One university's clinical process, learned in detail
Samford Preceptor is an independent placement service built for Samford University nursing students. Samford's nurse practitioner pages say professional and personal connections are essential to a placement close to home; we are that connection, organized around Samford's own steps, and every Samford fact on this site is checked against Samford's own documents.
Get your placement plan
Tell us your Samford program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with preceptor and site options in your community that fit your Samford course.
Who we are
We are a placement desk. Our placement advisors look for preceptors and clinical sites, and the same team writes and reviews the Samford guides on this site. Our focus is the online FNP and PMHNP students of the Moffett & Sanders School of Nursing, in Alabama, across the Southeast and in the other states Samford accepts, and we also answer nurse anesthesia, BSN and RN to BSN students who want planning help.
Every student is paired with a single placement advisor, who learns the plan of study, the next clinical course, the home address, the work schedule and the license states before the search begins. That advisor stays with the student through the rotation, so a question about a site, an onboarding step or a changed schedule goes to someone who already knows the file.
Why one university
Clinical placement looks alike from a distance and very different up close. At Samford it runs through affiliation agreements held by Moffett & Sanders, clinical rotation requests, the NP Clinical Manual in the Nurse Practitioner Homeroom, a Health Data Record, the College of Health Sciences graduate calendar and a list of 16 states closed to NP applicants. Each of those shapes when a search should begin and what a preceptor has to provide.
Knowing one school well changes the advice. A PMHNP student in the BSN-entry plan meets NURG 767 in the first spring, earlier than many expect. The FNP BSN to DNP runs four clinical semesters back to back. NURG 723 and NURG 788 fit 150 hours into a summer term. A desk built around Samford's plans puts those facts into the timeline from the first conversation. The connections guide shows the Samford wording our work starts from.
How we see our part
A Samford NP rotation involves three parties, each with a distinct job.
| Party | Its part |
|---|---|
| Samford | Holds the affiliation agreements, reviews each clinical rotation request, approves every preceptor and site, and supports students through course faculty, Graduate Student Services and the NP Homeroom. |
| The student | Submits the rotation request, keeps the compliance file current, completes the hours and follows each site's policies. |
| Samford Preceptor | Supplies the connection: a preceptor near home who fits the course, the details Samford reviews, early work on any new agreement, onboarding tracking and a replacement search when one is needed. |
We work inside Samford's process and treat Samford's decision as final. Our aim is that whatever reaches Samford is complete, well matched and early. Who does what at Samford maps the Samford roles in more detail.
How we keep Samford facts accurate
Every guide on this site follows the same rules:
- Samford's own documents first. Program pages, the plans of study dated December 2025, the 2026-2027 Graduate Nursing Student Handbook and the 2025-2026 Graduate Catalog, still the newest graduate edition. Alabama rules come from the Administrative Code, and the tax credit from the AHEC office and the Department of Revenue.
- Samford's names. Moffett & Sanders School of Nursing, clinical rotation request, NP Homeroom, and course numbers exactly as Samford prints them.
- Conflicts shown as conflicts. Where Samford's documents disagree, as on 750 versus 1,050 hours for the FNP BSN to DNP, 75 versus 60 hours in
NURG 767, or whether personal liability insurance is required, both versions appear side by side. - Gaps named, not filled. The NP Clinical Manual, the rotation request form and its deadlines are not public, so each guide says where they live instead of guessing.
- Labels on everything else. Our own arithmetic is marked as ours, Samford's outcome figures appear as what Samford reports, and a health system's student rules come from that system's own page.
Every page is dated with its most recent check. When Samford publishes a new handbook, catalog or plan of study, the pages it touches are reviewed against it.
What Samford students get from us, and how to start
Samford students pick us for thoroughness that starts with the first message. Every search starts at your own address and looks for preceptors whose patients match the course number in front of you. We confirm license, patient mix and clinic days before any introduction, and we hand you the preceptor and site details your rotation request relies on, with the contracting contact ready if Samford needs a new agreement.
Then we stay. We track the site's onboarding and your compliance dates against Samford's term dates, answer questions through the rotation and open a new search when a preceptor has to step away. The guide to choosing a placement service sets out what to ask any service, us included.
The quickest start is the request form with your Samford track, next clinical course, term and city. The chat on every page reaches the same desk, as do the WhatsApp and text buttons shown on phones. For short answers first, the FAQ covers the common questions, and how it works walks through a placement step by step.
Questions Samford students ask
How current are the Samford details on this site?
Each page shows the date it was last checked, and the current set reflects Samford's 2026-2027 graduate handbook, the December 2025 plans of study and the 2025-2026 Graduate Catalog. Samford can change a rule at any time, so confirm anything that affects your plan in your course, the NP Homeroom or with your program coordinator.
Who writes the Samford guides on this site?
The Samford Preceptor placement team writes and reviews them from Samford's public documents and the official Alabama sources listed at the foot of each page. Because every Samford fact is tied to a source you can open, you can check any line against the original yourself before you rely on it.
What should I do if I spot an error about Samford?
Tell us through the chat or the request form, naming the page and the Samford document you are reading. We check it against the source and correct the page where Samford's wording differs. For your own plan, Samford's current documents and your faculty take precedence over any summary, ours included.
Do you replace my Samford faculty or advisors?
No. Your course faculty, program coordinator and Graduate Student Services remain your Samford contacts for grades, progression, registration and approval. We handle the preceptor search and the details around it, and we point you back to the right Samford office when a question belongs there.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-25
We check these pages against Samford's own program pages, plans of study, the 2026-27 Graduate Nursing Student Handbook and Alabama rules. Your course, your program coordinator and Graduate Student Services have the final word.
Samford says connections are essential. We are the connection.
Tell us your Samford track, where you live and when your next clinical course starts. We find preceptors near you who fit the course and prepare the details Samford needs to approve the rotation, including a new affiliation agreement where one is needed.
- Preceptors matched to the course: adult primary care for
NURG 723, family practice across the lifespan forNURG 724, psychiatric care forNURG 788 - Preceptor, license and site details ready for your clinical rotation request
- In your own community, anywhere Samford accepts you and your RN license is valid
Start your placement plan
Program, city and start date is all we need to begin.