YSU practicum preceptors in Dayton and the Miami Valley
Both of the Miami Valley's big adult systems narrow the door for outside NP students. According to their pages as indexed, Premier Health puts its own employees first and is not taking women's health requests, and Kettering Health accepts rotation applications only from its employees and Kettering College PA students. Dayton Children's runs an online application, and 88 health center sites, most of them in schools, round out the map.
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Eight counties around Dayton and Springfield
ODH's hospital preparedness Region 3, West Central, groups Montgomery, Greene, Miami, Clark, Champaign, Darke, Preble and Shelby counties. The Census Bureau's July 2025 estimates add up to 1,140,963 people, with 539,598 in Montgomery County around Dayton, Kettering, Huber Heights and Miamisburg.
Under USDA's 2023 codes, Montgomery, Greene (Xenia, Beavercreek, Fairborn) and Miami (Troy, Piqua, Tipp City) form the Dayton metro, and Clark (Springfield) is a smaller metro of its own. Champaign (Urbana), Darke (Greenville), Preble (Eaton) and Shelby (Sidney) are nonmetro. Dayton lies roughly 240 miles from Youngstown, on the far side of the state, which matters little when you train where you live.
Premier Health: a waiting list, with employees first
Premier Health runs Miami Valley Hospital in Dayton, with its North and South campuses, and Upper Valley Medical Center in Troy. Its student pages could not be read directly for this guide, so this summary follows its student page as indexed by search engines; check the live page before relying on it.
According to that indexed text, Premier's Student Graduate Clinical Placement Program helps APP students get clinical hours, current Premier employees receive priority, and a student without a preceptor can join a waiting list through the Clinical Placement Interest Form. Pediatrics, women's health and mental health are named as high-demand areas, women's health requests are not being accepted at this time, and information is due at least eight weeks before the rotation starts.
The women's health line matters to a YSU FNP student, since YSU recommends at least 75 women's health hours: plan to earn them outside Premier. Premier's eight weeks sit close to YSU's two-month preceptor deadline, so meeting YSU's date covers both.
Kettering Health: its own employees only
Kettering Health runs its Main Campus in Kettering, Kettering Health Dayton, Miamisburg, Greene Memorial in Xenia, Soin Medical Center in Beavercreek and Kettering Health Troy. According to its APP page as indexed (the site itself could not be read directly), high request volume means it currently takes APP clinical rotation applications only from Kettering Health employees and Kettering College PA students, through an employee login.
If you work for Kettering Health, that turns into an opening, inside YSU's limits: a unit other than your own, a preceptor who is not your immediate supervisor, and never hours while you are on the clock (practicums where you work). Everyone else should build the plan around other sites from the start.
Dayton Children's and the other hospitals
Dayton Children's Hospital publishes the region's clearest route. According to its nursing education page, you request a graduate nursing practicum through an online application, and placement depends on available preceptors and how many requests arrive each semester.
| Semester | Application due | Decision by |
|---|---|---|
| Spring (January to May) | October 31 | November 30 |
| Summer (May to August) | February 28 | Mid-April |
| Fall (August to December) | May 31 | Mid-July |
Set that beside YSU's calendar: a practicum opening January 4, 2027 needs preceptor details at YSU about two months before, and by our count a November 30 answer can arrive after that mark. Raise the timing with your clinical faculty and keep a backup pediatric site.
Mercy Health's Springfield Regional Medical Center and Urbana Hospital are landmarks only: this site's research found no NP student page from Mercy Health, so ask your clinical faculty how it takes NP students now. Wilson Memorial in Sidney, Wayne Hospital in Greenville and the Dayton VA Medical Center post no NP student pages.
Health centers and shortage designations
HRSA counts 88 active health center sites run by 8 organizations. Butler County Community Health Consortium runs 50, mostly in schools, across Montgomery and Preble counties, from Dayton and Englewood to Eaton and West Alexandria. Family Health Services of Darke County has 9 around Greenville, Arcanum and Versailles; Community Health Centers of Greater Dayton has 8, Five Rivers Health Centers 7 in Dayton and Xenia, and Rocking Horse Center 4 in Springfield.
Champaign County is a whole-county primary care shortage area, and the low-income populations of Clark and Darke are designated, Clark scoring 20, the region's highest. Montgomery, Greene and Miami have designations in part of the county. Preble and Shelby have no primary care designation, though both carry whole-county mental health designations.
Building five YSU practicums in the Miami Valley
YSU keeps FNP practicums NURS 7061 to NURS 7065 in primary care and suggests spreading them over at least 200 adult, 100 pediatric and 75 women's health hours (the FNP hour mix); AGACNP practicums NURS 7071 to NURS 7075 stay in acute care.
- Women's health: independent OB/GYN and family practices, since Premier is not taking these requests.
- Pediatric hours: Dayton Children's by application, plus pediatric and family practices; the consortium's school-based sites are another place to ask.
- Adult primary care: health centers and practices in Springfield, Urbana and Greenville, where shortage designations point to need.
- AGACNP: hospital medicine, ICU and emergency care at the Dayton and Springfield hospitals, Premier's waiting list, plus urgent care and standalone EDs, both on YSU's FAQ list of acute care settings.
The placement process shows how each preceptor moves from a yes to YSU approval, one 7-week practicum after another.
Why Miami Valley YSU students choose us
When the two big adult systems favor their own staff, the search has to go wider, and that is where we do our best work. Your placement advisor finds women's health, pediatric and adult primary care preceptors in independent practices and health centers from Dayton to Greenville and Sidney, and acute care preceptors in hospitalist and urgent care groups, checks each against YSU's rules and works to YSU's two-month deadline. Start your Miami Valley search.
Questions YSU students ask
Can a YSU student get a Premier Health placement without working there?
According to Premier's student page as indexed, a student without a preceptor can join its waiting list through the Clinical Placement Interest Form, but current employees receive priority and several specialties are in short supply. Treat Premier as one option among several and keep an independent or community preceptor lined up in parallel.
I work for Kettering Health. Can my YSU clinicals be there?
Kettering Health's page, as indexed, limits APP rotation applications to its employees and Kettering College PA students, so an employee can apply through its portal. YSU still requires a unit other than your own, a preceptor who is not your immediate supervisor, and clinical hours that never overlap paid time.
Where can I find women's health hours near Dayton?
Not at Premier for now: its indexed student page says women's health requests are not being accepted. Independent OB/GYN offices and family practices are the main alternatives, and community health centers such as Five Rivers or Community Health Centers of Greater Dayton are worth asking about women's health visits.
Are there preceptor options in Darke, Preble or Shelby counties?
Yes. Family Health Services of Darke County runs 9 sites around Greenville, Ansonia, Arcanum, New Madison and Versailles, and Butler County Community Health Consortium has sites in Eaton and West Alexandria in Preble County. Wayne Hospital in Greenville and Wilson Memorial in Sidney anchor those counties; independent family practices there are the next call.
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.
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- 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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