Dothan and the Wiregrass: a Samford NP preceptor in Alabama's southeast corner
The Wiregrass sits roughly 189 miles from Samford, and its big hospitals say more about students than most in Alabama: Southeast Health invites NP inquiries, while Flowers Hospital and Medical Center Enterprise require an affiliation agreement and an online application. Beyond Dothan, one health center organization and a ring of rural counties shape where a Samford NP student finds a preceptor.
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.
Seven counties in the southeast corner
Houston (Dothan), Dale (Ozark and Daleville), Coffee (Enterprise and Elba), Geneva, Henry (Abbeville and Headland), Barbour (Eufaula and Clayton) and Covington (Andalusia and Opp) form this guide; the state health department groups every one of them in its Southeastern District. Their 2025 Census estimates total 325,685, up about 2.9 percent since 2020. Houston, Geneva and Henry make up the Dothan metro area (156,266), and the Dothan-Enterprise-Ozark combined area adds Coffee and Dale for 263,131.
It is a long haul from Homewood: roughly 189 miles to Dothan, with county seats from roughly 162 miles (Clayton) to roughly 195 miles (Geneva), by approximate road estimates. Samford's on-campus intensives in Birmingham can mean an overnight trip, so build clinical weeks around them. Wiregrass Alabama AHEC is based in Dothan.
Southeast Health, Flowers and Medical Center Enterprise
Southeast Health, governed by the Houston County Health Care Authority, runs the 420-bed Medical Center in Dothan, a Level II trauma center with the region's only Level III NICU, and includes the Alabama College of Osteopathic Medicine. Its Student Opportunities page, updated May 12, 2026, says rotations primarily serve that affiliated medical school's students but welcome other institutions as resources allow, and invites NP and nursing students to inquire through an email link. It names no portal, deadline or preceptor rule. An archived copy of an older page, written mainly for medical students, asked for a current affiliation agreement and paperwork two months ahead.
Flowers Hospital in Dothan and Medical Center Enterprise are Community Health Systems hospitals with matching student rules. Medical Center Enterprise's college students page says a current student affiliation agreement must be in place, that required documents follow an online application once the clinical is approved, and that schools carry general and professional liability coverage. Archived 2026 copies of Flowers' pages describe the same agreement rule plus a Human Resources packet due at least a week before day one: BLS, immunizations and titers, and a drug screen and background check from the past 12 months. HR then confirms with you, your preceptor and the department director.
Neither CHS page says who finds the preceptor, so plan to bring a named clinician rather than wait for one to be assigned.
Community hospitals and SARHA clinics
Outside Dothan and Enterprise, the hospitals publish no student pages, so treat them as landmarks: Dale Medical Center (Ozark), Wiregrass Medical Center (Geneva), Medical Center Barbour (Eufaula), Andalusia Health and Mizell Memorial Hospital (Opp). Andalusia Health, an 88-bed acute care hospital, became a founding member of ScionHealth in December 2021 and stayed with ScionHealth when eight of its hospitals outside Alabama went to Lifepoint in June 2026. Henry County has no hospital in the Alabama Hospital Association's directory, and Coffee County's only listed hospital is Medical Center Enterprise.
Southeast Alabama Rural Health Associates (SARHA) is the only health center organization HRSA lists in the region, with nine sites in Dothan, Enterprise, Newton, Geneva, Slocomb, Abbeville, Clayton, Eufaula and Andalusia. For primary care preceptors outside the hospitals, those clinics are the first calls to make.
Shortage designations around Dothan
Houston County stands out: HRSA lists no county-level primary care designation for it, a status it shares in Alabama only with Madison and Shelby. Everything around it is designated on HRSA's 0 to 25 scale: Barbour carries a high-needs geographic designation scored 19, Dale a low-income population designation scored 18, Covington 15, Coffee and Geneva 13 each (Geneva's is high-needs) and Henry 12.
Mental health splits in two. Houston, Dale, Geneva, Henry and Barbour share a catchment designation scored 11 that HRSA lists as proposed for withdrawal, while Coffee and Covington fall in a high-needs catchment with a score of 18, which points PMHNP students toward Enterprise and Andalusia as places short of psychiatric clinicians.
Dale, Coffee, Henry, Barbour and Covington are rural in HRSA's records and Geneva partly so; Dothan is not. That brings Alabama's preceptor tax credit into play for unpaid preceptors in the rural counties, and the tax credit guide explains the conditions, including Samford's AHEC registration, which no public source confirms.
Matching Samford's clinical courses to Wiregrass settings
NURG 723(adult, 150 hours): a SARHA site or an adult practice in Dothan or Enterprise.- Lifespan courses (
NURG 724, orNURG 716throughNURG 718for BSN to DNP students): a family practice with steady pediatric visits; confirm the age mix before you commit. NURG 730(300 hours): the setting you plan to work in, with enough volume to fill 10 to 20 clinical hours a week.NURG 788throughNURG 790, plusNURG 767therapy hours: Laurel Oaks Behavioral Health Center in Dothan (46 beds in the hospital association directory) is a landmark, and outpatient psychiatric preceptors are scarcest in Coffee and Covington.
Samford's NP pages say its agreements with hundreds of agencies lean toward the Southeast and that students may request a new one when a preceptor is available nearby; the affiliation agreements guide covers that request. Samford does not arrange or reimburse travel, which matters at this distance.
Why Wiregrass students choose us
Wiregrass hospitals want an affiliation agreement and a named preceptor before anything moves. We bring that preceptor, prepare the details Samford reviews and each hospital's application expects, and start early enough for a new agreement to clear. From Eufaula to Opp, your placement advisor keeps the search local so clinical days stay close to home. Tell us your course.
Questions Samford students ask
Does Southeast Health accept nurse practitioner students from other schools?
Its Student Opportunities page says rotations mainly serve Alabama College of Osteopathic Medicine students and that other institutions are welcome as resources allow. NP and nursing students inquire through the email link on that page. No deadline or portal is posted, so open the conversation a term or more before you need the hours.
What does Flowers Hospital require before an NP student starts?
Archived 2026 copies of its student pages list a current affiliation agreement between the school and Flowers, an online application, and an HR packet at least a week before day one with BLS, immunizations and titers, and a recent drug screen and background check. Check the live page before applying, since those copies may be dated.
Can a Dothan preceptor claim Alabama's preceptor tax credit?
Unlikely in Dothan itself: Houston County is non-rural in HRSA's records and has no county-level primary care designation. Preceptors in rural Dale, Coffee, Henry, Barbour or Covington are stronger candidates, provided they are unpaid for teaching, registered with APTIP, and precepting a student whose school is registered with the AHEC office.
Who runs Medical Center Barbour in Eufaula?
The Health Care Authority of the City of Eufaula owns it. East Alabama Health announced in August 2026 that it will operate and manage the hospital starting October 1, 2026, with ownership staying with the authority. Its site has no student page, so a rotation there would run through an agreement request and a preceptor you bring.
Can Wiregrass students do clinicals in Georgia or Florida?
Sometimes; Barbour County's Eufaula micropolitan area already crosses into Georgia. Any out-of-state site needs an RN license valid in that state, and Samford reviews each request against state rules. Georgia's Board also expects the clinician teaching an APRN student there to hold Georgia APRN authorization; see the Georgia and Florida guides.
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.