The MRU clinical placement process, from preceptor search to final signature

The ten stages at a glance

1. Meet the admission conditionEvery NP applicant must be eligible to meet externship and preceptorship requirements. PMHNP and AGACNP applicants also attend a programmatic orientation, interview, and show liability insurance before the first clinical.
2. Find a preceptor, or take MRU's appointmentThe catalog requires NP students to secure their own preceptor. A student who does not is appointed one by MRU for the one-time Practicum Affiliation Fee.
3. Get the preceptor approvedApproval has to come before the preceptorship starts. Who approves depends on your program.
4. Credential verificationMRU lists a Practicum Credentialing Fee for verifying preceptor credentials. The documents it checks are not public.
5. Clinical clearanceAmerican Data Bank handles the background check, drug screen, medical documents and clinical document clearance. A Level II check with fingerprints is listed separately.
6. Health recordsImmunization proof must come from a Florida-licensed provider, and a flu shot is required every year.
7. Liability insuranceMRU needs proof of an individual policy 15 or more days before your externship begins; without it, the course can come off your schedule.
8. RegisterYou can register yourself on the MRU PORTAL from 20 days before the semester until its add/drop deadline.
9. Log as you goHours, logs, case lists and documentation must be complete by the course's last day.
10. Collect three signaturesThe end-of-course evaluation is signed by your preceptor, your clinical instructor and you, also by the last day.

Stages 5 to 7: your own clearance and insurance

Your clearance can run alongside the preceptor search, and unlike the search it is entirely in your hands. Start it as soon as you know which semester holds your first clinical course.

What MRU lists for NP students

• American Data Bank: background check, medical document manager, drug screening and clinical document clearances (the PMHNP fee table says American Data Bank or CastleBranch)
• A Level II background check with fingerprints, listed for the MSN-FNP, AGACNP, PMHNP and the DNP
• Zero-tolerance drug screening, with initial, repeat and random tests
• Proof of immunization from a Florida-licensed healthcare provider, plus a flu shot every year
• MRU Health, the third-floor campus clinic, which reviews the site items: TB, flu, hepatitis B, MMR, varicella and Tdap records, titers, CPR, a physical and a drug screen
• An individual liability policy, through MRU's clinical department or your own insurer
• For AGACNP only: current ACLS and BLS at admission

Pending charges and any other background change go to the Office of Academic Affairs, in writing, inside 24 hours. The American Data Bank guide covers the clearance itself.

Where the path differs: DNP, RN-to-BSN and on-campus programs

The 39-credit leadership DNP, which replaced the 60-credit version from Fall 2026, uses 765 indirect practice hours tracked in myevaluation.com. Each DNP student gets a project team mentor chosen by the program director, while the 2025 catalog left approval of practicum hours, projects, preceptors and mentors to program faculty. A third-party IRB must approve the project before it is implemented. No MRU source says who finds the practicum site.

RN-to-BSN students complete 135 clinical hours across NUR4269, NUR4679 and NUR4689, 45 in each, under indirect supervision in a preceptorship model. MRU does not say who secures that preceptor, so ask your program chair before the first of those courses.

ASN, BSN and MSN Direct Entry students train on campus and do clinicals at contracted externship agencies. The Office of the Registrar coordinates those sections, shifts can fall on any day or at any hour, and if an agency changes sites MRU can adjust your schedule without notice.