YSU NP preceptors in Akron, Canton and North Central Ohio
All three Ohio health systems whose own student pages name Youngstown State University run hospitals here: Summa Health, Akron Children's and Cleveland Clinic. Most other large hospitals share a Northeast Ohio request calendar or post their own windows, so an FNP or AGACNP student in Akron, Canton, Wooster or Mansfield has more published routes than most, and more dates to track.
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Ten counties, Kent to Mansfield
This guide covers the western part of the Ohio Department of Health's Region 5: Summit (538,376 residents in the July 2025 Census estimate), Stark (373,771), Medina, Portage, Richland, Wayne, Tuscarawas, Ashland, Holmes and Carroll, 1,718,568 people in all.
Akron, Cuyahoga Falls, Barberton and Kent fill the north; Canton, Massillon and Alliance make up Stark; Medina, Wooster, Ashland and Mansfield spread west; New Philadelphia and Dover lie south. Four counties are nonmetro under USDA's 2023 codes: Wayne, Ashland, Tuscarawas and Holmes, which carries code 9, the most rural category.
Kent is roughly 45 miles from YSU and Mansfield roughly 110. With no campus days in the online NP programs, what counts is the drive between your home and your preceptor.
Summa Health and Akron Children's name YSU
Summa Health runs its Akron and Barberton campuses and Summa Health Western Reserve Hospital in Cuyahoga Falls. Its nursing professional development page lists Youngstown State University among its graduate nursing program partnerships but publishes no NP request process or deadline, so ask your clinical faculty how a YSU request reaches Summa. Summa joined General Catalyst's Health Assurance Transformation Corporation (HATCo) in October 2025 and kept its name.
Akron Children's Hospital lists YSU under family NP on its graduate student page, among schools holding educational affiliation agreements, and asks students to have their school coordinator request the placement. It is the region's clearest published route to the 100 pediatric hours YSU recommends for FNP students, and it begins with a request from YSU, not a call from you.
Cleveland Clinic, Aultman, UH and OhioHealth
Cleveland Clinic Akron General, Mercy Hospital in Canton, Union Hospital in Dover and Medina Hospital use Cleveland Clinic's graduate preceptor request in ACEMAPP. YSU is on the clinic's eligible schools list, the clinic does the matching, and applicants need an active Ohio RN license; the Greater Cleveland guide sets out its application periods.
Aultman, with hospitals in Canton, Alliance and Orrville plus Pomerene Hospital in Millersburg, runs every student experience through ACEMAPP and allows none without an affiliation agreement, according to its clinicals page; the school must be partnered there to submit a request. UH Portage Medical Center in Ravenna and UH Samaritan Medical Center in Ashland follow University Hospitals' APP rule: preceptor and EMR access confirmed before you apply.
OhioHealth Mansfield and Shelby hospitals take a new APP rotation application each semester: October 1 to November 1 for spring, February 1 to March 1 for summer, May 1 to June 1 for fall. Students may name a willing preceptor or ask to be placed, but OhioHealth's FAQ says it is not starting new affiliation agreements, so confirm YSU already has one. Wooster Community, Avita Ontario and Trinity Twin City in Dennison post no NP student pages.
One shared calendar for the big hospitals
Akron General, Mercy and Union, Aultman, Summa's Akron City, Barberton and Juve campuses, and UH Portage and Samaritan all belong to ACEMAPP's Northeast Ohio consortium, which keeps a single bulk rotation schedule. New rotation requests open March 1 for summer, April 16 for fall and October 16 for spring, and member hospitals approve new rotations within 10 business days.
ACEMAPP is how these hospitals schedule students. YSU's own compliance and hour records sit in Exxat, covered in the Exxat guide.
YSU's two-month preceptor deadline is the last safe date, not the planning date. For a fall practicum, Cleveland Clinic's window closes May 31 and OhioHealth's June 1, well before YSU's own clock starts.
Health centers and shortage counties
HRSA counts 43 active health center sites across the ten counties, three of them school-based. The largest operators by site count:
- Third Street Community Clinic: 11 sites in Mansfield, Ashland, Ontario and Shelby
- Axess Family Services: 10 sites in Akron, Barberton, Kent and Ravenna
- LifeCare Family Health & Dental Center: 4 sites in Canton and Massillon
- Springvale Health Centers: 4 sites in Dover and New Philadelphia
Holmes County has the region's only whole-county geographic primary care shortage designation. Stark, Wayne, Ashland, Richland, Tuscarawas and Carroll hold whole-county designations for low-income or other populations, parts of Summit and Portage are designated, and Medina has facility designations only. Summit posts the top primary care score, 20. For FNP students, these health centers and nearby family practices are natural places to build adult and family primary care hours.
Lining up five practicums here
- Map the whole sequenceSet
NURS 7061toNURS 7065(orNURS 7071toNURS 7075) against YSU's 7-week terms and mark each two-month preceptor deadline. - Match settings to sitesFNP: health centers, family practices, Akron Children's for pediatric hours by school request. AGACNP: acute care units at Akron General, Summa's Akron campus, Aultman or Mercy in Canton, through each system's process.
- Check each hospital's windowPut the consortium openings and the Cleveland Clinic and OhioHealth periods on the same calendar as YSU's deadlines.
- Confirm the agreementAsk whether YSU holds an affiliation agreement with the site; Aultman and OhioHealth depend on one (affiliation agreements).
Why Akron and Canton students choose us
Our search covers the whole region, from Kent to Mansfield and south to Dover, including the independent practices, health centers and hospitalist and urgent care groups that sit outside the big systems' calendars. We check each preceptor against YSU's rules and your practicum, confirm what the site needs from YSU, and hand your clinical faculty a complete preceptor request ahead of the two-month deadline, with the next practicum already in the works. YSU expects you to secure preceptors yourself where you can and to raise a stalled search with the Graduate Clinical Coordinator 90 days ahead, without promising a nearby site; finding your own preceptor explains. Request a preceptor search.
Questions YSU students ask
Does Summa Health take YSU nurse practitioner students?
Summa's nursing professional development page lists Youngstown State University among its graduate nursing program partnerships but publishes no NP request process, deadline or portal. Ask your clinical faculty how a YSU request reaches Summa. Its Akron City, Barberton and Juve campuses also sit in the Northeast Ohio ACEMAPP consortium and its shared request calendar.
Can I ask an NP at Cleveland Clinic Akron General to precept me?
Cleveland Clinic asks students and schools not to phone or email its sites or caregivers about placements. Its Office of Advanced Practice Nursing matches preceptors through an ACEMAPP application, YSU is on the eligible schools list, and you need an active Ohio RN license. Apply inside the window for your term.
I live near Mansfield. Where should I look?
OhioHealth Mansfield and Shelby take APP applications each semester in fixed windows, but OhioHealth says it is not starting new affiliation agreements, so check with YSU first. Third Street Community Clinic runs 11 health center sites in Mansfield, Ashland, Ontario and Shelby, and Richland County carries a primary care shortage designation.
Is Aultman an option for AGACNP hours in Canton?
Aultman's clinicals page says every student experience goes through ACEMAPP, none happens without an affiliation agreement, and the school must be partnered in ACEMAPP to submit requests. Ask your clinical faculty whether that path is open for YSU before you plan around Aultman Hospital, Alliance or Orrville.
Can I live in Youngstown and train in Akron?
Yes. YSU's residency rule is about the state, not the county, so a Mahoning Valley student can train anywhere in Ohio once clinical faculty approve the site and preceptor. The Mahoning Valley guide covers what is closer to home, including Akron Children's Boardman campus.
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
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