Precepting an Olivet Nazarene University nursing student
Olivet Nazarene University's online graduate nursing students are licensed RNs who find their own preceptors, so an invitation to precept usually comes from a student, or from us on a student's behalf. Olivet says little in public about preceptors beyond approving each one, and its faculty, not the preceptor, evaluate student outcomes. This page sets out what the role involves and how to join our network.
Join our preceptor network
Choose "I'm a preceptor" as your program, and a placement advisor follows up about your specialty, location and schedule.
Who the students are
Olivet's graduate nursing programs are taught online from its campus in Bourbonnais, Illinois, and the clinical hours happen in each student's own community. Every graduate student is admitted with a current, unencumbered RN license and signed consent to background and drug screening, and MSN students must reach 2,000 hours of RN practice by the end of NRSG 681, ahead of the FNP clinical sequence. They come to you with RN experience behind them.
Most students you would meet are in one of two groups. Family Nurse Practitioner students, in the MSN or the Post-Graduate APRN (FNP) certificate, need primary care preceptors. Nursing Education & Leadership students need preceptors in academic or leadership roles. RN-BSN students have shorter practicums, including hospice hours spent with a hospice nurse.
What each course asks of your practice
Each Olivet clinical course is built around one patient population or role, so a match starts with what your practice sees every day.
| Course | Focus | Hours |
|---|---|---|
NRSG 636C | Adult and older adult primary care | 240 |
NRSG 637C | Women's health primary care | 135 |
NRSG 638C | Pediatric primary care | 135 |
NRSG 639C | Primary care across the lifespan | 240 |
NRSG 604 | Population health, MSN-NEL | 30 direct clinical |
NRSG 620 | Nursing education and leadership practicum | 120, over 8 weeks |
NRSG 364 | RN-BSN palliative and end-of-life care, with a hospice nurse | 15 |
Continuing FNP students in Olivet's current curriculum take six clinicals, NRSG 665A to NRSG 665F, of 120 to 125 hours each. A family practice that sees every age may suit several courses; a pediatric or women's health practice suits one.
What Olivet publishes about preceptors
For its graduate tracks, Olivet's public pages say one thing about preceptors: the student selects them and Olivet approves them. Detailed criteria sit in the student's Student Clinical or Practicum Requirements Course in Canvas, which is not public, so your student can show you what it asks. The preceptor requirements page gathers what is known for each program.
On evaluation, Olivet's MSN handbook says faculty may ask preceptors for input, while faculty are responsible for evaluating student outcomes. Students document their work in Project Concert, which tracks competencies and, for FNP students, clinical encounters.
The older RN-BSN handbook is more specific: the preceptor is an RN with an unencumbered license and a BSN or higher, and for the leadership course, NRSG 467, someone who holds or has held a leadership or management role. Olivet's pages do not describe anything preceptors receive for their time, so raise any expectation with the student and Olivet's School of Nursing before you agree.
How students arrive at your door
An Olivet graduate student should reach your site with the compliance list finished: a background check, a drug screen cleared two to four weeks before the practicum with THC included, an annual TB result, positive titers for MMR, varicella and hepatitis B, Tdap within ten years, a yearly flu shot, an in-person AHA BLS card, personal health insurance and the unencumbered RN license. Your site may ask for more, and Olivet's handbook expects students to meet those extra items.
FNP students carry malpractice coverage when a site requires it, and Olivet's fee sheet lists student professional liability insurance for clinical settings. If your organization onboards students through MyClinicalExchange, the student registers there before the first day. Olivet also requires a student whose RN license becomes encumbered to tell the SON Clinical Coordinator, who informs the practicum site.
Precepting in Illinois
Illinois APRNs practice under a written collaborative agreement unless an exception applies. IDFPR's sheet lists hospitals, federally qualified health centers and ambulatory surgical treatment centers, while the rule text names hospitals, hospital affiliates and ambulatory surgical treatment centers. After 4,000 clinical hours as a licensed APRN and 250 hours of continuing education in the specialty, an APRN can apply for full practice authority.
Full practice authority is spreading fast: FPA-APRN licenses rose from 3,144 in June 2024 to 4,756 by December 2025, alongside 17,087 active certified nurse practitioners in October 2025. The state's preceptor rule, 68 IAC 1300.340, is written for pre-licensure RN programs, so for an Olivet graduate student the criteria that apply are Olivet's approval and your site's own policies. More on Illinois APRN practice and preceptors.
Join our preceptor network
We connect Olivet students with preceptors whose practice fits their course, in the student's own area. Joining means telling us once what you teach best, when you can take a student and for how many weeks; from then on we bring you students whose course and schedule match.
Before any introduction, we check the student's course number, hours and dates against your availability, and we prepare the details Olivet's approval asks for so your share of the paperwork stays short. Olivet approves every preceptor, and its faculty evaluate the student. To join, use the form on this page and choose "I'm a preceptor (not a student)" as the program, or send your specialty, city, state and availability through the contact page.
Questions Olivet students ask
Does Olivet pay preceptors or give CE hours?
Olivet's public pages and handbooks do not describe what preceptors receive. If recognition or continuing education documentation matters to you, ask the student to raise it with Olivet's School of Nursing before you agree, so the answer comes straight from Olivet.
How many hours a week would an Olivet student need with me?
It depends on the course. Olivet's online courses run eight weeks, and spread evenly the 120-hour NEL practicum is about 15 hours a week. FNP clinicals carry 135 or 240 hours in the new curriculum; Olivet does not publish their length in weeks, so the student's syllabus dates set the pace.
Will I have to grade the student?
Olivet's MSN handbook says faculty may ask preceptors for input, but faculty are responsible for evaluating student outcomes. Expect questions about what you observed, while the grading decision stays with the course faculty. The student records encounters and competencies in Project Concert as the course goes.
Can I precept an Olivet FNP student if I practice outside Illinois?
Yes, if your state is on Olivet's approved list for FNP hours, which covers 37 states plus the District of Columbia. Olivet does not permit FNP hours in its 13 Not Approved states, whatever state the student lives in, and some states add their own preceptor rules. The licensure disclosures page has both lists.
Does my practice need an agreement with Olivet?
Olivet's graduate pages do not describe affiliation agreements for FNP or NEL sites. The pre-August 2026 RN-BSN handbook asks for an Agency Affiliation Agreement when needed, sent with original signatures. Ask the student to confirm what Olivet's approval requires; larger health systems often set agreement rules of their own.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-25
We check these pages against Olivet's own handbooks, program pages, fee sheet and licensure disclosures. Your handbook version, your Canvas clinical requirements course, your faculty and the SON Clinical Coordinator have the final word.
Olivet asks you to start with your own network. We make the search the easy part of your program.
Tell us your Olivet track, where you live and when your next clinical course starts. We find preceptors whose patients fit the course, inside Olivet's approved states, and prepare everything Olivet's approval and the site's onboarding need.
- Preceptors matched to the course: adults and older adults for
NRSG 636C, women's health forNRSG 637C, children forNRSG 638C, education and leadership forNRSG 620 - Credentials, license and site details ready before your clinical course opens, with the drug screen timing on your calendar
- In your own community, in Illinois or any state Olivet approves for your clinicals
Start your placement plan
Track, city and start date is all we need to begin.