How to Be a Good Preceptor for NP Students

Learning how to be a good preceptor starts with what your NP student needs from you: a safe place to practice, clear goals, regular feedback and more independence as the weeks go by. If you’re a nurse practitioner or another clinician who teaches NP students, here’s what research and the national standards for NP education say about the qualities that matter, and the habits that show them from the first day to the final evaluation.

TL;DR

• Good preceptors communicate often, support their students, involve them in patient care and serve as role models.
• Agree on goals with your student, and with their faculty, in the first week.
• Teach in brief moments between patients, and base your feedback on what you saw your student do.
• Give your student more independence as your trust in them grows.
• Contact the school as soon as you have a concern about a student.
• Precepting can count toward certification renewal, and as a Clinical Match Me preceptor, you’ll earn $1,000+ per rotation.

What makes a good preceptor?

A good preceptor is a skilled clinician who teaches well and makes students feel supported. When Sutkin and colleagues reviewed 68 articles on what makes a good clinical teacher in medicine, they grouped the qualities into physician, teacher and human characteristics. Non-cognitive qualities, the ones that aren’t about knowledge, came up most often. The authors concluded that excellent clinical teaching “is characterized by inspiring, supporting, actively involving, and communicating with students.”

Research with NP students points the same way. In interviews about what helps a mentoring relationship develop, Hayes found that many NP students care about a preceptor’s gender and discipline, but a humanistic precepting style may matter just as much or more.

These sources point to the qualities of a good preceptor:

• Communicates early and often. Talk with your student about expectations, goals and how you each like to learn and teach. Family medicine educators Frances Biagioli and Kathryn Chappelle, who collected advice from experienced physician preceptors across the country, write that this “saves time and prevents frustration.”
• Supports the student. Make questions welcome and treat your student as part of the team. Biagioli and Chappelle suggest that preceptors “begin with the attitude that students add value to the practice.”
• Involves the student in patient care. Have your student see patients and take on tasks that match their skills, so they learn by doing.
• Models the role. AACN’s Clinical Preceptor Guide describes the preceptor as creating “a safe setting” for the student to build clinical competency, and as a role model who uses evidence-based teaching practices. Your student learns how an experienced clinician thinks, documents and talks with patients by watching you.

How to be a good preceptor, from the first day to the final evaluation

These habits put those qualities into practice.

How should you prepare for your student’s first day?

Complete the school’s preceptor orientation and get your practice ready. Under the 2022 national standards for NP education, programs orient new preceptors, in writing, in person or online. Before your student arrives:

• Plan the first day. Arrange a workspace and access to your electronic health record, and ask a staff member to show your student around and introduce the team.
• Make time to teach. Biagioli and Chappelle suggest blocking 15 minutes in the morning and afternoon “to allow time for student review and teaching.”
• Prepare your team and patients. Tell colleagues and staff when your student starts and which patients they need to see. Staff can ask patients in a positive way, such as “Your nurse practitioner is teaching a student. Is it OK if the student sees you first?”

How do you set goals with an NP student?

Meet with your student in the first week and agree on what they need from the rotation. AACN’s guide says faculty should tell you the student’s level, how they’re expected to progress and the outcome objectives for the rotation. Your student shares their own learning needs and objectives, which their faculty approve.

• Review the course objectives, required hours, competencies and evaluation form together.
• Ask what your student did in earlier rotations and which skills they want to build.
• Explain your expectations, such as when to arrive, how to present a patient and how to write notes.
• Ask your student to track the patients and procedures they’ve seen, so you both know what’s missing. Biagioli and Chappelle suggest asking, “Is there any type of patient we need to have you work with today?”

How do you teach on a busy day?

Teach in brief moments tied to the patient in front of you. Biagioli and Chappelle recommend observing a history or exam in “two- or three-minute segments” and keeping teaching points brief, since students “are more likely to benefit from small amounts of information linked directly to patient problems.”

For the conversation after your student presents a case, try the One Minute Preceptor model. Ask for their assessment and plan, find out why they chose it, teach one general rule and give feedback.

How do you give feedback that helps?

Give feedback often, and base it on what you saw your student do. In a 1983 JAMA article on feedback in clinical education, Ende defined feedback as information about a trainee’s performance that’s “intended to guide their future performance.” He stressed “focusing on the trainees’ observable behaviors rather than on the trainees themselves.” For example:

• “Your history covered the timeline well. Next time, ask about allergies before you present.”
• “You explained the plan clearly, and the patient repeated it back. Keep doing that.”

Biagioli and Chappelle note that feedback “can prevent repetitive, time-wasting mistakes.” Ask for feedback in return, too. They suggest a question such as “Is there a different way that I could teach to help your education?”

When should your student work more independently?

Give your student more responsibility as your trust in them grows. NP students need to move from observing to working with little prompting before they enter practice. In a 2025 study of 27 NP and physician preceptors, the key factors in building that independence were the preceptors’ trust and their decisions about what to entrust to students. One way to build independence over a rotation:

1. At first, your student observes you and takes on parts of the visit, such as the history.
2. Next, they see patients first and present to you, and then you go back in together.
3. Later, they lead visits, explain plans to patients and call with test results while you check their work.

As Biagioli and Chappelle write, “Make sure students contribute to the top of their ability level.”

How do you complete a student evaluation?

Your student’s faculty are responsible for evaluating them, and your observations are part of what they use. Under the national standards, faculty evaluation of clinical experiences includes “preceptor feedback of the student,” and faculty, students and preceptors evaluate each placement together early in the rotation.

• Read the evaluation form in the first week, so you know what you’ll be rating.
• Note specific examples as the weeks go by. They make the final evaluation faster to write and more useful to your student.
• Discuss your evaluation with your student before you submit it.

What should you do if your student is struggling?

Contact your student’s faculty as soon as you have a concern, while there’s still time to help. Biagioli and Chappelle write that preceptors “who have any concerns about students should immediately contact the student’s educational program.”

The school shares this responsibility with you. Under the national standards, NP programs make a plan for each student “to address identified deficiencies in progression and competency attainment,” and faculty hold joint meetings with preceptors and students about student progress. When you call, describe what you’ve seen with specific examples, and agree on what your student needs to show and by when.

What do preceptors gain from teaching NP students?

Precepting is a great way to improve care in your specialty, and it brings benefits for you too:

• Certification renewal credit. Under ANCC’s certification renewal handbook, NPs can meet one of the professional development categories for renewal by precepting students in a related academic program for at least 120 hours. AANPCB, which now operates as NPCB, lets the NPs it certifies count up to 120 precepted hours toward as many as 25 non-pharmacology continuing education hours.
• A chance to give back. In a 2025 survey of preceptors of NP students, respondents rated both their enjoyment of precepting and the chance to give back to the profession as important reasons to precept.
• An honorarium. Clinical Match Me pays you for every rotation you precept with us. Browse our open preceptor jobs to see where students need a preceptor.

Common preceptor questions

What are the three main roles of a preceptor?

You teach and supervise your student’s clinical work, you serve as a role model, and you help faculty evaluate your student’s progress. The national standards define a preceptor as a qualified clinician who “collaborates with faculty to facilitate and supervise NP student clinical learning experiences.” For more on the role, read our guide on what a preceptor is.

What are the four steps of precepting?

It depends on what you’re teaching. For a hands-on skill, Peyton’s four-step approach is widely used in medical education:

1. You demonstrate the skill at normal speed without comment.
2. You demonstrate it again, describing each step.
3. Your student talks you through it while you perform it a third time.
4. Your student performs it.

In a randomized trial with medical students, the third step contributed significantly more to learning than the first two. For discussing a case, use the One Minute Preceptor instead.

Where can you learn how to be a good preceptor?

Start with the school’s preceptor orientation, and ask your student’s faculty what they expect from you both. AACN’s Clinical Preceptor Guide explains how faculty, preceptors and students share the work, and Biagioli and Chappelle’s article has more scheduling tips for a busy practice.

What do you need to precept NP students?

Your student’s program sets the rules, but expect to show your degree, an unencumbered license and national certification. Under the national standards, programs document all three, and physicians and physician assistants can precept NP students too. Read our guide to NP preceptor requirements for the details.

Does this advice apply to RN preceptors?

Many of the same habits apply. If you’re learning how to be a good nurse preceptor for new graduate RNs, set goals early, teach in brief moments, give specific feedback and increase independence over time. Our guide on what a nurse preceptor is explains how that role works.

Precept NP and PA students with Clinical Match Me

Learning how to be a good preceptor takes practice, and these habits give every rotation a clear structure.

As a Clinical Match Me preceptor, you’ll earn $1,000+ per rotation. Set your own preceptor pay: the standard $1,000 flat fee, a higher flat fee or an hourly rate. Review placement requests from NP and PA students on your own schedule. You decide which students to send offers to and how many to take. We handle the affiliation agreement with the student’s school using their existing template. Non-exclusive, so you can keep any other precepting arrangements you have.

If you manage a practice, it can also become a clinical rotation site for NP and PA students.

Learn how to become a preceptor with us, or sign up free and start receiving placement requests today. We pay you when your student starts the rotation.