The Nurse Practitioner Homeroom and NP Clinical Manual: what lives in Canvas and what is public
Samford's graduate handbook sends every NP student to one document for clinical policy: the NP Clinical Manual, found in the Nurse Practitioner Homeroom in Canvas. The manual is not public, so preceptor rules, rotation request steps and clinical standing sit inside a course space only enrolled students can open. This page maps what is public, what is inside, and how we build your placement around it.
Match your placement to the manual
Tell us your Samford program, your next clinical course and where you live. A placement advisor replies with preceptor and site options built around your course's requirements.
One sentence sends you to the manual
The 2026-2027 Graduate Nursing Student Handbook states: "All NP students must read and adhere to the policies located in the NP Clinical Manual (See Nurse Practitioner Homeroom in Canvas)." The same page places the Clinical Standing/Clinical Probation/Progression Policy inside that manual.
That makes the manual the rulebook for FNP and PMHNP clinicals across the MSN, the DNP and the post-graduate certificates. No public copy was found on Samford's website or in web archives, and no public preceptor handbook for NP students turned up either. When a question about NP clinicals has no public answer, the manual is usually where Samford answers it.
The Homeroom is a Canvas course for NP students. Canvas replaced Moodle as Samford's learning platform at some point between the 2018-2019 academic year and March 2020, so any older document that points you to Moodle is out of date.
Public or inside the Homeroom: a topic-by-topic map
Here is where each clinical topic stands, based on Samford's public documents as of September 2026.
| Topic | What Samford publishes | Where the rest lives |
|---|---|---|
| Clinical hours by course | Plans of study list hours per course, such as NURG 723 at 150 and NURG 730 at 300 | Your plan of study |
| Preceptor qualifications | Nothing NP-specific; Alabama's rule defines APRN program preceptors | NP Clinical Manual |
| Rotation request form and deadlines | Only that requests exist and may be denied on state rules | NP Clinical Manual |
| Who approves preceptors and sites | The directory lists a Coordinator of Clinical Education, Nurse Practitioner Department | NP Clinical Manual |
| Clinical hour logging | No NP tool is named in public | The Homeroom and your course |
| Compliance list | Health Data Record, immunizations, TB, flu, BLS, background check, drug testing | Graduate handbook and Graduate Student Services |
| Clinical standing and probation | Named in the handbook only | NP Clinical Manual |
| No preceptor by the course start | No public policy | Your program coordinator |
Getting into Canvas and keeping access
You reach Canvas through mySamford, Samford's portal, alongside Banner Self-Service, Degree Works and your Bulldog e-mail. The handbook says each Canvas course opens when the course coordinator makes it available at the start of the semester, and that access is limited once the course ends. Download what you need from a clinical course before it closes.
Samford writes to your Samford e-mail account, not a personal one, and expects replies within 48 hours. Watch that inbox closely in the weeks before a clinical course begins.
If Canvas will not open, the Technology Services Service Desk offers help by phone around the clock, seven days a week, plus e-mail, in-person and remote support for students off campus. Online student tools walks through each system.
What to look for when you open the manual
Read the manual before you contact a single preceptor. These are the answers to pin down first, because each one shapes the search:
- Which preceptor credentials the track accepts for each course, and any specialty limits.
- How to submit a clinical rotation request, through which system, and by what date.
- How a new site or affiliation agreement is requested.
- How clinical hours are recorded and signed off, and what the preceptor evaluates.
- The Clinical Standing/Clinical Probation/Progression Policy, including what triggers probation.
- What to do if a preceptor withdraws or a site closes partway through a rotation.
Write the answers down along with the manual's date. Where two Samford sources disagree, such as NURG 767 at 75 hours in the plans of study against a minimum of 60 in the catalog, ask your course faculty which figure your cohort follows.
Handbook rules that apply alongside the manual
The public handbook carries several clinical rules of its own. Failing the clinical side of a course means an F for the entire course, however strong the classroom grades, and an immediate exit from the clinical area. Faculty may remove a student from a clinical setting for behavior suggesting care may be unsafe. Each clinical site's policies apply, and the handbook spells out what your student badge must carry, from the Samford logo and your name to your track and the school's name.
Progression rules matter too. An INC keeps you from the next course until your program coordinator or the associate dean for graduate nursing agrees otherwise, and failing the same course twice, or two separate courses, ends in dismissal. Grades and time limits covers those rules, and compliance requirements covers the clearance list.
How we build your placement around the manual
Samford students choose us because we start from Samford's rules, not a generic checklist. Tell your placement advisor what your manual and course ask of a preceptor and site, and we match to that list: the right specialty for the course, a clinician whose credentials fit, a site that can host 10 to 20 hours a week, and the details your rotation request needs.
We then keep the process moving against your dates: the request deadline in your Homeroom, the agreement timeline if the site is new to Samford, and your compliance renewals before registration. If a preceptor has to step away, we find a replacement that fits the same course. How it works shows each step, and the placement request form starts yours.
Search results for Samford clinical rules often surface old PDFs, such as the 2016-2017 MSN Handbook, and several of their rules have since changed, including the clinical hour totals. For NP clinical policy, the current manual in your Homeroom is the version that counts.
Questions Samford students ask
Can I read the Samford NP Clinical Manual before I enroll?
Not publicly. The manual lives in a Canvas course that opens once you are an enrolled NP student, and no copy is posted on Samford's website. Prospective students can ask Graduate Student Services about clinical expectations, and Samford's program pages and plans of study already show the clinical courses, the hours and the placement model.
Is there a Samford handbook for NP preceptors?
None is public. The only preceptor-facing file Samford posts is an undergraduate Preceptor and Clinical Associates Orientation, and it is locked. NP preceptor expectations are presumably in the NP Clinical Manual, so pass the relevant requirements to your preceptor as your course allows. For preceptors explains what precepting a Samford student involves.
Which system records clinical hours for Samford NP students?
Samford does not name one publicly for NP students. Check your Homeroom and your clinical course in Canvas for the tool and the sign-off steps. Nurse anesthesia works differently, and its own handbook is where Typhon appears, as the place anesthesia students keep their cases and evaluations.
What happens to my Canvas course after a Samford clinical ends?
The handbook says access to each Canvas course is limited after the course is completed. Before the semester closes, save your syllabus, rubrics, copies of preceptor evaluations and any hour records you may need later, whether for a DNP hours review, a later course or credentialing at your first NP job.
Where is Samford's clinical probation policy?
Inside the NP Clinical Manual. The graduate handbook names a Clinical Standing/Clinical Probation/Progression Policy and puts it in the manual, so your Homeroom is the place to read it. The handbook itself covers clinical failure, which earns an F for the whole course whatever your didactic grade.
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.