Samford NP clinicals in Huntsville, Decatur and North Alabama

Huntsville Hospital's NP and nurse-midwife registration

Huntsville Hospital's affiliation page has its own section for NP and nurse-midwife students, and its registration form (updated October 2024) sets the terms. Your program must hold a current affiliation agreement with Huntsville Hospital, and you apply for sites whose preceptors match the certification you are studying for. The page names no third-party portal.

1. Confirm the agreementThe form requires a current Huntsville Hospital agreement with your program. Whether one covers Samford students, or whether a new one can be requested, is Samford's answer to give.
2. Name the preceptorThe form asks "Have you identified a preceptor(s)?", then which semester you need (spring, summer or fall) and the hours you and that preceptor have agreed.
3. Send the packetRegistration goes by email with PDF forms and your resume, plus learning modules, an orientation quiz, an affirmation agreement, a badge request and optional view-only Cerner access, copied to your university advisor.
4. Set your own lead timeNo NP deadline is published, so leave room for Samford's clinical rotation request and any new agreement before the term begins.

Health centers and the region's shortage map

HRSA lists 39 health center sites across the eight counties, run by six organizations. Thrive Alabama, HAPPI Health and Central North Alabama Health Services serve Huntsville and nearby towns such as Madison, New Market, Toney and Athens; HAPPI and the Mississippi-based Family Health Care Clinic reach Decatur. Northeast Alabama Health Services covers Scottsboro, Section, Bryant, Woodville, Fort Payne and Fyffe, while Cullman, Geraldine and Horton are Quality of Life Health Services towns.

Madison County stands out: it is one of three Alabama counties without a county-level primary care designation and the only one without a mental health designation, though its health centers carry facility designations. Beyond it, Marshall and Jackson fall in one low-income mental health catchment, scored 18, Cullman's is scored 16, and Jackson and Lawrence carry low-income primary care designations scored 16 on HRSA's 0 to 25 scale.

Marshall, Jackson, DeKalb and Cullman are nonmetro counties that HRSA counts as rural. An unpaid preceptor there fits the profile of Alabama's preceptor tax credit, provided the site and the program registrations line up.

Why North Alabama Samford students choose us

Huntsville Hospital's form wants your preceptor before anything else moves, and that name is what we bring. Your placement advisor works through HH Health practices, independent offices and the health centers between Athens and Fort Payne for a clinician suited to your specific Samford course, and confirms the semester and hours with them. You then receive a complete picture of that preceptor and practice for Samford's review, timed so a new agreement (how agreements work) is still possible.

If a preceptor's plans change mid-term, we find the next one and keep your compliance file current meanwhile. How it works explains each step; the form below starts the search.