Your preceptor dropped out partway through a Graceland University practicum

Updated September 25, 2026 · Reviewed by the Graceland Preceptor placement team

Tell your course's lead faculty and the contract coordinators the same day, protect the hours you have already logged, and start the replacement search at once. Graceland University has no written procedure for a preceptor who leaves mid-term, so the people who approve your practicum set the path, and a qualified substitute at your primary site can bridge up to 40 hours while new paperwork moves.

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Tell us your Graceland course, hours logged and city. Your placement advisor replies with replacement options that fit the weeks you have left.

The first two days

Tell Graceland in writingSend one message from your Sting address to the course lead faculty and soncontracts@graceland.edu giving the course, term, hours and patients so far, and your preceptor's last day.
Lock down what you have earnedAsk the departing preceptor to validate your time log to date and complete any evaluation that is due in Typhon.
Ask about a substituteIf a qualified colleague at the same site can step in, the one-per-term, 40-hour substitute allowance keeps your weeks from going empty.
Start the replacement searchLook for a preceptor who fits the course, is licensed where the site is, and can take you for the rest of the term.
Recount your weeksWork out the hours still owed and the weeks left before week 14, when faculty ask that hours be finished.

Protect the hours you already have

Nothing in Graceland's handbook cancels hours completed with an approved preceptor, at an approved site, inside the term. Missing paperwork is what puts them at risk. Preceptors are expected to validate time logs at regular intervals and to complete a midterm and final evaluation in Typhon, and when evaluations are late, students "will not be allowed to progress within the course and could be administratively blocked."

So before a departing preceptor drifts out of reach, get the log signed off to date and any due evaluation done. If they have already gone quiet, tell the lead faculty exactly what is outstanding; faculty keep in contact with primary preceptors during the practicum and may be able to reach them. Keep your own copies of time logs and case logs as you go. Evaluations and site visits explains the timing Graceland expects.

Bridging the gap with a substitute

Graceland lets one substitute preceptor handle as many as 40 hours at your main site in a term before an Appendix B is needed. When a preceptor leaves suddenly but the practice still hosts you, a qualified colleague there can keep you seeing patients for a week or two while the lead faculty and contract coordinators settle the longer plan.

The allowance has edges. It applies only at your primary site, so it does not help if the whole site has closed its doors to you. The substitute must be an NP or physician who meets Graceland's qualifications, never a physician assistant. And hours past 40 do not count until an approved Appendix B makes the substitute your second preceptor, so if that colleague might become your replacement, start the form on day one. Changing or adding a preceptor sets out every option.

Bringing in a replacement

A replacement needs the same approval Graceland gives any new preceptor: an Appendix B for the term and, if the address is new, an Appendix A plus an affiliation agreement signed before any clinical activity there. No hours count with the replacement until their approval email arrives.

The replacement also changes your preceptor count. They become the second preceptor in this practicum, and Graceland caps each practicum at two, so if you already had two, speak with the lead faculty before approaching a third. They also use one of the two terms any single preceptor may cover across your three practicums; see the two-preceptor rule.

Fit still matters under pressure. A replacement for FNP NURS6740 must practice primary care with enough children; for AGACNP, a hospital or specialist setting; for PMHNP, a psychiatrist or certified PMHNP. The fastest yes often comes from a clinician whose site already holds an agreement with Graceland, and the approved preceptors and sites in Graceland's online database are the first place to look.

Doing the math on the rest of the term

Graceland's practicums run inside a 16-week trimester, call for 16 to 24 clinical hours a week, and faculty ask that hours be finished by week 14. Hours count only inside the term's dates. That gives you a quick test: divide the hours still owed by the weeks left before week 14.

Say you are in NURS6760 with 110 of 225 hours done when your preceptor leaves at the end of week 7. If a replacement is approved and working by the start of week 9, that is 115 hours in six weeks, about 19 a week, inside Graceland's range. The same loss at week 11 with 150 hours owed cannot fit. Patient counts matter as well, since FNP students need as many patients as hours.

When the numbers will not fit, ask the instructor about an incomplete early. Graceland allows one with instructor approval, but the course must be finished by the end of the following term and the next practicum starts a term later. Behind on clinical hours and delayed graduation cover what follows.

Why students call us the day a preceptor leaves

Graceland students choose us because we move the day you call. We search for a replacement who fits your course, your setting rules and your remaining weeks, favoring sites where Graceland may already hold an affiliation agreement, and we confirm the clinician can carry the hours you still owe before the name reaches you.

Every replacement comes with the license, credential and site-contact details Graceland's forms require, so the contract coordinators can act on a complete request. We also plan past this term, checking how the new preceptor fits your two-preceptor count for the practicums ahead, and when the loss lands near your next paperwork deadline, we run both searches side by side. Tell us your course, hours logged and city on the contact page.

Questions Graceland students ask

Do I have to tell Graceland if my preceptor leaves?

Yes, and quickly. Contract coordinators monitor every preceptor change, the lead faculty decides how your course continues, and a new preceptor's hours count only after approval. Email both from your Sting account the same day with your running totals and your preceptor's final day, so replacement paperwork can start at once.

Can a colleague in my preceptor's practice take over?

For a short stretch, yes: a single substitute per term can bridge as many as 40 hours at your main site with no forms, provided they qualify as a preceptor. To take over for the rest of the term, they need an approved Appendix B, which makes them your second preceptor in that practicum.

Will Graceland find me a replacement preceptor?

Graceland's handbook describes a shared search: the school and students collaborate to locate preceptors, with the Graduate Practicums Coordinator and the course lead faculty helping when a student is stuck. Ask them right away, and run your own search in parallel so the rest of the term does not hang on a single route.

Should I withdraw from the practicum instead?

Talk to the lead faculty and Program Advising first. Withdrawal has limits: Graceland's catalog sets the last withdrawal point at 60% of the session, and the handbook warns that three withdrawals from graduate nursing courses after the 20% point lead to dismissal. A replacement or an incomplete may serve you better.

Does a new preceptor mean new Castle Branch items?

Graceland's Castle Branch requirements stay the same; they just have to stay current. The new site may ask for its own onboarding documents, though, and some systems publish lead times, such as the 45 days MercyOne Des Moines asks for before a rotation. Ask the new site early what it needs from you.

PreceptorsChanging or adding a preceptorA substitute may cover 40 hours at your primary site; more needs Appendix B. How Graceland handles second preceptors, the two-week cutoff and preceptor changes.PreceptorsTwo-preceptor ruleGraceland needs two or more different preceptors across three NP practicums, no more than two per practicum and none for all three terms. How to plan it well.Placement helpBehind on clinical hoursShort on hours in a Graceland practicum? What counts, the week-14 target, substitutes and second preceptors, incompletes, and how we help you catch up in time.Right nowDelayed graduationHow a missing preceptor pushes back a Graceland University graduation: four months per term sat out, incompletes, the 12-month rule and getting back on track.Short on timeNeed a preceptor fastA Graceland practicum deadline or start date close and no preceptor yet? What to do this week, who to tell, and how our placement desk moves quickly.

Last checked 2026-09-25

We check these pages against Graceland's own catalog, program pages and Graduate Student Handbook. Your handbook, your track coordinator and the contract coordinators have the final word.

Graceland's practicums are arranged by you, with Graceland's help. We do the searching.

Tell us your Graceland track, your city and your next practicum. We find preceptors who fit the course, line up what Appendix A and Appendix B ask for, and aim everything at Graceland's paperwork deadline for your term.

Preceptors matched to the course: primary care for FNP, hospital and ICU clinicians for AGACNP, psychiatrists and PMHNPs for PMHNP
Site address, contract contact and preceptor details ready before the June 15, October 15 or February 15 deadline
Close to home in your approved state, with a second preceptor planned for Graceland's two-preceptor rule

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Track, city and practicum start is all we need to begin.