The Pee Dee: Florence, Sumter and the Grand Strand
The Pee Dee is the part of South Carolina farthest from Augusta and the most rural, with 8 of its 12 counties outside any metro area. It also holds 100 community health center sites, more than any other South Carolina region, and Marion County's primary care shortage score of 22 tops all four regions. Those health centers and nearby independent practices are where our search starts.
Find a Pee Dee preceptor for your course
Tell us your track, your town and the practice course ahead.
Twelve counties between Sumter and the coast
The Pee Dee grouping joins Chesterfield, Clarendon, Darlington, Dillon, Florence, Georgetown, Horry, Lee, Marion, Marlboro, Sumter and Williamsburg counties, 1,002,285 people in 2025 and 8.2% more than in 2020. Horry County, home to Myrtle Beach, Conway and North Myrtle Beach, holds 427,551 of them.
Sumter (43,094), Florence (41,231) and Myrtle Beach (40,937) are nearly the same size. The drive from downtown Augusta is roughly 110 miles to Sumter, 145 to Florence, 180 to Georgetown and 215 to Myrtle Beach. Only Darlington, Florence, Horry and Sumter are metro counties; the other eight hold 268,275 residents.
What Pee Dee hospitals post for students
McLeod Health, based at McLeod Regional Medical Center in Florence with hospitals in Dillon, Cheraw, Clarendon, Loris and the Seacoast, offers clinical experiences through academic partnerships. Its nursing education page, read from a May 13, 2026 archive, lists bachelor's, associate and practical nursing, nursing assistant and medical assistant programs and posts no NP process.
Tidelands Health, with Georgetown Memorial and Waccamaw Community Hospital in Murrells Inlet, publishes the clearest route: its students page, archived March 19, 2026, takes written requests from undergraduate and graduate students who need clinical hours.
Our September 2026 research turned up no NP student page for outside schools at MUSC Health's Florence, Marion and Black River medical centers, Conway Medical Center or Grand Strand Medical Center in Myrtle Beach. Prisma Health Tuomey Hospital in Sumter follows the Prisma limits set out in the Upstate guide.
One hundred health center sites
HRSA's September 2026 file lists 100 active health center service sites here, 13 in schools and 15 on mobile units. HopeHealth runs 21, centered on Florence, Darlington, Lake City, Manning and Kingstree. CareSouth Carolina runs 18 in Bennettsville, Cheraw, Hartsville, Dillon, Bishopville and nearby towns. Little River Medical Center has 15 across Horry County, including Myrtle Beach, Conway and Loris.
Tandem Health SC operates 11 sites in Sumter County, Health Care Partners of South Carolina 10 around Conway and Marion, and St. James Health and Wellness nine in Georgetown and Andrews. Every Pee Dee county has at least one site.
The deepest shortages in the state's four regions
Every county holds a primary care shortage designation. Chesterfield, Lee, Marlboro and Williamsburg are high needs geographic shortage areas, and Williamsburg's has stood since 1979. Marion's low-income designation scores 22, Marlboro 21 and Williamsburg 20, with Dillon and Lee at 18.
All twelve counties are also whole-county geographic mental health shortage areas. The high needs area covering Chesterfield, Dillon and Marlboro scores 19, and the one spanning Darlington, Florence and Marion scores 16. For FNP and PNP students that means primary care demand in nearly every town; for PMHNP students, documented psychiatric need in every county.
Augusta University's four NP tracks in the Pee Dee
Augusta University lets NP and post-graduate certificate students live anywhere in Georgia or South Carolina, since faculty visit you, your preceptor and your site in either state (the two-state rule). From a Pee Dee address, ask your course faculty early how visits to a coastal or rural site will work.
| Course | Focus | Pee Dee settings |
|---|---|---|
DNP-FNP NURS 8312, NURS 8318 | Adults, then older adults | HopeHealth, CareSouth Carolina and Little River sites; family practices in Florence, Conway and Sumter |
DNP-FNP NURS 8315 | Infants, children, adolescents | The 13 school-based sites; family practices seeing children |
DNP-AGACNP NURS 8332 to NURS 8338 | Acute care | Tidelands through its published request route; hospitalist groups in Florence and Myrtle Beach |
DNP-PNP NURS 8322 to NURS 8328 | Pediatric primary care | Pediatric practices in Florence, Sumter and Horry County |
DNP-PMHNP NURS 8342 to NURS 8348 | Psychiatric care and group work | Behavioral health groups across the twelve shortage counties |
NURS 9192, all tracks | 240-hour final practicum | A dependable earlier site close to home |
Your South Carolina preceptor holds a physician practice agreement (South Carolina NP practice), and the RN license guide covers the compact license you train under.
Why Augusta University students in the Pee Dee choose us
Whether or not your program helps with placement, we find you a Pee Dee preceptor who fits your exact course and Augusta University's rules, close enough to home that the hours are realistic. Your placement advisor knows which hospitals post a student route and which leave it to academic partners, works health center networks town by town, and assembles what faculty and the site need before the term begins. How it works walks through each stage.
Questions Augusta University students ask
Does McLeod Health take nurse practitioner students?
McLeod's archived nursing education page offers clinical experiences through academic partnerships for bachelor's, associate, practical nursing and assistant programs, with no NP process posted. A Florence search therefore centers on HopeHealth, GENEHIS and independent practices, and any McLeod option rests on McLeod's own partnership arrangements.
How does a student request hours at Tidelands Health?
According to the archived Tidelands students page, you send a written request with your name, school, program, desired dates and required hours to the contact listed there. After approval, you and your school complete a registration form and an onboarding checklist. Georgetown is about 180 driving miles from downtown Augusta, so the route mainly serves students living on the coast.
Is Sumter part of the Pee Dee or the Midlands?
South Carolina's public health regions placed Sumter County in the Pee Dee, and Sumter is the nearest of the region's main cities to Augusta, about 110 driving miles. Tandem Health SC runs 11 health center sites in the county, and Prisma Health Tuomey Hospital there applies Prisma's system-wide student rules.
Can an Augusta University student live in Myrtle Beach?
Yes. The residence rule names South Carolina as a whole and publishes no distance limit. Augusta University also does not publish how often faculty make site visits, so check a Grand Strand site with your course faculty early, and plan travel for the campus intensive your track may require.
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
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