The UNCW clinical placement process, from first call to last logged hour
For UNCW's FNP, AGPCNP and PMHNP students, a clinical placement passes a series of checkpoints: a search that starts 6 to 12 months out, a preceptor you secure yourself, a packet filed well before the term, Graduate Clinical Coordinator approval, any affiliation agreement the site wants, compliance clearance, course orientation, Typhon logs and hours finished inside the semester. This page walks the whole route and points to the guide that owns each step.
Get your placement plan
Tell us your UNCW program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with the preceptor and site options that fit your UNCW course.
Who follows this route
This path belongs to the BSN-DNP Family NP, Adult-Gerontology Primary Care NP and Psychiatric Mental Health NP concentrations, whose practica need a preceptor at a clinical site. UNCW's DNP Immersion and Clinical Overview handbook (Fall 2025) lays out one process for all three, run through the Graduate Clinical Coordinator (GCC) and the Clinical Placement Team, with the PMHNP concentration leader also approving psychiatric placements.
Other UNCW programs travel a different road. In the Post APRN and Nurse Executive Leadership concentrations, students log immersion hours with no assigned preceptor, usually at their own workplace. Nurse educator students arrange a practicum that needs approval and a signed agreement at least 5 weeks before it begins, and BSN students receive clinical assignments from the school.
Settle one more thing early. The Fall 2025 curriculum change means two practicum sequences are live at once, for example NSGL 620–NSGL 622 for earlier FNP cohorts and NSGL 650–NSGL 653 for newer ones. The handbook for your cohort settles which sequence is yours, and the placement steps below apply either way.
Before the semester: search, secure, submit, approve
The first half of the route happens months before the practicum appears on your schedule. Each step comes from UNCW's clinical handbook and the placement process chart printed inside it.
- Begin the search 6 to 12 months aheadUNCW's chart opens with the student starting the preceptor and site search: local site inquiries first, then the resources in the Canvas overview course. For a full-time student whose first practicum lands in the spring of year two, that search runs alongside didactic courses.
- Secure a North Carolina site and preceptorThe search is the student's job, and every preceptor and site you name must fit the course objectives. NP clinical hours happen only in North Carolina. Finding your own preceptor covers the search, and the North Carolina rule covers the geography.
- Complete a Clinical Placement Packet for each preceptorEach packet bundles the preceptor's CV, informational cover pages and two acknowledgement forms, one for the partner site and one for the student placement, with pages signed by you and by the preceptor. See the preceptor details UNCW asks for.
- File early enough for both timing rulesThe handbook's text and its chart disagree: eight weeks ahead of the semester in one place, ninety days ahead of the course in the other. The submission deadline guide compares them; aim for the earlier one.
- Graduate Clinical Coordinator reviewThe chart shows the GCC reviewing a packet about a week after it arrives. Requests are answered in the order received, weighted by which semester starts first.
- DocuSign and site paperworkAfter approval, the form travels to the preceptor through DocuSign for a signature, the team starts any extra requirements the site sets, and every party receives an automated completed copy.
Agreements, compliance and the green light
Two things can hold an approved placement at the gate, each on its own timeline: a site contract and your own clearance.
- An affiliation agreement, when the site wants oneSome sites ask for a contract with UNCW before they host students. The CHHS Applied Learning Operations Coordinator manages these, and the handbook allows six weeks or longer, so read up on affiliation agreements before committing to a new site.
- Compliance in Castle Branch or CertiphiYour cohort uses one platform or the other for the background check, 12-panel urine drug test, immunizations, TB test, CPR, RN license and health insurance. New students finish by July 15, and the check and drug test renew every year. Clinical compliance lists each item.
- The cleared-to-begin emailThe chart has this arriving about a week before the rotation, or as soon as every requirement is complete. Before clearing you, the GCC also looks over your shot records, background screen and drug test results.
Once the course opens: orientation, Typhon, the finish line
- Orientation first, then patientsYou may start at the site only from the first day of course orientation and with GCC approval in hand. Hours from before both are in place can be disqualified.
- Log every encounter within 5 daysTyphon holds your patient encounters, hours and evaluations, and the handbook sets a 5-day window after each encounter. Typhon clinical logs explains what to record.
- Evaluations and a faculty visitClinical faculty arrange a site visit each semester, and your preceptor completes the Assessment of Clinical Performance by Preceptor before the semester closes, which you need for a course grade.
- Finish before the last day of classesEvery hour for the course is done before the last day of classes that semester. Travel, EMR training and site orientation are not clinical hours, and no hours accrue while campus is closed.
Hours worked before course orientation and GCC approval can be thrown out, even at a site that later gets approved.
Who handles which step
The Graduate Clinical Coordinator approves each student-named site and preceptor, signs off on a return to a preceptor you worked with before, and checks your compliance before you begin. The Graduate Clinical Coordinator guide sets out how that role relates to course faculty and advisors, and the Preceptor's Corner lists DNPClinicals@uncw.edu for clinical questions.
The Clinical Placement Team is the GCC working with the CHHS Applied Learning Operations team. It hands out site lists when asked, advertises open preceptor offers in Canvas, negotiates agreements, adds your site and preceptor to Typhon, sends site-specific paperwork and processes any honorarium a site charges, which you pay only through your UNCW student account.
Your part runs the whole way through: the search, the packet, the signatures, the compliance uploads and staying in touch with your preceptor until day one. Clinical faculty take over the visits and evaluations once you are in the site.
When the route bends
The handbook's own list of reasons includes a preceptor switching roles, a practice being acquired by another health group, life events and site orientation paperwork, which is why it tells students to keep in touch with preceptors right up to the rotation.
When a single office can host only some of your hours, UNCW lets you split a semester across sites, with a separate packet for each site or preceptor and no more than 4 preceptors in one course. If you still fall short and receive an incomplete, you finish within the time course faculty set, and program progression pauses until the grade clears.
The Clinical Placement Team can help when a site falls through, but a site it provides is one you are expected to accept, and declining can mean leaving the course. That trade-off is the main reason to have your own backup lined up before you ever need the team.
Why UNCW students hand this route to us
We are specialists in exactly this process. We search North Carolina for preceptors who fit your practicum course and your cohort's sequence, check each one against UNCW's credential rules, and gather everything the packet needs, from a current CV that names the site to the preceptor's license number, evaluation email and the agency's full address and county.
We work to the earlier of UNCW's two timing lines, flag sites that will need a new affiliation agreement, and keep a backup in view. The final approval belongs to UNCW's Graduate Clinical Coordinator; our job is making sure the file they open is complete and fits UNCW's rules the first time. Use the form below to start with your program, city and next practicum term.
Questions UNCW students ask
How long does the UNCW clinical placement process take from start to finish?
UNCW's chart starts the search 6 to 12 months before the deadline and course start. After that, the packet is due at least 8 weeks before the semester (the chart asks for 90 days before the course), GCC review takes about a week, and a new affiliation agreement can add six weeks or more. A full year of lead time is the comfortable version.
Can I begin clinical hours as soon as my preceptor agrees?
No. A preceptor's yes is only the start. Hours count only once the GCC has approved the placement, a step that checks your immunization, background and drug-screen records, and course orientation has opened. The handbook warns that earlier hours may be disqualified, so hold off until the cleared-to-begin message arrives.
Do I file a separate packet for each preceptor?
Yes. UNCW's handbook asks for a separate Clinical Placement Packet for each site and for each preceptor, even within one semester. A single course can use up to 4 preceptors, which helps when one office can host only part of your hours or covers only some of the populations the course needs.
Is the process different for Post APRN or Nurse Executive Leadership students?
Yes. Those concentrations log immersion hours with no assigned preceptor, usually at the student's own workplace. The student registers a DNP project site through the Project Site form in DocuSign, a site champion signs, and UNCW needs a signed Letter of Agreement with the employer or practice site. There is no NP preceptor packet to file.
Where are the Placement Packet Application Window dates published?
Only inside Canvas, in UNCW's DNP Immersion and Clinical Overview course. The dates are not on any public UNCW page, so check the course or ask the Graduate Clinical Coordinator each term. Packets for sites that charge an honorarium have to land inside it, since the payment takes time to process.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-24
We check these pages against UNCW's catalog, handbooks and School of Nursing pages. Your course, your cohort's handbook and UNCW's Graduate Clinical Coordinator have the final word.
UNCW asks you to find your own North Carolina preceptor. Let us run that search.
Tell us your UNCW program, your practicum course and where in North Carolina you can travel. We find preceptors who fit the course and prepare the CV, license and agency details UNCW's Graduate Clinical Coordinator reviews, well before the deadline.
- Preceptors matched to the course: primary care, pediatrics and women's health for
NSGL 650toNSGL 653, adult and older-adult care for AGPCNP, psychiatric care for PMHNP - Preceptor CV with dates and site, license number and agency details ready for your submission
- In Wilmington, the Cape Fear region or wherever in North Carolina your clinicals can happen
Start your placement plan
Your program, city and next practicum term is all we need to begin.