Finding NP preceptors in Ohio, from Cleveland to Youngstown
Most of the clinical partners Kent State names are in Northeast Ohio, and the region's large health systems each publish their own rules for graduate students: central application windows, ACEMAPP requests, an Ohio RN license and a school affiliation agreement. Here is what they publish. Whether a system accepts a given student is always that system's decision.
Plan your Ohio search
Tell us your concentration, course, city and term. Your placement advisor replies with the Ohio routes and preceptor options that fit.
Where Kent State's Ohio partners are
Of the 750-plus clinical partners Kent State claims, the ones it lists by name sit mostly in Northeast Ohio, from Cleveland Clinic, University Hospitals and MetroHealth to Summa Health, Akron Children's, Aultman, Trumbull Regional, Northcoast Behavioral Healthcare and Bon Secours Mercy Health.
That list is college-wide, covering BSN rotations as well as graduate practicums, so a name on it shows a relationship, not an open NP preceptor for your course. Kent State's Become a Preceptor page says the college also works with individual providers and private practices, so the map reaches well beyond the big systems. Whichever site you land, your hours count only once the College of Nursing holds a current affiliation agreement with it.
What Northeast Ohio systems publish
Read each row as the system's own public statement, not a promise of a seat.
| System | How requests are made | What it asks for |
|---|---|---|
| Cleveland Clinic | One central application in three fixed cycles; no direct calls or emails to sites or caregivers | Good standing, school approval, active Ohio RN license, current school affiliation agreement, academic credit |
| University Hospitals (Behavioral Health Institute APP rotations) | Central application only, three windows a year | School affiliation agreement with UHHS and an active Ohio RN license |
| MetroHealth | Student applies in ACEMAPP, one application per preceptor | Term deadlines and a one-year ACEMAPP subscription |
| Aultman | School submits requests; all students onboard through ACEMAPP | Executed affiliation agreement; school must be an ACEMAPP partner |
| Akron Children's | Requests go through the school's coordinator | Lists Kent State for PNP, FNP, PMHNP and CNS placements; unlisted schools are not placed |
| Summa Health | No public graduate NP process found | Lists Kent State among undergraduate partners; its graduate list, called not exhaustive, omits Kent State |
Mercy Health / Bon Secours Mercy Health publishes no outside-school APRN placement page. Confirm any system's current route with your practicum faculty, and check the GSN Canvas course, where Kent State keeps instructions for agencies that bar direct contact.
Cleveland Clinic and UH: apply by the window
Cleveland Clinic takes graduate students only through a central application with fixed cycles, so match your Kent State term to the right one before anything else.
| Cleveland Clinic rotation | Apply | Notified by | Kent State term |
|---|---|---|---|
| Winter/Spring (Jan 1 to May 14) | July 1 to Sept 30 | Oct 31 | Spring (2027: Jan 19 to May 9) |
| Summer (May 15 to Aug 15) | Dec 1 to Feb 28 | Mar 31 | Summer Practical Experience session (2027: May 17 to Aug 15) |
| Fall (Aug 16 to Dec 31) | Mar 1 to May 31 | June 30 | Fall |
University Hospitals' Behavioral Health Institute uses the same three windows, with notice by the 15th of the following month. Cleveland Clinic states that no contact by the notification date means no placement, so run a second search alongside any central application.
ACEMAPP systems: MetroHealth and Aultman
ACEMAPP is the system some Ohio hospitals use to take placement requests and onboard students. MetroHealth has students apply there themselves, one application per preceptor, choosing their school as a Partner Entity or selecting School Is Not Listed. Its published deadlines are Dec 4, 2026 for Spring 2027 and Apr 12, 2027 for Summer 2027, and the subscription runs one year.
Aultman onboards every student through ACEMAPP, requires an executed affiliation agreement and accepts requests only from schools that are ACEMAPP partners. ACEMAPP shows a profile for Kent State's College of Nursing listing BSN, MSN, DNP and NP program types, though no Kent State document requires students to use it. Ask your practicum faculty before opening an account for a Kent State practicum.
Akron, Canton and Youngstown
Outside Cleveland, Kent State's named partners include Akron Children's in Akron and the Mahoning Valley, Aultman in Canton, Alliance and Massillon, Cleveland Clinic Akron General and Mercy Canton, and Bon Secours Mercy Health sites in Boardman, Warren and Youngstown, plus Summa Health and Trumbull Regional Medical Center. Akron Children's is the most explicit: its APP student page names Kent State among the schools it places in four tracks, CNS, PMHNP, Family NP and Pediatric NP, with requests made through the school, a route worth raising with your coordinator for FNP pediatrics.
Community practices matter here too. HRSA's shortage-area file lists primary care designations in Portage (4), Summit (9), Stark (4) and Cuyahoga (12) counties, many of them low-income areas and federally qualified health center sites. If your course asks for underserved-care hours, as NURS 61892 does, ask your practicum faculty whether a site in one of these areas counts.
Columbus, Dayton, Cincinnati and Toledo
Systems elsewhere in Ohio publish tighter terms. OhioHealth hosts NP, PA, CNS and CNM students at nearly all its sites but is not starting new affiliation agreements, requires a new application each term and asks 30 days' notice for a late-found preceptor. Kettering Health limits APP rotation applications to its own employees plus PA students from Kettering College.
Premier Health runs a graduate placement program for all four APRN roles and tells students to confirm their school holds a current contract. TriHealth, UC Health and ProMedica each require an affiliation agreement or contract before placing a student, and Ohio State Wexner publishes no page for outside NP students. Across the state, the College of Nursing agreement comes first. Our Ohio state guide covers the wider Ohio picture.
How we search Ohio for Kent State students
We know which Ohio systems run on windows, which use ACEMAPP and which route requests through your school, so your plan uses the right door for each and a second search runs beside every central application. Alongside the large systems, we search private practices, community clinics and specialty groups near your home. When a system's window has already closed for your term, the plan shifts to practices where the preceptor and employer can say yes directly.
Every lead arrives checked against Kent State's rules: the Ohio RN license you need for Ohio practicum, a preceptor role that fits your course under Ohio APRN rules, employer approval, and a plain yes or no on the agreement question. Send your concentration, course and city with the form below.
Questions Kent State students ask
Does Cleveland Clinic take Kent State NP students?
Cleveland Clinic's affiliation list dated June 4, 2025 names Kent State University, though its program columns were unreadable, and placement is decided through its central application. Its eligibility list: good standing, academic credit, approval from your school, a current agreement and an active Ohio RN license. Apply in the right window and keep a second search running until an offer arrives.
Which RN license do I need for an Ohio practicum?
An Ohio one. Kent State requires an active, unrestricted Ohio RN license for any Ohio practicum, and Cleveland Clinic and the UH Behavioral Health Institute list the same requirement. Ohio has taken part in the Nurse Licensure Compact since January 1, 2023; whether a multistate license issued elsewhere meets these Ohio-license rules is unsettled publicly, so check with Kent State's Office of Academic Advising and Student Services.
Can I email a Cleveland Clinic nurse practitioner to ask them to precept me?
Cleveland Clinic asks students not to call or email its sites or caregivers; requests go through its central application. Kent State also lists, inside the GSN Canvas course, the agencies that bar direct contact, so check it before any outreach. Follow each agency's route, and save direct outreach for practices that welcome it.
Is Summa Health an option for Kent State graduate students?
Summa lists Kent State among its undergraduate nursing partners. Its graduate partnership list, which Summa calls not exhaustive, does not name Kent State. For an NP practicum at Summa, ask your practicum faculty whether a current agreement covers graduate students.
Does Ohio pay preceptors or give them a tax credit?
As far as public sources show, Ohio offers preceptors neither a tax credit nor a state payment. The federal PRECEPT Nurses Act (H.R. 392) would create a preceptor tax credit in shortage areas but is still pending. Kent State offers its own preceptor benefits.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-24
We check these pages against Kent State's own catalog, handbooks and program pages. Your MSN or DNP handbook, your syllabus, your practicum faculty and your concentration coordinator have the final word.
Kent State says the preceptor search is yours. We make it the fastest part of your practicum.
Tell us your Kent State concentration, where you live and which semester your next practicum starts. We find preceptors who fit the course and prepare everything your practicum faculty and coordinator review before they approve.
- Preceptors matched to the course: primary care for
NURS 61292, acute care forNURS 61092, psychiatric care forNURS 61592, women's health forNURS 66192 - Credentials, license and site details ready for your practicum faculty and coordinator
- In your own community, in Ohio or wherever you live and hold your RN license
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