Family, friends and your own workplace in UCCS clinicals

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

UCCS closes two doors: a preceptor who is family or a close friend, and any site where you or a family member works. Your employer is the one opening, and only at a different location or floor/unit that the Graduate Clinical Practicum Coordinator approves.

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The rules in UCCS's own words

Both 08/2026 practicum handbooks, FNP/AGNP and PMHNP, carry the same three sentences on relationships and workplaces. They apply to every graduate NP clinical course, so MSN, RN to MSN, Post-Graduate NP Certificate and BSN to DNP students all work under them.

The handbook wording

"Students may not use family (by blood or marriage) or close friends as preceptors."
"Students may not do clinical hours where they or a family member works."
Hours at your own employer are allowed "if it is at a different location or floor/unit with the approval of the Graduate Clinical Practicum Coordinator."

Notice that the first rule is about the person and the second is about the place. A preceptor can be a stranger to you and the site can still be ruled out, because your sister manages the front desk there.

Family and close friends as preceptors

Family "by blood or marriage" reaches past parents and siblings to in-laws and other relatives you gained through marriage. If the provider is related to you in either way, look elsewhere before you put their name on a Clinical Site Sheet.

"Close friends" has no definition in the handbooks. Knowing a provider is fine; the handbooks even suggest starting with a physician, NP or PA you already know. The line is personal closeness, so if a relationship goes beyond a professional one, describe it to the Graduate Clinical Practicum Coordinator before the paperwork starts.

The stakes are real because your preceptor helps grade you. UCCS asks anyone who supervises you for more than 24 clinical hours to complete a Medatrax evaluation, and that form counts toward your course grade. The site visits and evaluations page explains that form.

No hours where you or a relative works

The site rule covers your workplace and your family's. A clinic where your spouse, parent or adult child works is off the list for you, even if your preceptor there would be someone you have never met.

UCCS has loosened one part of this. The 2024 practicum handbooks barred hours at any place the student worked, with no exception, and also barred hours at "a clinical practice where they are seen as a patient." The 2026 rule adds the employer exception below and does not repeat the patient line.

If you receive care at a practice you are considering, raise it with the Graduate Clinical Practicum Coordinator rather than assuming the older rule has gone away. A two-line email now is far cheaper than a site that falls apart after the agreement starts.

Using your employer: another location or unit, with approval

Your employer can host your hours when two conditions are met: the hours happen at a different location or floor/unit from where you work, and the Graduate Clinical Practicum Coordinator approves it. The site then goes through the same Clinical Site Sheet and Affiliation Agreement steps as any other.

Your track shapes what "another unit" can mean. FNP and AGNP hours must be in primary care, with no inpatient or hospital hours, so a hospital employer usually helps only through one of its outpatient clinics at another address. PMHNP students may use inpatient and outpatient psychiatric settings, which widens the choice inside a large system.

Large systems carry their own rules too. The 2026 FNP/AGNP handbook warns that Denver Health "may restrict students, even employees, and only allow students from select Universities." The 2024 PMHNP handbook was blunter, saying Denver Health took students from only two other programs even when the student was an employee.

Being an employee does not clear a site on its own: the location or unit must differ from yours and the coordinator must approve it first.

Other special cases

Military sites: the 2024 FNP/AGNP handbook said they were "approved on a case by case basis," and the 2026 handbook requires military providers to hold a state license.
RN to BSN, NURS 4450: the RN-BSN site sheet bars hours "on their unit of employment or inpatient acute units," so the unit rule is stricter there. See NURS 4450.
Out-of-state sites: hours outside your home state need the Graduate Clinical Practicum Coordinator's approval, whatever your connection to the site.
Traditional and Accelerated BSN students: UCCS assigns their clinical sites, so the site choice rests with the college.

When a situation is not covered by any of these, the Graduate Clinical Practicum Coordinator is the person who rules on site questions. The clinical roles page sets out who handles what at UCCS.

Why UCCS students trust us with a clean placement

We check relationships before we check anything else. Early in the search we confirm that the preceptor is not a relative or close friend, and that neither you nor any family member works at the site, so any conflict is caught before weeks of agreement work begin.

When your employer is the best route, we look for a location or unit that is clearly separate from yours and fits your track, then give you what you need to request the coordinator's approval early. For everyone else we search outside your personal network entirely, among preceptors who meet UCCS's credential rules where you live.

UCCS gives the final approval; our work is making sure the file it receives is complete and clear of conflicts from the start. Share your state, track and workplace using the form below, and we will build the search around them.

Questions UCCS students ask

Can I do UCCS clinical hours at the hospital system where I work?

Possibly, at a different location or floor/unit and with the Graduate Clinical Practicum Coordinator's approval. FNP and AGNP students also need primary care rather than inpatient hours, so the practical option is usually one of the system's outpatient clinics away from your own job. PMHNP students can consider psychiatric units other than their own.

Can my spouse's colleague precept me?

Not at the site where your spouse works, because UCCS bars hours wherever you or a family member works. If that colleague also practices at a separate location where your spouse has no role, the site rule no longer blocks it. If the tie feels close, mention it to the coordinator so the site is judged on the full picture.

Can someone I know through a friend be my UCCS preceptor?

The bar is on family and close friends, not on everyone you know, and the handbooks encourage reaching out to providers you know. Because UCCS does not define close friend, describe any relationship that goes beyond a professional one to the Graduate Clinical Practicum Coordinator before you submit the site sheet.

Can my own primary care provider precept me?

The 2024 handbooks said no, barring hours at a practice where the student is seen as a patient. The 2026 rule on family, friends and workplaces does not repeat that line. Because the answer turned on older wording, ask the Graduate Clinical Practicum Coordinator before you commit to a practice where you receive care.

Do these rules apply to Post-Graduate NP Certificate students?

Yes. The rules are in the FNP/AGNP and PMHNP practicum handbooks, which govern the NP clinical courses for certificate, MSN, RN to MSN and BSN to DNP students. RN to BSN students in NURS 4450 follow their own site sheet, which bars hours on their unit of employment.

PreceptorsFNP and AGNP preceptor requirementsWho can precept a UCCS FNP or AGNP student: an NP, MD, DO or PA licensed where you do hours, two years of experience, and 200 hours with an NP advised.PMHNPPMHNP preceptor rulesWho can precept a UCCS PMHNP student: psychiatric prescribers with full prescriptive authority, limited therapist hours, and telehealth in approved states.Site sheetClinical Site SheetThe UCCS Clinical Site Sheet: one per site and preceptor, exact hours only, a new Word copy every semester, and who at UCCS receives it and when.SearchFinding your own preceptorWhat UCCS means by clinical hours found by the student where they reside: the admission essay, why there is no site list, and where UCCS helps.RolesWho does what at UCCSThe UCCS titles behind your clinicals: Graduate Clinical Practicum Coordinator, Academic Services Professional, Option Coordinators and lead faculty.

Last checked 2026-09-25

We check these pages against UCCS's catalog, practicum handbooks and college pages. Your degree plan, the handbook for your cohort and the Graduate Clinical Practicum Coordinator have the final word.

UCCS asks you to find your clinical hours where you live. Let us run that search.

Tell us your UCCS track, your next clinical course and where you live. We find preceptors who fit the course and prepare the details your Clinical Site Sheet needs, early enough for the agreement to be signed before the semester.

Preceptors matched to the course: pediatrics for NURS 6900, acute and chronic care for NURS 6915 and NURS 6925, psychiatric prescribers for NURS 6801 to NURS 6803
Credentials, license, certification and the site's signer ready for the Clinical Site Sheet
In Colorado Springs, along the Front Range, or in any of UCCS's approved states

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