Samford affiliation agreements: checking your site and requesting a new one
An affiliation agreement is the contract between Moffett & Sanders School of Nursing and a clinical agency that lets Samford students train there. Samford already holds hundreds of them, most in the Southeast, and its NP pages let students ask for more when a preceptor near them is available. We line up that preceptor early and prepare the site details so a new agreement has time to finish.
Start before the contract clock does
Tell us your Samford program, your next clinical course and where you live. A placement advisor replies with preceptor and site options and flags any site that will need a new agreement.
What an affiliation agreement does
The agreement links two organizations: Samford's school of nursing and the hospital, clinic or practice where you will train. It is the paper that lets a Samford student see patients at that site under a preceptor. The parties are Samford and the clinical agency, while the request for a new one starts with the student.
Samford's 2025-2026 graduate catalog lists the kinds of agencies used for graduate experiences: primary care facilities, schools of nursing, acute care facilities and managed care organizations, among others. The 2026-2027 Graduate Nursing Student Handbook adds that graduate students must learn and follow the policies of every agency where they train.
One older rule is worth knowing. Samford's 2016-2017 MSN Handbook required a completed and approved agreement before any student activity at a practice site. That sentence is missing from the 2024-2025 and 2026-2027 graduate handbooks, yet health systems still insist on a current agreement, as the table below shows, so plan as though the rule stands.
Is your preceptor's site already covered?
Samford does not post its list of affiliated agencies. The only dependable answer for a given practice comes from Samford, through the route your NP Clinical Manual lays out. The school directory lists a Coordinator of Clinical Education in the Nurse Practitioner Department, the title closest to placement; who does what maps the other roles.
A few patterns help you guess before you ask. Big health systems often keep agreements with many schools, and a student near Birmingham or elsewhere in the Southeast sits closer to the heart of Samford's network. Small independent practices, rural clinics and sites far from the region are the likeliest to need a new agreement. Treat all of this as a guess until Samford confirms the specific site.
An agreement belongs to the site, not to the preceptor. If your preceptor moves to another practice, ask whether the new practice is covered before you log another hour there.
Requesting an additional agreement
Samford's program pages allow students to request more agreements based on preceptor availability and proximity. Read that as a sequence that begins with a person rather than a place.
- Secure the preceptor's yes.The request is built around a named clinician who will teach you and practices near home, so that commitment comes first.
- Collect the site facts.Gather the practice's legal name and address, the person who signs contracts for it, and the preceptor's license and specialty. Samford's own request steps are in the NP Clinical Manual, so shape the packet to what the manual asks.
- Ask Samford to begin the agreement.Use the manual's route for the request and let the practice know Samford will be in touch.
- Keep the practice responsive.A contract can stall while a document waits for a signature. Staying in touch with the office keeps Samford's questions from sitting unanswered.
- Complete the rotation request.With the agreement settled or under way, as the manual directs, the clinical rotation request finishes the approval. Clinical rotation requests covers that step.
What health systems ask for, in their own words
Clinical sites keep rules of their own on top of Samford's. These come from each system's own student pages and apply to students from any school.
| Health system | What its student page says |
|---|---|
| Huntsville Hospital Health System | Registration requires enrollment in a program with a current affiliation agreement and asks whether you have identified a preceptor |
| East Alabama Health (Opelika) | Wants an up-to-date affiliation agreement or memorandum of understanding on file and a confirmed preceptor; spring requests close the last Friday of October |
| Flowers Hospital (Dothan) | A current student affiliation agreement must be in place with the school; students then send HR a packet at least one week before starting |
| Infirmary Health (Mobile) | The school requests placements by set deadlines through the hospital's clinical coordinator, and a signed student-preceptor contract is required |
| Children's of Alabama | Uses its own Preceptorship Request Form and a required orientation |
None of these pages says whether Samford holds an agreement with that system. Confirm with Samford before you count on one, and see the guide for your area, such as Birmingham metro.
How long a new agreement takes, and planning around it
Samford publishes no turnaround time for a new affiliation agreement, and the clinical site's own legal or administrative review sets much of the pace. What is public are the site cutoffs. If a site closes spring requests in late October and also needs a new agreement, both have to be moving by early fall for a January start.
Our planning rule, which is advice and not a Samford figure: when the site is new to Samford, have the preceptor confirmed at least one full semester before the course. For the 300-hour courses, NURG 724, NURG 718, NURG 730 and NURG 790, build in extra margin, because a replacement preceptor found late may bring a new site and a second agreement.
Clinicals in another state follow the same agreement logic, with state rules and an RN license in every clinical state layered on top; clinicals outside Alabama covers those.
What we prepare so a new agreement can start early
Samford students come to us because we treat the agreement as part of the placement from day one. When we match you with a preceptor, we already know whether the site is likely to need a new Samford agreement, and we set the timeline around it.
- A preceptor in your community whose practice fits your exact Samford course and hours.
- The site's legal name, address and contracting contact, organized for Samford's request.
- A practice that knows a school contract is on its way and who will send it.
- Follow-up with the office while the agreement is in review, so answers go back quickly.
- A backup site in view if one practice's review runs toward your course start.
Samford holds every agreement and decides every request; we make sure the request that reaches Samford is complete. How it works shows the full sequence, and the placement request form starts yours.
Questions Samford students ask
Does Samford have an affiliation agreement with my clinic?
Samford does not publish its list of affiliated agencies, so ask through the route in your NP Clinical Manual and name the exact practice and address. Samford's NP pages say most of its agreements are in the Southeast. If the site is not covered, you can request an additional agreement once a preceptor there has agreed to teach you.
Can I start clinical hours while a Samford agreement is still pending?
Plan to wait. Samford's 2016-2017 MSN Handbook required an approved agreement before any activity at a site, and although the current handbook drops that sentence, systems such as Huntsville Hospital and Flowers Hospital require a current agreement on their own student pages. Hold your first shift until Samford confirms the rotation.
How long does a new Samford affiliation agreement take?
Samford does not publish a timeline, and much of the pace depends on the clinical site's own review and signatures. Because some sites close spring requests in October, treat a new agreement as a semester-ahead task. Your placement advisor starts the preceptor search early so the agreement has room to finish before the course.
Who requests the new affiliation agreement, me or my preceptor?
Samford's NP pages say students may request additional agreements, so the request starts with you, following the steps in your NP Clinical Manual. The preceptor's part is to confirm availability and point Samford to the right contracting contact at the practice. We prepare those site details for you ahead of time.
Do Samford nurse anesthesia and BSN students request agreements too?
No. Samford assigns nurse anesthesia clinical sites and chooses BSN sites, units and preceptors, so those students train within placements the school arranges. The additional-agreement route on the NP program pages is for FNP and PMHNP students bringing a preceptor near home. See BSN clinicals.
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
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