Precepting a Youngstown State University FNP or AGACNP student

Who YSU approves to precept

YSU's current graduate nursing handbook (2026-27, revised 8/2026) lets clinical faculty approve advanced practice registered nurses holding master's or doctoral preparation plus national certification suited to the student's population, certified nurse-midwives with graduate preparation, and licensed physicians (MD or DO). A physician assistant with a master's and a license in the practicum's state may precept AGACNP students and supervise up to 150 of an FNP student's hours once the first practicum is passed.

YSU's older online FAQ is narrower: MD, NP or DO only, no physician assistants, and a year in practice (two for AGACNP in one answer). If you are a PA or newly certified, the student's clinical faculty confirm which reading applies; the preceptor requirements guide compares both.

If the student works for your organization, you cannot be their immediate supervisor, their hours cannot fall on their own unit, and time on the clock never counts (workplace rules).

Hours and scheduling

YSU's FAQ assigns 150 hours to each practicum, matching the 750-hour total on YSU's online program pages. The 2026-27 catalog still carries 600 (FNP) and 540 (AGACNP), totals that fit YSU's older, shorter practicum sequences, and another FAQ answer puts a 7-week term at 180 hours, about 26 a week. By our count, 150 hours over seven weeks is roughly 21 a week, or two to three clinical days.

You and the student agree on the days. YSU's FAQ leaves the schedule to the two of you, the handbook makes students fit their jobs around clinical time, and missed hours are made up when you and the clinical faculty approve. A term need not rest on you alone: YSU's FAQ allows any number of approved preceptors to share a practicum's hours.

During the term: evaluations and faculty visits

Under the 2026-27 handbook, preceptors complete the student evaluations the program requires and verify clinical hours. The older 2022-23 handbook, now archived, used midterm and final evaluation forms and had preceptors sign the practicum log; today's forms sit in YSU's systems, not its public pages.

Clinical faculty visit the site or evaluate virtually, as the program requires (the older handbook set at least one virtual visit), and award the final clinical grade from your evaluations, their own observation, the student's documentation and logs, and assignments. If patient safety is ever compromised, a preceptor, faculty member or authorized agency staff may remove the student at once, and YSU decides what follows. Students log hours and patient encounters in Exxat, so what you verify should match their record.

How we prepare a student before they reach you

Much of a preceptor's early effort goes into judging whether a student fits, and our placement desk does that part first. Before a YSU student's name reaches you, your setting is matched to the exact practicum, the student's workplace and reporting line are checked against YSU's limits, and license and state questions are settled. When you agree, you receive one organized request: term dates, hours, course focus and the details needed for the Student Preceptor Agreement.

To take YSU nurse practitioner students, choose "I'm a preceptor (not a student)" in the Program list on the contact form with your specialty, setting and the terms you can offer. Approval of every preceptor and site rests with YSU's clinical faculty.