Doing UT Tyler clinicals where you work
Often you can, but not with your boss, not with family and never on paid time. UT Tyler's FNP and PMHNP syllabi draw different lines, the administration guide adds its own, and your employer still needs the same agreements and approvals as any other site. Here is each rule by track and what it means in a real hospital or clinic.
Working full time? Plan clinicals around it
Share your track, employer type and days off, and your placement advisor finds a site that fits UT Tyler's workplace rules.
The short answer by UT Tyler track
The School of Nursing's home page invites students to complete clinical experiences "at your workplace", and each track's course documents then set the terms. They are strictest when your employer is small and when the person teaching you is also the person managing you.
| Track | What UT Tyler rules out | Source |
|---|---|---|
| FNP (MSN and certificate) | Your supervisor, anyone in your direct line of report, or a relative; small physician- or NP-owned clinics where you work will likely not do | NURS 5349, Fall 2026 |
| PMHNP (MSN and certificate) | A relative, your employer or your direct supervisor; your own health system only on a different unit, manager and preceptor, outside job duties | NURS 5373, Fall 2026 |
| Administration and MSN/MBA | A preceptor responsible for your employee evaluation; facility educators discouraged | Administration guide, 2022 |
| Post-master's DNP | Any hours, even at your own workplace, before a fully executed affiliation agreement | NURS 7317, Fall 2026 |
| AGACNP, Education, IQS | No separate workplace rule in UT Tyler's public documents; faculty and the Clinical Coordinator clear every site | Your course syllabus |
FNP students: supervisors, relatives and small clinics
The Fall 2026 NURS 5349 syllabus bars rotating with your supervisor, with anyone in your direct line of report, or with a relative. In a large multi-site group that still leaves room: an NP at a different clinic of the same group, with no reporting tie to you, can be proposed for faculty approval.
Small practices are the hard case. The syllabus expects students employed at smaller facilities, such as physician- or NP-owned clinics, to rotate elsewhere, because in a two-provider office nearly everyone is your boss or your boss's partner. If that describes your job, plan a second site from the first semester rather than the week before a course starts.
Patient mix still decides fit. An adult-focused employer cannot supply the children NURS 5453 is built around, so even an approved workplace site usually covers some FNP courses, not the whole sequence through the internships.
PMHNP students: four conditions inside your own system
PMHNP syllabi are the most detailed. Clinicals with a relative, your employer or your direct supervisor are out. Read that line together with the next sentence of the syllabus, which allows clinicals inside the health system that employs you when all four of these hold:
- a unit or service line other than the one you work on
- a different manager
- a different approved preceptor
- hours outside your employment responsibilities
An inpatient psychiatric nurse at a large system could therefore rotate in that system's outpatient psychiatry clinic under a PMHNP there, on days off, reporting to a separate manager. A nurse at a single-site private practice is unlikely to meet all four.
The same syllabi limit any one preceptor to two rotations and require at least 125 inpatient hours across the program, so a workplace site earns its keep when it supplies the inpatient hours that are hardest to find. The PMHNP practicums page covers the rest.
Administration, education and DNP students at work
Leadership tracks suit working nurses, and the 2022 Administration guide draws one narrow line: the preceptor should not be the person directly responsible for your employee evaluation. It also discourages choosing someone in an educator role at the facility. Before any hours, the Clinical Liaison sends a "Clinical Requirements Complete" email.
The post-master's DNP lets you complete practice hours in a location you choose. The NURS 7317 syllabus is firm about one thing: no hours at any site, your own employer included, until the affiliation agreement is fully executed. Start that request with your DNP faculty and the clinical placement coordinator well ahead of the term, as the syllabus asks.
Nursing Education places its academic practicum in a pre-licensure RN program; if you already teach in one, ask faculty whether it can host you. Informatics, Quality and Safety students may meet their practicum hours without a preceptor at all.
Your employer still needs UT Tyler paperwork
Working somewhere does not make it a clinical site. UT Tyler's NP Preceptor Guide says the School puts institutional affiliation agreements and individual preceptor agreements in place before any clinical experience starts, and the facility may add onboarding of its own, sometimes including a Letter of Good Standing or Attestation Letter from UT Tyler. The affiliation agreements page explains that step.
Your employer's student office has rules of its own, apart from HR. According to its student page, CHRISTUS Trinity Mother Frances asks students to confirm an active affiliation agreement and to have a preceptor lined up before applying, by fixed semester deadlines. Some systems do favor staff: Children's Health says it is adding affiliations only for current employees, and UT Southwestern's advanced practice office ranks its own employees first.
Employment can open a door, then, but UT Tyler's steps stay the same: the Clinical Coordinator verifies the preceptor and site, and faculty approve before hours count.
Keep job hours and clinical hours apart
Clinical hours are student hours. PMHNP syllabi require workplace clinicals to fall outside your employment responsibilities, and FNP logs must match the preceptor's daily signature sheets. Caring for your own assigned RN patients while an approved preceptor happens to be on the unit does not count.
UT Tyler treats falsified or misrepresented clinical hours or clinical presence as an academic integrity violation, and faculty may run spot checks. Wear your UT Tyler badge, work under the approved preceptor, and log inside your course's deadline, as set out on the scheduling rules page.
The trap at work: a shift you are paid for as an RN is never a clinical shift, even when your approved preceptor is on the same floor. Keep the two on separate days wherever you can.
How we help employed nurses
If you are working through the program, the search starts from your employer and your days off. Your placement advisor checks whether your system has a service line, manager and preceptor that satisfy your track's rule, and when it does not, finds a nearby site that fits your real rotation of shifts.
When the right site sits inside your own system, you still receive the full set of preceptor details the Self-Placement Request needs, plus a list of the student office's forms and dates, so your unit, the facility and UT Tyler move in step.
For FNP students at small practices, we line up the second site early, so the pediatric and women's health courses are covered before they begin. Share your employer and track through the request form.
Questions UT Tyler students ask
Can the physician I work for precept my UT Tyler FNP hours?
Not if they supervise you or sit in your direct line of report, which is the usual case when a physician employs you. NURS 5349 rules that out and expects students at small physician- or NP-owned clinics to rotate elsewhere. A physician in a separate practice, with no reporting tie to you, can be proposed instead.
Can my spouse or another relative who is an NP precept me?
No. Both the FNP and PMHNP syllabi bar clinicals with a relative, and faculty approve every preceptor you propose. If you have any personal connection with a preceptor, such as a close family friend, describe it openly on your Self-Placement Request so faculty can judge it before you start.
Do hours from my RN job count toward UT Tyler clinical hours?
No. Clinical hours are earned in the student role under an approved preceptor, logged in the course's clinical software and matched to the preceptor's signatures. Earlier experience can count elsewhere: UT Tyler's DNP courses may credit approved post-baccalaureate hours for up to half of a course's practice hours.
Is my manager's permission enough to start clinicals at my hospital?
No. A manager's support helps, but UT Tyler still needs your Self-Placement Request, the preceptor's agreement, faculty approval and a signed affiliation agreement, and the hospital's student office may have its own forms and dates. Hours logged before every approval is in place will not count.
I work at a small NP-owned clinic. Can I use it at all?
Treat it as unlikely. The FNP syllabus says employees of small NP- or physician-owned clinics will likely need to rotate elsewhere, so plan another site. If a provider there truly has no supervisory or family tie to you, ask your course faculty before building a semester around it.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-25
We check these pages against UT Tyler's own catalog, syllabi, program pages and clinical policies, and Texas rules. Your course, your program coordinator and the Clinical Coordinator have the final word.
UT Tyler asks you to choose your clinical site. We find it.
Tell us your UT Tyler track, where in Texas you live and when your next clinical course starts. We find preceptors near you who fit the course and gather everything your Self-Placement Request needs, so faculty can approve it before the semester.
- Preceptors matched to the course: pediatrics for
NURS 5453, adult and geriatric care forNURS 5455, psychiatric care forNURS 5367 - Texas-licensed preceptors who clear UT Tyler's supervisor, relative and site rules
- Anywhere in Texas, from the Piney Woods to the Valley
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