NURS 8332toNURS 8338need hospital teams. Wellstar and Northside list AGACNP among the APP students they credential, and Northside expects an NP or physician preceptor. - DNP-PNP: with no published NP route at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta,
NURS 8322toNURS 8328rest on pediatric primary care offices and health center pediatrics. - DNP-PMHNP:
NURS 8342toNURS 8348include child or adolescent and adult group work, so community service board programs and behavioral health groups lead the search. - All four tracks:
NURS 9192closes the program with 240 hours beside one preceptor across the full scope of practice.
Living anywhere in the 11 counties satisfies Augusta University's Georgia-or-South-Carolina residence rule, whose purpose is letting instructors see you with your preceptor at your site (the residence rule). Georgia wants your RN license to be a Georgia or multistate license, and Georgia NP practice explains the protocol agreements metro preceptors work under.
Why Atlanta-area students choose our placement desk
Metro Atlanta rewards a search that starts before the system calendars close and reaches well past the big hospitals. Whether or not your program takes a hand in arranging clinicals, your placement advisor works the independent practices, health center sites and behavioral health groups across all 11 counties, checks each preceptor against your course and Georgia's rules, and has a system's confirmation paperwork ready ahead of its deadline. Finding a preceptor explains how we search.
Questions Augusta University students ask
Can I contact Emory hospitals directly to line up a preceptor?
Emory Healthcare says it cannot honor placements made outside its central process, because it shares a limited pool of preceptors through a tiered system. NP students send a request form to its Office of APP, and the school enters the rotation in ACEMAPP only after approval. Plan an Emory request on its timetable, with a non-Emory option alongside it.
Can a physician assistant precept an NP student at Northside?
Northside's page rules it out: an NP student learns from an NP, while physicians may teach students of any discipline. Each rotation also needs a sponsoring physician on active staff, one student per preceptor, a physician-signed Exhibit A and full compliance 30 days before the start, with 60 days suggested for January starts.
Is there a pediatric NP route at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta?
Our research found no public page for NP or APRN students at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta; its allied health page says requests come through the academic program. For NURS 8322 to NURS 8328, pediatric primary care offices and health center pediatric clinics are the practical focus of a metro search.
Do I have to travel to the city of Augusta for clinicals if I live in Atlanta?
Augusta University's rule concerns which state you live in, Georgia or South Carolina, and instructors come to your clinical site, so hours can be built near home. For FNP, AGACNP and PNP students, the planned trips to campus are for MEGAI, described in the MEGAI guide.
When are Wellstar's deadlines for metro Atlanta NP rotations?
Wellstar's application deadlines fall in mid-November for spring, at the end of March for summer and at the end of June for fall, decisions follow on December 15, April 15 and July 15, and it asks students not to call before then. Each preceptor and each rotation needs its own ACEMAPP application.
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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