The Clarkson site and preceptor agreement, part by part

Updated September 27, 2026, reviewed by the Clarkson Preceptor placement team

Before a Clarkson College clinical hour can count, the preceptor and site you found go onto the Clinical/Practicum Site & Preceptor Agreement Form, filed through DocuSign in Clarkson's recent documents. You file a fresh one for each preceptor, each course and each semester, naming every clinician you will see patients with and the clinic's registered legal name.

Get matched Chat now

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.

3versions of the agreement: nurse practitioner, nursing education, healthcare administration

Numbered steps. Who completes which part: 1 You open it; 2 The advisor review; 3 Compliance handles the contract; 4 Your preceptor adds credentials; 5 Graduate Nursing signs off. — Who completes which part: 1 You open it; 2 The advisor review; 3 Compliance handles the contract; 4 Your preceptor adds credentials; 5 Graduate Nursing signs off.

Where the form sits in Clarkson's rules today

Begin with the rule that is live right now. Every nurse practitioner clinical course in Clarkson's 2026-27 catalog, from NRS 830 through NRS 864, carries the note "Requires preceptor and clinical site approval prior to registration." The two MSN practicums, NRS 894 and NRS 898, say the same about the practicum site. The agreement form is the document that asks for that approval.

The working detail on this page comes from papers Clarkson has since pulled from its public site: its graduate handbook for 2021-22, a DocuSign walkthrough for students in its February 2021 revision, the FNP, AGACNP and PMHNP rotation sheets dated November 2023, and a July 2025 archived copy of the Graduate Nursing Resources page. Our research turned up no 2026 Clarkson page saying whether DocuSign is still the filing tool, so confirm the current route with your Graduate Nursing advisor or in the handbook Clarkson shares on request.

Three versions, one for each kind of clinical

Clarkson's July 2025 resources page linked three separate agreement forms. Use the one that matches the course you are registering for.

Agreement versions linked on Clarkson's Graduate Nursing Resources page (July 2025 capture)
Form name on the page	Who files it	Courses
Nurse Practitioner Clinical Agreement Form	FNP, AGACNP and PMHNP students in the MSN, the post-graduate certificates and the BSN to DNP	`NRS 830`, then the four clinical courses of your track
Nurse Education Preceptor Agreement Form	MSN Nursing Education and Nurse Educator certificate students	`NRS 894` Nursing Education Practicum
Nursing Healthcare Administration Preceptor Agreement Form	MSN Nursing Healthcare Administration and its certificate	`NRS 898` Nursing Healthcare Leadership Practicum

Older paperwork writes the same courses with the "NS" prefix, so NS 894 in a 2021 document is today's NRS 894. The form has changed shape over the years as well: before 2021 it was a two-step "Preceptor and Clinical Site Intent form" followed by a separate license-and-agreement step, and in 2013 it was three Adobe forms. A PDF handed down by a classmate is almost certainly out of date.

Who completes which part

The agreement passes through several hands, and yours come first. Clarkson's 2021 DocuSign instructions say the process cannot begin without the preceptor's information, which makes the form the last step of your search rather than the first.

You open itYou pick the right version and enter the course, the term, the site's legal name and address, and your preceptor's name and email. The November 2023 sheets list the student as the party who initiates it.
The advisor reviewYour Graduate Nursing advisor checks that the course and term match your plan and that the site and contact details are complete.
Compliance handles the contractThe Compliance office confirms Clarkson already holds an affiliation agreement with the site or starts a new one; the affiliation agreements guide covers the timing.
Your preceptor adds credentialsThe preceptor fills in the license and credential fields, which is where a license issued in the wrong state or a short career becomes visible.
Graduate Nursing signs offA final DocuSign email confirms the paperwork is complete. Course faculty sign off as well before your first clinical hour.

The full route from first phone call to registration is mapped on the clinical placement process page.

A new form for every preceptor, course and semester

This is the rule that surprises returning students. The November 2023 sheets require a new agreement "for every preceptor, every course, and every semester," even when you return to a preceptor and facility from an earlier term. A nurse practitioner who took you for NRS 832 in the fall signs again when you return for NRS 840 in the spring.

It also reaches every clinician who sees patients with you. The sheets extend the requirement to all providers, "including partners in a practice." If your main preceptor shares a clinic with two partners and you will see patients with all three on different days, plan for three agreements. Specialty time counts as well: an FNP student in NRS 840 who spends part of the course with a pediatric specialist files for that specialist too.

Mind the cap while you plan. Clarkson's 2023 sheets hold each clinical course to two preceptors unless course faculty approve more in writing, so a busy group practice calls for a word with faculty before everyone is added. The preceptor requirements page sets out that limit alongside Clarkson's other rules.

Observation hours are the exception in the 2023 sheets: faculty approve them in advance, they involve no hands-on care, and they need no DocuSign agreement.

Details that hold an agreement up

Most slowdowns come from small gaps. Clarkson's 2021 instructions ask for the agency's precise legal name, including "Inc.", "LLP" or "d/b/a" exactly as the business is registered, and they warn that inaccurate information delays the College's paperwork further.

Check these before you send it

The registered entity name, which is often a parent organization rather than the name on the clinic door.
A preceptor license issued by the state where the clinical takes place, as the 2023 sheets require.
At least two years in practice for the preceptor; the sheets add "(no exceptions)".
The right provider type for your track, such as an acute-care-certified NP for AGACNP courses, or a psychiatrist or PMHNP for PMHNP courses after NRS 830.
An email address the preceptor actually reads, since the preceptor's section is completed through the same request.
The course number and term that match your registration plan.

If the site is your employer, the handbook expects clinical hours outside your own unit, with work time and clinical time recorded separately. The workplace practicum guide explains how that works.

When the agreement has to be in

Due dates, per the 2021-22 handbook and the 2023 sheets: a spring course needs the form by Nov. 1, a summer course by March 1 and a fall course by June 1. The handbook also tied registration to the form and allowed until the close of the first class week to finish it, with withdrawal as the possible outcome. Those dates, together with the health-system windows that close earlier, are laid out on the clinical deadlines calendar, and the registration block has its own page at approval before registration.

Two timing facts follow from the form itself. Nothing you log ahead of final approval counts toward the course, and per the 2023 sheets Typhon receives preceptor and site records only after the DocuSign paperwork is finished, so an open agreement also leaves your clinical log with nobody to record hours under.

How we get your agreement right the first time

Clarkson students choose us because we hand them a confirmed preceptor with the agreement details already collected and checked. Before you open the form, you have the site's registered legal name and address, the license and credential details your preceptor will enter, the preceptor's years in practice and a working email, each matched against Clarkson's published rules for your course.

For group practices we list every provider who will see patients with you, so all the agreements go in together. For a five-course NP plan we line up preceptors course by course and time each agreement well ahead of the Nov. 1, March 1 or June 1 date. Every approval still belongs to Graduate Nursing advising, Compliance and your course faculty, and the packet they review arrives whole. Begin with the form below, or see how it works first.

Questions Clarkson students ask

Same preceptor next term: is a fresh agreement required?

Yes, going by Clarkson's November 2023 clinical sheets. They call for a new form for each preceptor, course and semester, and they apply that even to a repeat preceptor at a repeat facility. A preceptor who takes you for two courses in a row signs two agreements, one for each course.

Can I start the DocuSign form before I have found a preceptor?

No. Clarkson's 2021 instructions say the process cannot begin without the preceptor's information. If you are asking a health system for a placement instead, the same instructions sent that request to your advisor or into the system's own portal, such as My Clinical Exchange, and you complete the agreement afterward as your advisor directs.

Is Clarkson still using DocuSign for preceptor agreements in 2026?

Our research could not confirm it either way. The last public evidence is Clarkson's Graduate Nursing Resources page from July 2025 and a teaching-center tutorial still online in September 2025, and both are now gone. The catalog's approval rule is current, so ask your Graduate Nursing advisor which tool to use this term.

What name do I put for the clinic?

The agency's precise legal name, including any corporate suffix or trade-name designation, as Clarkson's DocuSign instructions ask. That is frequently a parent organization's registered name rather than the sign on the building. Clarkson notes that inaccurate details slow the College's paperwork, so ask the practice manager if you are unsure.

Does each partner in a group practice need a separate agreement?

If you will see patients with them, yes. The 2023 sheets extend the agreement to each provider whose patients you share, practice partners among them. Keep the two-preceptor limit per course in mind as well, and get written approval from course faculty before adding a third clinician.

ProcessClinical placement processHow a Clarkson College clinical gets approved: your preceptor search, the DocuSign agreement, advisor and Compliance checks, faculty sign-off, then Typhon.RuleApproval before registrationClarkson College clinical courses need preceptor and site approval before you register. The registration block, the first-week rule and hours that never count.ContractsAffiliation agreementsHow Clarkson College's Compliance office confirms or starts an affiliation agreement with your site, why it can take two months, and how to plan around it.CalendarClinical deadlinesClarkson College clinical paperwork dates (Nov. 1, Mar. 1, Jun. 1) beside Nebraska Medicine and Children's windows, compliance deadlines and week one of class.PreceptorsPreceptor requirementsWho can precept a Clarkson College NP or practicum student: license in the clinical state, two years' experience, related practice and each track's own rules.TyphonTyphon clinical logsHow Clarkson College NP students log hours in Typhon: observation and specialty hours, required experiences, and the preceptor records DocuSign creates.

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 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.