Finding a preceptor who fits your UTRGV course
Begin with the course, then UTRGV's approved list, then the wider Valley. Most Rio Grande Valley hospitals publish no route for outside NP students, so the likeliest yes comes from an independent practice or a community health center. Here is where willing preceptors are, what each system says in its own words, and how our search works.
Get your placement plan
Tell us your UTRGV program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with preceptor and site options in your community that fit your UTRGV course.
Start from what the course needs
Approval is course by course, which means a clinician who suits NURS 6305 may be the wrong pick for NURS 6347. UTRGV's syllabi name who may precept, and the catalog describes each course's patients. Check this table before you contact anyone.
| Course | Hours | Who may precept | What the site should offer |
|---|---|---|---|
NURS 6305 Advanced Health Assessment | 45 | NP, PA or MD/DO | Direct patient care in a primary care clinic |
NURS 6310 Health Promotion | 45 (2022 syllabus) | NP, PA or MD/DO | Mostly healthy children and adults, pregnant women included |
NURS 6311 Rural Health | 45 (2023 syllabus) | NP, PA or MD/DO | Primary care in a rural setting |
NURS 6347 Role Development | 45 | Two master's-prepared NPs, one student each | Two different approved sites |
NURS 6612 FNP I | 224 | NP, PA or MD/DO | Children and adults, 16 hours a week |
NURS 6613 FNP II | 336 | NP, PA or MD/DO | Primary care, 24 hours a week |
NURS 6476, NURS 6620 (PMHNP) | 220, 300 | ABPN psychiatrist over a year past residency, or ANCC-certified PMHNP | Psychiatric care across ages, not your workplace |
| DNP project courses | 100 logged in NURS 8211 | Physician and/or DNP-prepared APRN | Your approved project site |
Schedules matter as much as credentials. The two FNP courses each run as two 7-week rotations at a fixed weekly load, and hours logged for one course cannot also count toward another you are taking that term. Full credential rules sit on preceptor requirements.
Who does the arranging, in UTRGV's own sources
For the FNP courses, the Spring 2026 NURS 6305 syllabus assigns the task to students: each one secures a preceptor and site, working from UTRGV's roster of approved preceptors and affiliated clinics in Brightspace (D2L). A clinic missing from the roster goes through the Clinical Request Form so UTRGV can sign an affiliation agreement with it. The older student guide for 2023-24, which now survives only in archived copies, described preceptor recruiting as shared between faculty and student.
For the PMHNP certificate, the live flyer from June 2025 promises placement assistance for preceptors but never says what that covers, while the graduate FAQ, removed and archived in May 2025, said students secure a site in their home state for approval by UTRGV clinical advisors; PMHNP placement assistance sets out both. DNP sources name no finder. In every case our work is the same: a clinician who has said yes, fits the course and clears UTRGV's checks.
Where Valley preceptors tend to say yes
Outpatient practices are the core of a Valley search. Independent family, pediatric and internal medicine offices decide for themselves whether to teach, and a family practice seeing children and adults can carry a whole FNP course.
Community health centers come next. HRSA's site file lists Nuestra Clínica del Valle, which says it serves Hidalgo and Starr counties from 11 locations, from San Juan and Edinburg to Rio Grande City and Roma; Su Clínica in Harlingen, Brownsville, Santa Rosa and Raymondville; and Brownsville Community Health Clinic Corporation in Brownsville and Laguna Vista. None posts a student rotation page, so the approach runs through a clinician or clinic leader.
UT Health RGV, the clinical practice of the UTRGV School of Medicine, has clinics from Edinburg to Brownsville. UTRGV's AHEC page says School of Nursing AHEC scholars train through it at centers in Rio Grande City, Brownsville and San Carlos; nothing is published for students outside that program, so check with your course faculty first.
For NURS 6311, Starr County is the rural anchor: a nonmetro county that HRSA rates as a high-needs area for primary care, with Starr County Memorial running rural health clinics in Rio Grande City and Roma, according to an archived copy of its site. PMHNP students here should start early: Hidalgo, Cameron and Willacy are county-wide mental health shortage areas, and DSHS counted 87 APRNs per 100,000 residents in border counties in 2023, against 118 elsewhere in Texas.
What health systems say about outside NP students
Hospitals seldom supply a preceptor. Each system with a published rule expects the school's agreement to be signed before anything else, and several want the preceptor lined up before a request comes in.
| System | What its own pages say | Source |
|---|---|---|
| DHR Health, Edinburg and Brownsville | Rotations are limited to affiliate and partner schools; DHR "does not assign preceptors". The school's coordinator secures one and sends the request. | Student Affairs page, live |
| Valley Baptist, Harlingen, Brownsville, Weslaco | Online orientation for school clinical groups, documents due two weeks before clinicals. Nothing on NP preceptors. | Archived copy, September 2025 |
| Driscoll Children's Hospital Rio Grande Valley, Edinburg | Opened May 24, 2024. Placements run through myClinicalExchange, starting with the school coordinator. | Driscoll page, live |
| CHRISTUS Health | A signed affiliation agreement first. Santa Rosa in San Antonio wants a preceptor already secured; Trinity Mother Frances discourages cold calls. CHRISTUS Spohn has no request page. | CHRISTUS pages, live |
| University Health, San Antonio | Its education-partner list includes "University of Texas Rio Grande Valley". New agreements go only to not-for-profit Texas schools placing more than one student. | Affiliation page, live |
| South Texas Health System, Cornerstone, Rio Grande Regional, Valley Regional, Mission Regional, Knapp, Harlingen Medical Center, Starr County Memorial | Nothing on NP or nursing students; the sites cover residencies, careers and patient services. | Live pages and archived copies |
A hospital that publishes nothing is not a closed door: the route runs through one clinician who agrees to teach, then UTRGV's agreement steps. The Hidalgo County guide takes each Valley hospital in turn.
The approved list first, a new site when it earns the wait
A site on UTRGV's approved list already holds an affiliation agreement, so what remains is the preceptor's paperwork and faculty clearance. That makes it the quickest path for the 45-hour courses and for a mid-term replacement; the approved preceptor list explains how to work it.
A new site needs the Clinical Request Form and an agreement, and UTRGV's PMHNP guidance sets aside 30 to 90 days for that step, assuming the paperwork arrives complete and correct. The wait pays off when:
- The preceptor has committed to the whole course, above all the 224 hours of
NURS 6612or the 336 ofNURS 6613. - The clinic is near home or work, so 16 or 24 hours a week stays realistic through both rotations.
- Your first clinical day is at least 90 days away, the long end of UTRGV's stated range.
- The practice can host you again next term under the same agreement.
A hospital switchboard is the wrong first call. DHR Health says it does not assign preceptors, CHRISTUS Trinity Mother Frances discourages cold calls, and most Valley hospitals publish no student route. Secure the clinician first; the agreement follows.
How our search works
We treat each request as a matching job for one course and one term, started early enough that a new site still fits the agreement window. UTRGV students choose us because the search follows UTRGV's own steps, from the approved list to the weekly time report.
- You tell us the course and termCourse number, first clinical date, your town, your driving range and any approved-list sites you have tried.
- We shortlist by fitCredential, patient mix and weekly capacity first: two master's-prepared NPs for
NURS 6347, an ABPN or ANCC credential for PMHNP, 24 hours a week forNURS 6613. - We confirm a real yesYour placement advisor settles dates, hours and evaluations with the preceptor and confirms a clean, current license, which the Texas qualified-preceptor rule requires.
- We assemble the paperworkPreceptor details for the Clinical Request Form and Typhon data sheet, the preceptor agreement, and a schedule that fits your Mandatory Weekly Time Report.
- Faculty approve, and we stay with youYour course faculty clear the site before hours start. Should your preceptor pull out, your placement advisor starts lining up a substitute immediately.
How it works covers timing; the request form is where to start.
Questions UTRGV students ask
Can a physician assistant precept me in UTRGV's FNP courses?
Yes, in most of them. The NURS 6612 and NURS 6613 syllabi list physician assistants beside NPs and MDs/DOs as qualified, approved preceptors. The exception is NURS 6347, where both preceptors must be nurse practitioners with a master's, each at a separate site. The PMHNP courses accept only psychiatrists and PMHNPs holding the board certification UTRGV names.
Can I complete clinical hours at the clinic where I work?
For the PMHNP certificate, no: the archived graduate FAQ says the practicum cannot take place at your place of work. For the FNP courses, the UTRGV sources we reviewed state no rule either way, so ask your course coordinator before planning around an employer. If the answer is no, we can look for a site close to your job.
When should my NURS 6612 preceptor search begin?
Our rule of thumb: for a site new to UTRGV, have a committed preceptor more than 90 days before your first clinical day, since UTRGV's guidelines put new agreements at 30 to 90 days. An approved-list site needs less lead time, though the signed preceptor agreement is still due before hours begin.
Does DHR Health take UTRGV nurse practitioner students?
DHR Health's Student Affairs page limits rotations to schools it counts as affiliates or partners and states that it does not assign preceptors; it publishes no list of those schools. Ask your course faculty whether an agreement covering UTRGV NP students is in place. DHR's residency partnership with the UTRGV School of Medicine is physician training, not nursing.
My preceptor dropped out mid-course. What now?
Inform your coordinator and clinical faculty the same day, since only hours with an approved preceptor and site will count. Make sure every hour completed so far is logged with the preceptor's weekly signature, which the NURS 6612 log rules require. We then hunt for a substitute suited to that course, trying clinics with UTRGV agreements first.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-27
We check these pages against UTRGV's own catalog, course syllabi, School of Nursing pages and Texas Board of Nursing rules. Your course faculty and the School of Nursing have the final word.
From the approved list or a brand-new site, we find the preceptor who fits.
Tell us your UTRGV program, where you live and when your next clinical course starts. We line up a willing preceptor who fits the course and UTRGV's rules, and hand you the details the Clinical Request Form, the affiliation agreement and the preceptor agreement ask for, well before the semester.
- Family practice preceptors for
NURS 6612andNURS 6613, and two NP sites forNURS 6347 - Board-certified psychiatric preceptors for
NURS 6476andNURS 6620, in your home state - Across the Valley and Texas, from McAllen and Brownsville to San Antonio, Houston and beyond
- A replacement lined up fast if a preceptor drops
Start your placement plan
Program, city and start date is all we need to begin.