Finding YSU practicum preceptors in Columbus and Central Ohio
Central Ohio's two most visible routes for outside NP students run on their own calendars: OhioHealth takes applications only in set windows and is not starting new affiliation agreements, and Nationwide Children's assigns its own preceptors and calls FNP spots very limited. Much of the primary care YSU's family NP students need sits in 83 health center sites and in rural shortage counties.
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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.
Fifteen counties with Columbus at the center
Region 4 on the Ohio Department of Health's preparedness map covers Franklin, Delaware, Licking, Fairfield, Pickaway, Madison, Union, Marion, Morrow, Knox, Logan, Hardin, Wyandot, Crawford and Fayette counties: 2,476,104 residents in the Census Bureau's July 2025 estimates, 1,361,536 of them in Franklin County, and the largest population of any region on this site.
Eight counties belong to the Columbus metro under USDA's 2023 codes, from Dublin and Westerville out to Lancaster and Circleville. The seven nonmetro ones center on Marion, Mount Vernon, Bellefontaine, Kenton, Upper Sandusky, Bucyrus and Washington Court House. Columbus is roughly 170 miles from the Youngstown campus, which barely matters in an online program.
OhioHealth: set windows and no new agreements
OhioHealth runs Riverside Methodist, Grant and Doctors Hospital in Columbus, plus Dublin Methodist, Grady Memorial in Delaware, Marion General, Morrow County Hospital and Hardin Memorial in Kenton. According to its APP clinical experiences pages, one online APP Student Rotation Application covers NP students at every site, in three windows a year.
| Rotation period | When OhioHealth takes applications |
|---|---|
| Spring: January 1 to April 30 | October 1 to November 1 |
| Summer: May 1 to July 31 | February 1 to March 1 |
| Fall: August 1 to December 31 | May 1 to June 1 |
Students may list an OhioHealth clinician who has agreed to precept or ask OhioHealth to find one, though the FAQ says a match is not assured. Each semester means a fresh application, a returning preceptor included, and answers come within three weeks of the deadline.
The line to weigh most: OhioHealth is not initiating new affiliation agreements. This site's research did not establish whether a YSU agreement exists, so ask your clinical faculty before planning around an OhioHealth campus, and read how YSU handles affiliation agreements.
Nationwide Children's for pediatric time
Nationwide Children's Hospital manages every graduate nursing student through its Center for Nursing Excellence. According to its nursing student page, your school needs a clinical contract with the hospital, a faculty member or the student submits the Graduate Nursing Education Precepted Experience Request Form, the hospital assigns one preceptor per term, and family NP placements are very limited. Graduate students need an Ohio RN license and liability insurance.
Spring requests typically run August 1 to September 30, with matches in mid-November. By our count that is after YSU's two-month mark for a practicum opening January 4, 2027, so raise the timing with your clinical faculty early. The hospital also warns that a brand-new agreement can take six months to a year.
Wexner, Mount Carmel, Licking Memorial and Adena Fairfield
Some of the region's best-known hospitals post no page for NP students from outside schools, so treat them as landmarks: the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center (University Hospital, East, The James), Mount Carmel's hospitals in Columbus, Grove City, Westerville, New Albany and Dublin, and Licking Memorial in Newark. Ohio State's College of Nursing tells its own students that large systems often take requests only from a school's designated placement coordinator.
In Lancaster, Fairfield Medical Center became Adena Fairfield Medical Center on September 1, 2026, after a planned OhioHealth deal drew FTC antitrust objections. Its student page, seen only as a search index copy from before the change, asked for a resume, cover letter, rotation form and confidentiality agreement. Confirm with Adena that the process still stands.
Health centers and shortage counties
HRSA counts 83 active health center sites run by 16 organizations. Columbus Neighborhood Health Center leads with 15 in Columbus and Circleville; Knox County's health center and Southeast Inc. (Columbus, Delaware, Mount Gilead) have 9 each. Lower Lights Christian Health Center reaches Newark and Marysville, Equitas Health runs 7 Columbus sites, and Ohio State operates 5.
Primary care shortage designations cover all of Licking, Pickaway, Madison, Morrow, Knox and Logan counties and the low-income populations of Marion, Hardin, Crawford and Fayette. Franklin, Delaware and Fairfield have designations in part of the county, Franklin's score of 20 being the region's highest; Union has facility designations only and Wyandot none. All 15 counties carry a whole-county mental health designation.
Fitting five YSU practicums to Central Ohio
Every family NP practicum, NURS 7061 through NURS 7065, belongs in primary care, and YSU's suggested split is 200 or more adult hours, 100 pediatric and 75 in women's health (the FNP hour mix). The acute care track's NURS 7071 through NURS 7075 belong in acute care.
- Adult and family care: health center sites in Franklin, Licking, Knox, Marion and Logan counties and independent practices in the county seats.
- Pediatric hours: with Nationwide Children's FNP spots scarce, add a pediatric or family practice; ask about the 10 school-based health center sites.
- AGACNP: hospital medicine, ICU and emergency services at Columbus hospitals, OhioHealth through its windows, and standalone emergency departments or urgent care, which YSU's FAQ lists.
- Your employer: an OhioHealth, Wexner or Mount Carmel nurse can use another campus or department, never their own unit, supervisor or paid shift (workplace rules).
Each practicum's preceptor details are due to YSU two months ahead (the approval timeline). OhioHealth's periods follow semesters while YSU practicums run in 7-week terms, so one OhioHealth semester can hold two of your practicums.
Why Central Ohio YSU students choose us
Your placement advisor times each request to OhioHealth's and Nationwide Children's windows and YSU's two-month deadline, then searches well past the big systems: independent practices, health centers, pediatric offices, hospitalist groups and urgent care from Franklin County to Crawford and Fayette. Every preceptor is checked against YSU's rules before your clinical faculty see it. Send us your practicum and county.
Questions YSU students ask
Can a YSU student do clinical hours at OhioHealth?
Only if the paperwork already allows it. OhioHealth's FAQ rules out new affiliation agreements for now, and this site's research found no public statement about YSU either way. Check with your clinical faculty or the Graduate Clinical Coordinator about an agreement on file, then apply in the window for the semester your practicum falls in.
Where do FNP students in rural Central Ohio look for preceptors?
Health centers make a strong start: Knox County's sites in Mount Vernon, Centerburg and Danville, the Center Street and Third Street clinics in Marion, Galion and Bucyrus, Health Partners of Western Ohio in Kenton and HealthSource of Ohio in Washington Court House. Family practices in those county seats come next.
Do Columbus hospitals require an Ohio RN license?
Nationwide Children's asks graduate students for one, and YSU requires a current, unencumbered license in the state where you complete practicum hours. Ohio has been a Nurse Licensure Compact state since January 1, 2023, but confirm with each system that a multistate license issued elsewhere meets its rule. See RN license requirements.
When should I apply to OhioHealth for a January YSU practicum?
In October. OhioHealth's spring window runs October 1 to November 1, and YSU wants preceptor details about two months before a practicum that opens January 4, 2027. Both deadlines fall in the same few weeks, so have your preceptor's agreement in hand before October begins.
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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