Who can precept you at UNCW, track by track

Approval to Practice and North Carolina's own definition

In North Carolina, an RN license by itself does not let a nurse practitioner work as an NP. Approval to Practice is the authorization from the joint Board of Nursing and Medical Board subcommittee to practice "within her or his area of educational preparation and certification under a collaborative practice agreement with a physician." It renews every year by the end of the NP's birth month, so a lapsed approval is worth checking before you submit a name.

The state's nursing rules also define a preceptor, in 21 NCAC 36 .0120, as "a registered nurse at or above the level of licensure that an assigned student is seeking." North Carolina sets no separate license list for people who precept NP students, and the Medical Board has published no position on physicians doing it. UNCW's track pages fill that gap, which is why physicians and PAs appear on them. The North Carolina NP practice guide explains the collaborative model.

AGPCNP: at least one NP and frail older adults

Adult-Gerontology Primary Care preceptors may be NPs, physicians or PAs in North Carolina, and the AGPCNP page states that "At least one preceptor must be a NP during the program." Every patient is 13 or older. Ideal settings in the handbook's list run from internal medicine and family medicine to geriatric practices, urgent care and long-term care; women's health counts, maternity does not.

The frail-elderly requirement shapes who you need. UNCW's encounter table asks for 60 frail-elderly encounters, while the AGPCNP plan of study words the same minimum as 60 hours spread over the four practica, NSGL 660 to NSGL 663. Your syllabus settles which one applies to you. Either way, at least one preceptor should see frail older adults often, which points toward geriatric and long-term care practices.

The rule that rules out good candidates

The same handbook tells you to ask family, friends and your own primary care provider for leads, and the DNP FAQ suggests staying with relatives near a distant site. Those are paths to a preceptor, not the preceptor. An aunt who is an FNP can introduce you to a colleague down the hall; she cannot sign your Partner Site Acknowledgment Form.

Every preceptor also has to suit the course in front of you. Credentials get a name onto the list; the course objectives decide whether that name works this semester. A well-qualified NP whose patients miss your course's population is still the wrong fit for it. If a relationship or a setting leaves you unsure, raise it with the Graduate Clinical Coordinator before you submit, not after.

How we match preceptors to UNCW's rules

UNCW students choose us because we check every candidate against their own track's list before a name goes anywhere: license type, Approval to Practice status, board certification, years as a provider, the patient population and, for PMHNP, the one-student-per-day limit. You get a preceptor who fits the course you are actually taking.

We also look ahead. An FNP plan needs pediatric and women's health coverage in later courses, and an AGPCNP plan needs an NP somewhere in the sequence, so we line up preceptors who cover what the whole program asks, not only the next semester.

The final say on every preceptor belongs to UNCW's Graduate Clinical Coordinator. Our part is making sure each candidate you send already meets your track's list, so the review confirms rather than corrects. Read how it works, then tell us your track and course.