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Clinical Placement and Preceptor Approval and Evaluation Process Guide

School of Nursing
California State University, Fullerton

Purpose: To assure all clinical placements and assigned preceptors meet the School of Nursing standards and criteria.

Step 1: Clinical Affiliation Agreements (Contracts)

An executed Clinical Affiliation agreement including preceptorship agreements between CSUF School of Nursing and the clinical agency/preceptor is required for ALL nursing student clinical learning experiences. If the student will be accompanying a preceptor to clinical sites other than the contracted agency, the student and faculty must include these sites.

Notification of Executed Clinical Affiliation Agreement. The Clinical Placement Team will notify the program coordinator when an executed Clinical Affiliation Agreement has been signed by all parties and received. Also, if any problems arise during negotiation of the Clinical Affiliation Agreement, the Clinical Placement Team will discuss these issues with the program coordinator.

Step 2: Clinical Agency Requirements for Clinical/Preceptorships

The student may begin the clinical/preceptorship practicum when all agency and student requirements are met:

  • Executed Clinical Affiliation agreement for all sites student will rotate with preceptor.
  • Practicum/Preceptorship Application is on file and submitted by the deadline.
  • CSUF SON Clinical Course registration: Student must be registered for the specific clinical course that semester/term.
  • The student must also be 100% compliant with all CSUF and SON Core requirements in order to begin their clinical practicum which includes but is not limited to the following: RN license, immunizations, health records, titers, CPR training, (HIPAA) training, evidence of health insurance, criminal background check.
  • Completed Agency specific requirements may include, but are not limited to, site training, orientation, drug screen, confidentiality statement, copy of required immunizations, criminal background check, and live scan.

**Students need to keep a copy of all documents and keep all documents and trainings current at all times for the duration of the program.

Step 3: Identifying a Clinical Preceptor/Agency

Placement Opportunities
Students in the specialty year should discuss clinical/preceptorship placement opportunities with the clinical course faculty coordinator or advisor and submit a Practicum Application by the established deadline. The Clinical Placement Team reviews the applications to determine the student placement needs (i.e. number of preceptors needed, specific preceptor specialties needed, etc.) After reviewing the application data, the team follows procedures determined by partnering agencies and consortiums to request preceptors through the academic liaison/coordinator at facilities. Students have the option to request/suggest placement with a specific preceptor and the Clinical Placement Team works with the corresponding facility academic liaison/coordinator to discuss the availability of the preceptor.

Local Placements
Securing/recruiting clinical preceptors and agencies is an ongoing process. These clinical agreements are coordinated through the Clinical Placement Team in order to provide clinical experiences for a variety of learning opportunities and promote attainment of course objectives. Students are not allowed to contact any clinical preceptors for placement with the exception of Master students who can suggest a preceptor on their online Clinical Practicum Application.

Distance Placements
Distance students having clinical learning experiences outside the area will need to help find their own preceptors who will meet the course objectives and clinical hours. Once you have found a preceptor who has agreed to take you as a student; please forward all the pertinent information to the Clinical Placement Team. All clinical preceptors must be approved by the Clinical Placement Team and Program Coordinators to ensure that the preceptor meets the clinical objectives, and required hours, etc. We then secure an Affiliation Agreement through our Contracts and Procurement and Risk Management Departments.

Preceptee/ Clinical Profile
The Program Coordinator, Program Advisor and Clinical Placement Team collaborate to ensure that all eligible students submit the online Clinical/Practicum Application and discuss the following:

  • number of expected student enrollment in clinical/preceptorship course
  • dates of clinical/preceptorship experience – both start and stop dates
  • required clinical/preceptorship hours
  • clinical/preceptorship objectives
  • type of clinical/preceptorship experiences required to meet the student’s learning objectives.

Use of Current Clinical Affiliation Agreements
The Clinical Placement Team encourages the continued use of quality preceptors/agencies with current, active clinical affiliation agreements. The Clinical Placement Team and Program Coordinators gather information and evaluations of previously utilized preceptors, preceptor/agency patient population, faculty site visit and student evaluation results for future placements whether on paper or online. Please note that negotiations to secure affiliation agreements can take up to a year.

New Preceptors
When a new preceptor has agreed to accept a student for a clinical/preceptorship learning experience, the Clinical Placement Team and/or Program Coordinator conducts a phone/email interview and/or site visit to discuss the following information with the preceptor:

  • student and course objectives
  • preceptor expectations
  • evaluation process
  • description of clinical/preceptorship agency
  • preceptor’s credentials including submittal of a current CV or Résumé to be kept on file for accreditation purposes
  • other information as requested by the preceptor or necessary to the preceptor and/or faculty member including but not limited to required accreditation information.

Ongoing Approval of Preceptors
Student evaluation of preceptors are submitted electronically to the Clinical Placement Team; any student concerns about preceptors or below average evaluations are brought to the attention of the Program Coordinator. Only preceptors with at least average scores on student evaluations will be used for future placements.