Planning Samford NP clinicals in Tennessee
Tennessee residents are eligible for all Samford nurse practitioner tracks, and Samford's licensure disclosure places Tennessee among the states where those tracks meet requirements. The complication in 2026 is legislative: a Tennessee bill would freeze Board approvals for nursing programs based in other states, clinical placements included, for two years. Its enactment is unconfirmed, so settle Tennessee's status with Samford first.
Plan a Tennessee rotation
Give us your Tennessee city, your Samford track and the term your next clinical course starts.
Where Samford stands on Tennessee
Samford's September 3, 2025 NP disclosure lists Tennessee without the asterisk it uses for closed states, and the NP program pages leave it off their applicant table, so every NP entry point is open.
| Program | Open to Tennessee applicants | Licensure, per Samford |
|---|---|---|
| Family NP MSN (BSN or ADN entry) | Yes | Meets |
| Psychiatric-mental health NP MSN (BSN or ADN entry) | Yes | Meets |
| FNP and PMHNP DNP pathways | Yes | Meets |
| Post-graduate FNP and PMHNP certificates | Yes | Not covered by a published disclosure |
| Nurse Anesthesia DNP | No published bar; in person after two online semesters | Meets |
| Online RN to BSN | Yes | BSN disclosure: meets |
Tennessee's 2026 bill on nursing programs from other states
Senate Bill 2013, with House Bill 1905 as its companion, would add a new part to the nursing chapter of Tennessee law. Over a two-year span, the Board of Nursing would decline to accept or approve applications from any nursing program not based in Tennessee, whether that program wants to operate there, enroll students or send them to Tennessee clinics. APRN programs get no separate treatment.
Programs approved ahead of the effective date would hold on to that approval, but they would have to hand over data on request to the Board and to Tennessee's nursing advancement center, including who precepts their students and where students are placed. The Center has until the end of June 2027 to recommend standards for outside programs using Tennessee clinicians and sites, and the bill's findings say oversight of those placements has fallen short.
One secondary source reports that the bill took effect on April 27, 2026. Our research found no official record of enactment, and no existing Board rule that expressly requires approval before an outside program places a student. Only Samford can say how this touches its NP tracks, so put the question to your program coordinator first.
A preceptor secured before Tennessee's status is clear can still fall through: under Samford's handbook, state rules are grounds to deny a clinical rotation request. Ask first, then search.
NP practice and the systems Tennessee students search
AANP classes Tennessee as restricted: NPs practice with a supervising physician, and the state caps both their controlled-substance prescribing (Schedules II, III and IV) and opioid quantities. NCSBN reports that CMS counts Tennessee and New Jersey among the states pledged to adopt full practice authority through a federal rural health funding program, though AANP's May 2026 map has not changed Tennessee's label.
Nashville's metro counts 2,197,416 people in the 2025 Census estimate, and the Tennessee side of the Memphis metro adds just over a million. Knoxville and Chattanooga follow, and the Chattanooga metro reaches into Georgia. Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare, Erlanger, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Ballad Health and Covenant Health are names Tennessee NP students commonly weigh, as examples rather than sites reserved for Samford.
THA's preceptor incentive and Alabama schools
The Tennessee Hospital Association runs a preceptor incentive with the state's health workforce center, paid for by a state grant and limited to the money available. Eligible preceptors are LPNs, RNs and APRNs licensed without restriction in Tennessee or through a multistate license; they finish a UTHSC preceptor course, which includes a module written for NP preceptors, and log a minimum of 70 hours precepting a single student per cycle.
THA's page centers on students from accredited Tennessee programs, but it also counts students of schools in Alabama and six other nearby states when the hours are done in Tennessee. Read plainly, that can include a Samford student; your preceptor should confirm with THA. The current cycle opened August 1, 2026 and closes December 1, and documentation is due by December 10.
Your RN license for Tennessee clinicals
Tennessee's compact participation began January 19, 2018, ahead of Alabama's January 1, 2020 start. A multistate license issued by Alabama or another compact home state therefore works for Tennessee rotations and meets Samford's rule that your RN license be current and unencumbered wherever a rotation happens. North Alabama students near the line can pair this page with our Huntsville and north Alabama guide; the RN license requirements page covers single-state licenses.
Why Samford students in Tennessee choose us
Samford's affiliation agreements are weighted toward the Southeast, and its NP pages ask students to bring the personal and professional connections that open a clinic door. Your placement advisor brings those connections in Nashville, Knoxville, Chattanooga and Memphis, checks the preceptor against the FNP clinicals or the NURG 767 and NURG 788 to NURG 790 psychiatric work, and puts Tennessee's legislative question in front of Samford early. Tell us about your next course through our request form.
Questions Samford students ask
Has Tennessee paused approvals for nursing schools from other states?
Not confirmed. SB 2013 would halt Board approvals for programs based outside Tennessee for two years, and one secondary source says it began April 27, 2026, though no official record confirmed that. Programs approved earlier would keep approval under the bill. Ask Samford for its reading before you lock in a Tennessee clinic.
Can my Tennessee preceptor use THA's incentive for a Samford rotation?
Possibly. THA's page lets students from schools in Alabama and several nearby states count when the hours happen in Tennessee. The preceptor needs an unrestricted Tennessee or compact license and the UTHSC course, and the grant money is finite, so the preceptor should check the open cycle with THA.
I live in north Alabama. Can I split clinical hours with a Tennessee clinic?
Your compact license covers Tennessee, so the license side is simple. Each site still needs Samford's approval through a clinical rotation request, and Tennessee's pending bill is worth raising before you split a course across two states.
Does Tennessee's supervision rule change who can precept me?
It shapes the setting more than the choice. Alabama's Board of Nursing accepts an APRN, a physician or another appropriately licensed, population-focused clinician as an APRN student's preceptor, so a Tennessee NP working under physician supervision or the supervising physician can both qualify, subject to Samford's approval.
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.