Precepting an Indiana Wesleyan nursing student
Indiana Wesleyan University nursing students arrange their own preceptors, and IWU vets and approves each one before any hours count. If you have been asked to precept, this page explains who the student is, what IWU checks, what faculty do during the course, and how our placement desk handles the paperwork around you.
Offer to precept an IWU student
Share your specialty, practice setting and city. A placement advisor replies with IWU students whose course fits your practice.
Who your student will be
Most IWU students who need a preceptor are experienced registered nurses in IWU National & Global's online programs. Nurse practitioner applicants need at least 500 hours of RN direct patient care in the year before admission, and every student must hold an active, unencumbered RN license in the state where your practice sits.
Before any patient contact, IWU requires its APRN students to complete a second criminal background check, a drug screen, health clearance and immunizations, all at their own expense. The catalog adds that, on request, the university may share a student's background check, health, immunization and drug-screen records with a clinical site, and that random or for-cause drug testing can happen at any time.
Students come from the MSN Family Nurse Practitioner and Psychiatric-Mental Health NP tracks, the post-graduate certificates, the BSN-to-DNP, and the leadership and education MSNs.
IWU approves you before the first hour
Every site and preceptor must be vetted and approved by IWU, which names its School of Nursing as the approving body. Approval comes before the student's hours with you begin, so expect a request for your details well ahead of the start date.
IWU's preceptor credential rules sit in its NP Clinical Guidelines, which go to enrolled students rather than onto a public page. Expect the student, or our team on the student's behalf, to request your license details, credentials and information about your practice setting. We gather it once, check it against the course, and keep it ready for the student's submission. See preceptor requirements for what IWU does publish, and how IWU approves preceptors for the review.
What each course asks of you
IWU describes each clinical course by its focus. The student's syllabus gives the weekly detail; this table shows the published outline.
| Course | Focus | Hours |
|---|---|---|
PYC-660 Advanced Health Assessment | Comprehensive assessment, differential diagnosis, ordering tests | Not published |
PYC-670 Foundations for Primary Care Practice | Health promotion and diagnostic reasoning in family primary care | Not published |
PYC-681 to PYC-683 Primary Care Across the Lifespan I to III | Acute and chronic disease across the lifespan | Not published |
PMHN-628 Foundations for PMHNP Practice | Interviewing, documentation and therapeutic communication | 150 |
PMHN-630, PMHN-640, PMHN-650 | Individual therapy; family and group therapy; diverse clients with multiple conditions | 175 each |
NRE-664 Concepts of Leadership for Nurse Educators | A clinical nursing practice area with a master's-prepared preceptor | 35 |
For FNP courses, IWU steers most hours to primary care and outpatient settings across the lifespan, such as pediatrics, internal medicine, family practice and women's health, with some specialty hours possibly allowed. The PMHNP course guide covers the psychiatric sequence in more depth.
Faculty visits, evaluations and logs
IWU faculty stay involved while the student is with you. In each FNP clinical course, faculty visit sites and run evaluations that look at the student's progress and at how well the preceptor and site are working. Expect contact from the course faculty and set aside a short window for a visit; our page on faculty site visits explains what to expect.
FNP students track patient encounters as well as hours. IWU's MSN FNP requires at least 800 encounters over the program, including 350 adult encounters with 40 in women's health, and 150 pediatric. If your practice sees children or women's health patients, the student will be keen to log them; see patient encounters.
Accuracy matters for your sign-off. IWU dismisses a student who falsifies clinical or practicum hours, so confirm only the time and encounters you supervised.
What our placement desk handles for you
Precepting takes time you already give to patients. We keep the administrative side short and predictable.
- One request for your credentials, license and site details, checked against the course before the student submits.
- A clear outline of the course, the student's dates and IWU's evaluation touchpoints.
- Scheduling coordination with the student around your clinic days.
- A single contact at the placement desk for questions while the course runs.
To offer your time, choose "I'm a preceptor" in the form and tell us your specialty, setting and city. Clinicians in Indiana can also read how Indiana's APRN rules bear on precepting.
Questions IWU students ask
Do I need an Indiana license to precept an IWU student?
Not because IWU is in Indiana. Research into Indiana law turned up no rule requiring an NP student's preceptor to hold an Indiana license, and IWU students train in their own communities across many states. You practice under your own state's license, the student needs an active RN license in your state, and IWU's credential rules are in its NP Clinical Guidelines.
How many hours will the student spend with me?
It depends on the course. IWU's PMHNP course pages list hours, such as 150 for PMHN-628 and 175 for each Psychotherapeutic Modalities course. FNP per-course hours are not published: the student's syllabus sets them, within the 850 practicum hours the catalog gives for the MSN FNP. The student shares the schedule before approval.
What does IWU need from me before the student starts?
IWU vets and approves every preceptor and site before hours begin, using criteria in its NP Clinical Guidelines. Expect requests for your license, credentials and practice details, plus information about the site. Our team collects these once and prepares them for the student's submission, so you are asked a single time.
Will IWU faculty visit my practice?
In FNP clinical courses, yes. IWU says faculty make site visits and evaluations in each clinical course, assessing both the student and how the preceptor and site are working, so expect the course faculty to be in touch. For other tracks, the course faculty will explain how they evaluate the placement.
Can I precept a PMHNP student if my practice is mostly medication management?
Talk it through with the student and their faculty. IWU's PMHNP sequence moves into psychotherapy: PMHN-630 covers individual patients, PMHN-640 family and group therapy, and PMHN-650 diverse clients with multiple conditions. A practice with some therapy exposure fits those courses best, while assessment-focused PMHN-652 suits a wider range of settings.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-24
We check these pages against IWU's own catalog and program pages. IWU's NP Clinical Guidelines, your syllabus and your program faculty have the final word.
IWU says you secure the site and preceptor. We make that the easy part.
Tell us your IWU program, your community and when your next practicum course starts. We find preceptors who fit the course and prepare everything IWU vets before it approves them.
- Preceptors matched to the course: primary care across the lifespan for the
PYCcourses, psychiatric care for PMHNP, leaders for HSL - Credentials, license and site details ready for IWU's review and Medatrax
- In your own community, in Indiana or wherever you live and hold your RN license
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