The Clarkson clinical placement process, from search to first logged hour
At Clarkson College, a graduate clinical course opens only after the preceptor and site you found have passed approval, and that approval moves through several hands in a fixed order. This guide walks one course from the first search to the first hour in Typhon, and points to the guide that owns each step.
Get your placement plan
Tell us your Clarkson program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with the preceptor and site options that fit your course.
The route in brief
Clarkson's 2026-27 catalog fixes the order with a note printed on every nurse practitioner clinical course: the preceptor and the clinical site must be approved before you can register. The education and leadership practicums, NRS 894 and NRS 898, carry the same condition for the practicum site. So the sequence holds for every track: you secure a preceptor and a site, Clarkson approves them, you register, and only then do hours begin.
The working detail of each step comes from documents Clarkson has since removed from its public website: Clarkson's graduate handbook for 2021-22, a DocuSign walkthrough for students posted in 2021, and the NP Clinical Rotation Information sheets last revised in November 2023. Every detail below is dated to one of them. Your Graduate Nursing advisor and course faculty hold the current version, and Clarkson shares the current handbook on request.
Settle three things before the search
A perfect preceptor cannot rescue a placement that fails on location, licensure or compliance, so check these first.
- Your state. Clarkson's 2026-27 workbook answers once per state for all graduate nursing tracks, and 12 states come back Does Not Meet. Clarkson's state authorization page adds that clinical approval "must be confirmed before placement." Read Clarkson's state rules before you start calling clinics.
- Licenses. Your RN license must be effective in the state where the clinical happens, and the preceptor needs a license in that same state.
- Health and safety. Clarkson tracks immunizations, background checks and certifications in Qualified First/Verified (CastleBranch until 2026), and a student out of compliance may not attend clinical.
Nurse practitioner students also pass the Graduate Weekend skills check-off in Omaha before any NRS 830 hours count, so the first clinical course has a campus date built into it.
The approval chain for one course
Clarkson's 2021 process sheet and 2021-22 handbook give this order, and each step waits on the last.
- You secure a preceptor and a siteClarkson's graduate handbook gives this step to the student in every online track. Screen each candidate against Clarkson's preceptor rules before asking for a commitment, and list every clinician you will see patients with, partners in the practice included.
- You open the agreement in DocuSignThe Clinical/Practicum Site & Preceptor Agreement Form comes in nurse practitioner, nurse education and healthcare administration versions. It cannot be started without the preceptor's details, and the agency goes on it under its exact legal name. The agreement guide covers every field.
- Your advisor checks the basicsYour Graduate Nursing advisor confirms the course, the term, the site name and the site contact.
- The Compliance office handles the contractCompliance confirms that an affiliation agreement already covers the site or starts a new one. See affiliation agreements for what that involves.
- The preceptor completes their sectionLicense and credential fields are filled in by the preceptor, not by you.
- Graduate Nursing signs offFinal approval arrives as the DocuSign email confirming the paperwork is complete.
- You register, and course faculty clear youRegistration waits on approval, and the 2021-22 handbook also required course faculty approval before the first hour. Hours worked earlier do not count; the registration guide explains the first-week rule.
- Your hours go into TyphonPreceptors and sites were added to Typhon only after the DocuSign paperwork was complete, and every hour and required experience had to be logged there for credit, according to the November 2023 sheets.
The November 2023 sheets printed a three-step version: the student starts the form, the advisor checks course and term, and the Compliance Department finishes the agreement and returns it for upload in the course.
Dates that set the pace
Both the handbook (2021-22) and the rotation sheets (November 2023) set one paperwork deadline per term: spring's fell on Nov. 1, summer's on Mar. 1 and fall's on Jun. 1. A student without a submitted form could not register, apart from two exceptions the handbook named: placement requests made through My Clinical Exchange, and unavoidable preceptor changes such as a preceptor backing out.
Plan backward from those dates. A site that needs a new affiliation agreement can use up most of the two months Clarkson allowed, and health systems that run their own student request processes open and close their windows months before the term. Build in a margin for a preceptor who hesitates or a site that asks its own questions. The deadline calendar lays out the dates, and the health system request guide covers each system's window.
Five courses, five approvals
Everything above covers a single course. Clarkson's program pages limit you to one clinical course at once, and each nurse practitioner track is built to be taken course after course in a single line, so an MSN student runs the chain five times: NRS 830, then the four courses of the track.
The November 2023 sheets required a new agreement for each preceptor in each course and each semester, even when the preceptor and facility repeat. Expect a new search wherever the course changes the patient population. FNP students need a pediatric primary care provider for at least 110 hours of NRS 840 and a women's health provider for at least 120 hours of NRS 842; AGACNP courses move from short-stay units toward ICU and emergency settings; PMHNP students add 50 hours with a therapist in NRS 856.
BSN to DNP students take the same clinical courses with more hours, 975 in all against 750 in the MSN, and also recruit the DNP project mentor themselves.
When a step breaks
A preceptor who withdraws breaks the chain mid-course, and Clarkson's handbook planned for that case. The 2021-22 edition told students to let course faculty know and quickly line up a replacement under whom the course goals could still be met, logging nothing with the replacement until fresh DocuSign paperwork cleared.
When the calendar ran out, the same handbook made withdrawing the student's job, once they had spoken with faculty and their advisor. Faculty and the program director may instead grant an incomplete to a student who is passing but still short on clinical hours. And an agreement left unfinished after the term's opening week could force a withdrawal on its own.
Where our placement desk takes over
Clarkson students bring us in for the first step and everything that feeds the next four. Our placement desk searches for preceptors who fit your course, your state and Clarkson's rules, confirms each one's license, experience and availability for your hours, and collects the legal site name, the full provider list and the credential details the agreement asks for.
We check early whether the site already has an affiliation agreement with Clarkson, so a new one starts with time to spare, and we plan all five courses together so the next search is under way while the current course runs. If a preceptor drops, we find a replacement fast. Every approval stays with Clarkson's advisors, Compliance office and faculty; our work is making the file they open whole and correct. Use the form on this page to start.
Questions Clarkson students ask
How long does Clarkson take to approve a preceptor and site?
Clarkson publishes no fixed turnaround. Its 2021 DocuSign process sheet said the college's side, including any affiliation agreement or negotiation, may take up to two months, and that inaccurate information adds delay. A site already covered by an agreement needs confirmation rather than a new contract, which is one more reason to file well before the term deadline.
Can I begin clinical hours while my paperwork is still pending?
No. The 2021-22 handbook asked for a go-ahead from course faculty plus the closing DocuSign email before a single clinical or practicum hour, and it said hours done before final completion would not count toward the course total. The November 2023 sheets added that a preceptor is entered in Typhon only after the paperwork is done.
Does Clarkson still use DocuSign and Typhon in 2026?
Clarkson's public site no longer describes either. The last public evidence of the DocuSign agreement is Clarkson's graduate resources page from July 2025, and Typhon still appeared in the 2025-26 catalog's fee list. Your Graduate Nursing advisor can confirm which systems your cohort uses now, before you set up any accounts for your first clinical course.
Does a returning preceptor need new paperwork?
Yes, under the November 2023 sheets. They asked for a new agreement each semester and for each course, even when the clinician and the facility are ones you have trained with already. Keeping the same preceptor saves you the search, not the paperwork, so file the renewal by the same term deadline as any new placement.
Who do I contact when a step stalls?
The office that owns the step. Your Graduate Nursing advisor handles the agreement form and the course and term check, the Compliance office handles affiliation agreements and health and safety records, and course faculty decide on hours, observation time and any third preceptor. Clarkson routes questions by role, so name the step when you write.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-27
We check these pages against Clarkson College's own catalog, program pages and published nursing documents. Your course faculty and Graduate Nursing advisor have the final word.
- Clarkson College 2026-27 catalog: NRS 830 Advanced Physical Assessment
- Clarkson College Graduate Nursing Student Handbook 2021-22 (archived copy)
- Clarkson College DocuSign Student Process sheet (archived copy, June 2024)
- Clarkson College FNP Clinical Rotation Information, revised November 2023 (archived copy)
- Clarkson College State Authorization and Licensure Information
Clarkson asks you to find your preceptor. We make the search the easy part.
Tell us your Clarkson track, your city and your next clinical course. We line up preceptors who fit the NRS course and Clarkson's rules, gather the details the site and preceptor agreement asks for, and flag early whether the site needs a new affiliation agreement.
- Preceptors matched to the course: all-ages primary care for FNP, acute care units for AGACNP, psychiatric providers for PMHNP
- License, experience and site details checked against Clarkson's rules before the agreement is filed
- Every clinical course planned in sequence, close to home in a state where Clarkson's graduate nursing meets requirements
Start your placement plan
Track, city and next clinical course is all we need to begin.