An independent placement service built around YSU's clinical process
YSU Preceptor is an independent placement service for Youngstown State University nursing students. We find preceptors and sites that fit each YSU practicum, check every candidate against YSU's own rules before a student hears a name, and prepare what the preceptor request needs ahead of YSU's two-month deadline. YSU's clinical faculty approve every preceptor and site.
Get your placement plan
Tell us your YSU program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with preceptor and site options in your community that fit your YSU course.
Who we are
We are a placement desk with a single focus: the preceptor search for students of YSU's Centofanti School of Nursing. Our work centers on the online FNP and AGACNP tracks, in the MSN and the post-master's certificates, where students face five back-to-back practicums while working as nurses. We also help Nursing Education students with NURS 7022 and NURS 7023, and RN to BSN students looking for a leadership preceptor.
Each student works with a placement advisor who knows YSU's documents, deadlines and course numbers, and who stays with the plan from the first practicum to the last. We are independent of YSU. Our part is the search and the preparation; approval belongs to YSU's clinical faculty, and the request itself goes in under the student's name.
Built on YSU's own documents
Every plan starts from what YSU publishes: the 2026-27 graduate catalog, the Graduate Nursing Student Handbook revised in August 2026, YSU's online program pages and its online FAQ. Those documents were written at different times and sometimes disagree, so we read them side by side, date each one and show the differences rather than smoothing them over.
Where YSU's sources part ways
- Hours: 750 per NP track on YSU's program pages, against 600 for FNP and 540 for AGACNP in the catalog.
- Physician assistant preceptors: excluded by the FAQ, allowed in limited cases by the handbook.
- Systems: Exxat in the current handbook, Medatrax and CastleBranch in the older FAQ.
- Accepted states for online students: YSU's catalog, handbook and online MSN pages name different fourth states (state rules).
Where sources clash, we plan around the stricter reading and suggest you confirm the point with your clinical faculty before you submit.
What thorough looks like in practice
Thoroughness is the reason to use a placement service at all, so here is what it covers in our work, practicum by practicum.
- The exact course. Primary care for
NURS 7061toNURS 7065, acute care forNURS 7071toNURS 7075, and YSU's recommended FNP mix of adult, pediatric and women's health hours planned across the whole run. - Your job. Your unit, your supervisor and your shifts are checked, because YSU rules out all three for clinical time.
- The preceptor. Education, national certification, license state and years in practice, measured against the handbook and the stricter FAQ.
- The facility. Whether it needs an affiliation agreement with YSU, who signs the site request, and any application window or contact rule the health system sets.
- Your dates. The 90-day notice point, the two-month deadline and, before a first practicum, Exxat's 30-day mark.
- What comes next. The next practicum's search opens once the current preceptor is confirmed, and a replacement search starts if a preceptor steps away.
What stays with YSU and with you
YSU runs the clinical program, and our work fits inside it. The Centofanti School of Nursing's clinical faculty approve sites and preceptors against program and accreditation requirements, make site visits and assign clinical grades. A Graduate Clinical Coordinator works with students throughout the program, and the handbook describes placements arranged in collaboration with the Program Director, clinical faculty and approved clinical agencies.
You submit the site and preceptor request, keep your Exxat account current and log your hours, and your advisor holds the curriculum plan that sets when each practicum falls. We make sure what you submit is complete, fits the practicum and arrives early. How it works walks through the steps, and the placement process guide covers YSU's side.
Where we search
Online YSU students live across Ohio and in neighboring states, and our searches follow them. In Ohio we cover nine regions, from YSU's home in the Mahoning Valley to Greater Cleveland, Akron-Canton, Columbus, Toledo, Dayton, Cincinnati and the southern counties (Ohio regions). Beyond Ohio we search in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Michigan, the other states on YSU's lists (other states).
Each region has its own pattern: health systems that name YSU on their student pages, systems that match students through a central office, and rural counties where the nearest fitting practice sits a longer drive away. That local picture decides where a search begins. Several large Ohio systems also ask for an active Ohio RN license, which matters for a student licensed in Pennsylvania, West Virginia or Michigan who hopes to train in Ohio.
How this site is written
The guides here draw on official sources only: YSU's catalog, handbooks, program pages and FAQ, Ohio Board of Nursing rules, and health systems' own student pages. Each page lists its sources and the date it was last updated, and where YSU's documents disagree, the page says so plainly. Figures come from YSU's own documents or are labeled as our arithmetic, and YSU staff appear by role, never by name.
Health system rules are reported as each system states them, with the source named. When YSU publishes a new handbook or catalog, the affected pages are checked against it. Your clinical faculty, the Graduate Clinical Coordinator and your advisor have the final word on your program; our guides help you ask them the right questions.
Questions YSU students ask
Who will I work with at YSU Preceptor?
A placement advisor who handles your plan from the first conversation onward: the search, the checks against YSU's rules, the details for your preceptor request and the next practicum's search. You can reach the placement desk through the chat, the WhatsApp and text buttons, or the request form on any page.
Can I bring a preceptor I found on my own?
Yes. A lead you bring goes through the same checks as one we find: the setting against your practicum, the credential against YSU's handbook, your reporting line and the facility's agreement needs. If it fits, the rest of your plan is built around it; if it falls short, you hear why and what to try next.
How do you keep up with changes to YSU's rules?
By returning to YSU's own documents. The current graduate handbook was revised in August 2026 and YSU's online program pages were edited the same month, while the online FAQ is undated and older. Each guide on this site shows its sources and update date, and plans follow the newest version.
Do you help YSU students outside the nurse practitioner tracks?
Yes, Nursing Education and RN to BSN students. Nursing Education students need 150 practicum hours across NURS 7022 and NURS 7023, and RN to BSN students identify a practice setting and a leadership preceptor for 60 hours. Entry-level BSN and ADN clinical labs, and the DNP Nurse Anesthesia's clinical sites, are arranged by YSU and its partners.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-26
We check these pages against YSU's own catalog, graduate handbook, online program pages and FAQ, and Ohio rules. Your clinical faculty, the Graduate Clinical Coordinator and your advisor have the final word.
YSU asks you to secure your preceptor. We find one near you.
Tell us your YSU track, where you live and when your next practicum starts. We find preceptors near you who fit the practicum, check YSU's rules and hand you what the preceptor request needs, two months ahead, with the next term's preceptor already in view.
- Primary care preceptors for FNP practicums
NURS 7061toNURS 7065, acute care for AGACNPNURS 7071toNURS 7075 - Outside your own unit and away from your supervisor, in a state YSU accepts
- Across Ohio, from the Mahoning Valley to Cincinnati, and in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Michigan
Start your placement plan
Program, city and start date is all we need to begin.