Nurse Practitioner Preceptors in Valdosta, Tifton, Waycross and South Georgia
The Southern Georgia Regional Commission's 18 counties stretch from Fitzgerald and Tifton down to Valdosta and east to Waycross and Folkston, and every one is a whole-county mental health shortage area. Living here satisfies Augusta University's residence rule; the real task is finding a preceptor where the main hospitals post no NP student process.
Start a south Georgia search
Share your county, track and next clinical course, and your placement advisor takes it from there.
Eighteen counties from Fitzgerald to Folkston
The region covers Atkinson, Bacon, Ben Hill, Berrien, Brantley, Brooks, Charlton, Clinch, Coffee, Cook, Echols, Irwin, Lanier, Lowndes, Pierce, Tift, Turner and Ware counties: 428,301 people in the Census Bureau's 2025 estimate, up 2.8% on the 2020 base. Lowndes County holds 122,867 of them, and Valdosta, at 56,186, is the only city past 20,000.
Tifton, Waycross, Douglas and Fitzgerald follow. Douglas is roughly 160 driving miles from downtown Augusta, with Waycross near 175, Tifton near 195 and Valdosta near 235. Thirteen of the 18 counties are nonmetro, home to 59.8% of residents, and Atkinson, Bacon, Irwin and Turner carry USDA's most rural code: small towns not adjacent to any metro area.
SGMC Health, Tift Regional and the clinics beyond them
SGMC Health is the name South Georgia Medical Center adopted on November 1, 2023, for SGMC Health Main in Valdosta, Smith Northview, SGMC Health Berrien in Nashville and SGMC Health Lanier in Lakeland. Our research found no NP or APRN student page; the system's own news describes medical student rotations with Mercer University School of Medicine.
Southwell's Tift Regional Medical Center in Tifton and Coffee Regional Medical Center in Douglas show no NP student page either. Archbold Medical - Brooks County Hospital in Quitman follows Archbold's ACEMAPP process, with one request date per term; the dates are on our southwest Georgia page. Where a hospital publishes nothing, lead time matters more, as clinical agreements explains.
Community health centers carry a large share of outpatient care. HRSA lists 31 service sites, six in schools and two mobile. South Central Primary Care Center runs 14 across Douglas, Fitzgerald, Nashville, Ocilla, Pearson and Valdosta; McKinney Medical Center runs six in Alma, Folkston, Nahunta and Waycross; CareConnect Health has four in Ashburn and Tifton. Clinch, Cook, Lanier and Pierce counties have no site. None of these pages names Augusta University; they are simply where NP students here look.
How short the region is on clinicians
Primary care shortage designations cover all 18 counties. Atkinson, Berrien, Brantley, Brooks, Charlton, Echols and Lanier are whole-county geographic HPSAs; the other eleven, Lowndes and Tift among them, hold low-income population designations. The highest scores are 22 for the Clinch and Turner low-income HPSAs and 21 for the Atkinson and Lanier high needs designations, with Cook's 21 proposed for withdrawal.
HRSA splits the mental health map in two. The Unison Behavioral Health-Satilla area, scored 20, spans Atkinson, Bacon, Brantley, Charlton, Clinch, Coffee, Pierce and Ware; the Behavioral Health Services of South Georgia area, scored 14, takes in the ten counties around Valdosta and Tifton.
In practice, primary care preceptors here are spread across small offices and health center sites rather than one dominant system, and psychiatric preceptors are scarce enough that a PMHNP search can cross several counties.
Augusta University's two-state rule, seen from Valdosta
The College of Nursing requires NP and post-graduate certificate students to reside in Georgia or South Carolina, and it gives the reason plainly: instructors visit you, your preceptor and your clinical site. A home in Lowndes, Tift or Ware County meets that requirement as fully as one beside campus, because the published rule sets no mileage limit. See the Georgia and South Carolina rule for its full wording.
How often faculty come, and whether a visit is on site or remote, is not published; settle that with your course faculty as each course opens. Georgia's requirements come with you wherever you train in the state: a Georgia or multistate RN license for clinical hours, and APRN clinical teaching by a nurse holding Georgia APRN authorization. Details are on RN license requirements.
Course by course: south Georgia options for each track
Where to look, by Augusta University NP track (examples, not confirmed openings)
- DNP-FNP:
NURS 8312adult primary care at South Central Primary Care Center or McKinney Medical Center sites;NURS 8315infants, children and adolescents at the six school-based sites or pediatric offices in Valdosta and Tifton;NURS 8318older adults and families in family practices around Douglas, Fitzgerald and Waycross. - DNP-AGACNP:
NURS 8332,NURS 8335andNURS 8338need hospital acuity, so SGMC Health Main, Tift Regional and Coffee Regional are the settings to test first, each with its current steps confirmed. - DNP-PNP:
NURS 8322throughNURS 8328stay in pediatric primary care, which points to children's practices in Lowndes and Tift counties and health center sites with a pediatric caseload. - DNP-PMHNP:
NURS 8342throughNURS 8348, with a child or adolescent group and an adult psychotherapy group required in the second and third courses; start with community behavioral health in the Unison and South Georgia areas and private psychiatric practices. - Every track:
NURS 9192, the 240-hour final practicum, at a site broad enough for the full scope of your specialty.
Why students across south Georgia choose us
With or without placement help from your program, we find you a preceptor in south Georgia who meets Augusta University's rules and fits the course in front of you. We search small practices and health center networks across county lines, confirm license, APRN authorization and site onboarding before you commit, and keep everything your faculty will ask about in one organized file.
If a preceptor in Tifton or Waycross leaves partway through, your placement advisor opens a replacement search near home. Read about finding a preceptor, then send the form below.
Questions Augusta University students ask
Does SGMC Health take Augusta University NP students?
Our research found no public NP or APRN student page for SGMC Health, and none of its pages names Augusta University. Its own news covers medical student rotations with Mercer University School of Medicine. An SGMC Health hospital or clinic can still be worth asking about; when one fits your course, we check its current requirements and search Valdosta's private practices and health centers in parallel.
Can I live in Waycross and train in Valdosta?
Both are Georgia cities, and Augusta University's residence rule concerns the state you live in rather than the town where your site sits. We weigh your drive against how many clinical days the course needs, and we look closer to home first: McKinney Medical Center's Waycross site and practices in Ware, Pierce and Brantley counties are options to test.
Is south Georgia a good place for PMHNP clinicals?
The need is unmistakable: HRSA designates all 18 counties whole-county mental health shortage areas, and the Satilla service area scores 20. Need is not the same as an open preceptor, and the later PMHNP courses require child or adolescent and adult group work. We confirm group access and preceptor availability together before you commit to a site.
Are there NP preceptors in Tifton?
Tifton has Southwell's Tift Regional Medical Center and CareConnect Health sites, and Tift County's low-income population HPSA scores 18. Private family, pediatric and psychiatric practices round out the options, and we match the setting to your course syllabus rather than to the town alone.
How early should I plan a south Georgia placement?
Start at least a full term ahead. Several hospitals here publish no student process, and Archbold, which runs the Quitman hospital, wants spring requests by the previous November 15. Health centers and private practices move faster, but site agreements and onboarding still take weeks. An early start keeps your clinical hours on the schedule your plan of study sets.
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.