Locating a Physician Assistant Preceptor Outside School Channels

If you’re a PA student looking for a physician assistant preceptor, start with some good news: finding your preceptors isn’t your job. ARC-PA, which accredits PA programs, requires every program to publish a policy stating that PA students “are not required to provide or solicit clinical sites or preceptors.” Your program arranges your required rotations. Many programs still welcome a preceptor you suggest, and that suggestion could mean a rotation in the specialty or area you want.

This guide explains how PA rotations are arranged, who can precept you, and how to find a physician assistant preceptor to suggest when your program allows it. You’ll also learn what your program checks before it approves a preceptor, and how Clinical Match Me helps PA students.

TL;DR

• Your PA program arranges your required rotations, and accreditation standards say you can’t be required to find your own preceptors.
• Many programs accept a preceptor you suggest, but some ask you to check with them before you contact any clinician. Read your program’s policy first.
• PAs, physicians and board-certified nurse practitioners can precept you, and most of your rotations must be with PAs and physicians.
• Your program vets every preceptor and needs a signed affiliation agreement with the site before you start.
• If your program accepts suggestions, submit a placement request on Clinical Match Me so preceptors can send you offers.

Do PA students have to find their own preceptors?

No. Under the ARC-PA accreditation standards, in effect since September 1, 2025, your program must secure enough qualified preceptors and clinical sites for every student to meet its learning outcomes. PA programs call clinical rotations supervised clinical practice experiences, or SCPEs. For how rotations work across PA, NP and medical programs, read what a clinical rotation is.

You can still help, if your program allows it. ARC-PA’s compliance manual says the rule “does not prevent the program from permitting students to ask a clinician if they would be willing to be a preceptor.” So each program decides how much of a role you play. Here’s how three programs put it in their published policies:

• Suggestions welcome. Marist College: “Students in good standing may research and suggest clinical sites of interest that are not already in our affiliate network.”
• A request form. Pfeiffer University: “If a student becomes aware of a potential preceptor, a SCPE Request Form may be submitted to the clinical team.”
• Permission first. University of South Carolina School of Medicine Columbia: “Students are prohibited from independently contacting or negotiating with potential preceptors or clinical sites without prior authorization from the program.”

Before you contact anyone, ask your director of clinical education:

• Does the program accept preceptors or sites that students suggest?
• May I contact a clinician myself, or should I send their name to the clinical team?
• Is there a form or a deadline for suggestions?
• Which rotations can a suggested preceptor fill: a required rotation, an elective, or both?
• What credentials and paperwork will the program need from the preceptor?

What if your program can’t place you with a physician assistant preceptor?

Talk to your program first, since securing your rotations is its responsibility. Ask your director of clinical education when you’ll know your site, and what the program plans to do for any rotation that isn’t confirmed yet.

While you wait, give your program more options to work with:

• Offer to suggest a preceptor, if your program accepts suggestions. A PA or physician you’ve worked with or shadowed already knows you.
• Widen the area you’ll accept. Tell your program how far you’re willing to travel, and ask whether it has affiliated sites farther away.
• Ask about telehealth. The standards allow a behavioral health rotation to be entirely telehealth. Other rotations can be up to half telehealth, and telehealth can make up no more than a fifth of your total rotation experiences.

If your program accepts suggestions, you can also submit a placement request on Clinical Match Me so preceptors can send you offers.

Who can be a physician assistant preceptor?

A PA, a physician or a board-certified nurse practitioner can precept you, once your program approves them. The ARC-PA standards say your clinical preceptors can be:

• PAs who hold or have held NCCPA certification
• Physicians who hold or have held board certification
• Advanced practice nurses, such as nurse practitioners and certified nurse-midwives, who hold or have held board certification
• A limited number of other clinicians the program vets as qualified

Most of your SCPEs must be with PAs and physicians, so a nurse practitioner can precept some of your rotations rather than most of them. Every preceptor also needs “a valid, unrestricted, and unencumbered license to practice,” and trainees can’t be your preceptor of record.

Together, your preceptors help you meet learning outcomes in family medicine, emergency medicine, internal medicine, surgery, pediatrics, women’s health, and behavioral and mental health care. Your rotations also have to include emergency department, inpatient, outpatient and operating room settings. For more on the role itself, read what a preceptor is and what they’re responsible for.

How do you find a physician assistant preceptor to suggest?

Start with people who already know your work, then look for practices whose patients match the rotation you need. Follow your program’s rules on who makes the first contact.

• Clinicians you’ve worked with or shadowed. PAs and physicians from your healthcare jobs or shadowing hours already know you.
• Your program’s alumni. Graduates who practice nearby know your program’s expectations. Ask your clinical team whether any of them already precept.
• Classmates a year ahead. Find out who precepted them and whether that preceptor would take another student.
• Your state PA chapter. Student membership and chapter events help you meet PAs who practice near you.
• Practice and hospital websites. Provider profiles show who practices where, and which patients they see.

Before you suggest anyone, check each practice against the rotation you need:

• Do its patients match the rotation’s learning outcomes, such as pediatric or prenatal care?
• Is it the setting your program needs: outpatient, inpatient, emergency department or operating room?
• Has anyone there precepted students before?
• How long is the commute, and would you need housing?

How do you reach out to a potential preceptor?

Contact a clinician only if your program allows it, and keep your first message short. From that message, a preceptor should know who you are, what you need and how your program will support them. Include:

1. Your name, your PA program and where you are in it
2. The rotation, dates and hours you need
3. Why you chose their practice
4. What your program provides, such as learning objectives, evaluation forms and a contact on the clinical team
5. What happens next, such as your program reviewing their credentials and setting up an affiliation agreement

Mention any benefits your program offers its preceptors, such as an honorarium, CME credit or an affiliate faculty title. Attach a short CV, and write each message for that practice.

If there’s no reply after about a week, follow up once, then move on. Keep a simple log of who you contacted, when, and what they said, and share it with your clinical team. Our guide on how to find NP preceptors has more outreach ideas, and much of its advice applies to PA students too. For wording, adapt the templates in our guide to writing an email to a preceptor, or use our preceptor request letter templates when you write to a clinic manager.

What does your program need to approve a preceptor?

Your program vets every preceptor and site before you start, and it needs a signed affiliation agreement with the site. The ARC-PA standards require each program to document “the initial and ongoing evaluation of all sites and preceptors” so you’ll have the facilities, patients and supervision you need.

Each program sets its own process. Rowan-Virtua’s PA program, for example, follows these steps for a new site:

1. Program faculty evaluate the clinical site.
2. The director of clinical education reviews each preceptor’s board certification, license and ability to meet the course learning outcomes.
3. Each preceptor receives the syllabus and confirms they can meet those outcomes.
4. A program committee reviews the site and its preceptors and endorses them.
5. The program and the site sign an affiliation agreement, and the program collects proof of malpractice and general liability insurance, board certifications and licenses.

You’ll have paperwork of your own, too. Before a Rowan-Virtua student starts, the program sends the preceptor the student’s immunization records, background check, proof of health insurance and malpractice coverage, HIPAA training and BLS or ACLS certification. Learn what an affiliation agreement is and how long it can take.

Ask early whether your program has a deadline for suggestions. Rowan-Virtua asks students who want to arrange their own rotations to contact the director of clinical education by May 1 of the Spring 1 semester.

Physician assistant preceptor questions

Can a PA be a preceptor?

Yes. PAs who hold or have held NCCPA certification can precept PA students, and every PA preceptor needs a valid, unrestricted license to practice. Some PA programs can also award CME credit to the PAs who precept their students.

Can a nurse practitioner precept a PA student?

Yes. The ARC-PA standards include advanced practice nurses who hold or have held board certification, and the standards name nurse practitioners as one example. Since most of your rotations must be with PAs and physicians, ask your program which rotations a nurse practitioner can precept.

Are physician assistant preceptors paid?

It depends on the program. Some PA programs pay their preceptors an honorarium, and some offer CME credit or an affiliate faculty title. With Clinical Match Me, the offer price is all-inclusive. You’ll never pay a separate fee to the preceptor.

Can you suggest someone you know as your preceptor?

Yes, if your program accepts suggestions and the clinician meets its standards. Ask about conflict of interest rules first. Rowan-Virtua, for example, doesn’t allow a rotation where a family member is the primary preceptor or supervises the student.

Find a physician assistant preceptor with Clinical Match Me

Clinical Match Me is a preceptor placement service for NP and PA students, and our network includes PAs and physicians as well as nurse practitioners. Our founder is a nurse practitioner who struggled to find a preceptor as a student, and since 2014 we’ve helped more than 10,000 students find preceptors.

With our preceptor placement service, preceptors come to you. First, confirm that your program accepts preceptors students suggest, and ask which rotations and credentials it will approve. Choose the states you’re willing to travel to, or enter your zip code and how far you’re willing to travel. We’ll match you with preceptors in those areas.

Submit your placement requests and receive offers from preceptors who match your profile. Then compare offers, choose the best preceptor for your schedule and learning goals, and start your rotation once your program approves them. Many students receive their first preceptor offer within 24 hours of registering. Still, try to submit your placement requests as early as possible.

When you match with a preceptor through Clinical Match Me and your school requires an affiliation agreement, we handle it using your school’s existing template. Most preceptors charge a flat rate of $1,995 for rotations up to 250 hours. That price includes our fee and the preceptor’s honorarium (their compensation for teaching you), and payment plans are available for up to 24 months.

Free to join and no credit card required. Pay nothing until you accept an offer, and once you do, you’re protected by our Money Back Guarantee. If your school rejects your preceptor for any reason, or your preceptor cancels, choose either a full refund or a new preceptor.

Sign up free and submit your first placement request today.