USU clinical site visits and the Clinical Site Supervisor
During an FNP clinical course, a USU faculty member called the Clinical Site Supervisor evaluates your site and your preceptor. The handbook says the visit is set up as a virtual appointment unless an in-person visit is required, though the same page also calls it a summative in-person visit. The supervisor records it in Project Concert within 24 hours.
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Who the Clinical Site Supervisor is
USU's FNP Clinical Handbook defines the Clinical Site Supervisor as a faculty member assigned to evaluate your clinical site and your preceptor. The supervisor may or may not be the clinical faculty teaching your course, so don't assume the instructor named in your D2L course is the person who will reach out.
The supervisor comes from the faculty side. The Office of Field Experience, through your Clinical Placement Coordinator (CPC), gets your preceptor and site approved and issues your approval letter; the Clinical Site Supervisor then looks at how the placement works once you're there. The handbook refers to a separate Clinical Site Supervisor contract, and says clinical faculty supervise no more than six students each.
Virtual or in person: USU's wording says both
The handbook's process list tells the Clinical Site Supervisor to contact you through your usuniversity.edu email and set up a virtual visit, unless an in-person visit is required. A later line in the same list tells the supervisor to complete a “summative in-person clinical site-visit” with you and your preceptor. USU doesn't reconcile the two.
A 2024 preceptor onboarding document adds that faculty visits may be virtual and/or on site. USU doesn't publish what makes an in-person visit required. So plan for either: a private spot and a working camera at the site for a virtual visit, and a preceptor who knows a faculty member might come in person. If the site limits cameras or visitors, say so when the supervisor first contacts you.
How a visit runs
- The supervisor emails you. Contact comes to your USU email. The handbook says all College of Nursing and Health Sciences communication must be sent from your USU-issued address, so reply from it too.
- You set a time with your preceptor. At USU the preceptor's schedule comes first, so offer the supervisor times your preceptor has already agreed to, during clinic hours.
- The visit takes place. The supervisor meets you and your preceptor, virtually unless an in-person visit is required. Have your preceptor's clinic schedule to hand in case the time needs to move.
- The supervisor records it. Within 24 hours, the supervisor documents the visit in Project Concert as the Preceptor and Site Evaluation by Site Supervisor, which is Appendix K in the FNP handbook.
The handbook doesn't say in which week of the course the visit happens, or whether every clinical course gets one. Ask your course faculty in week one so the request doesn't catch you or your preceptor off guard.
Check your USU email daily during clinical courses: that's where the Clinical Site Supervisor's visit request arrives.
The evaluations around the visit
The site visit feeds one of three evaluations USU names in the FNP handbook appendices. All three are scheduled and reported in Project Concert.
| Appendix | Evaluation | Who completes it |
|---|---|---|
| J | Student Evaluation of Preceptor | You |
| K | Preceptor and Site Evaluation by Site Supervisor | Your Clinical Site Supervisor, after the visit |
| L | Preceptor/Clinical Faculty Evaluation of Student | Your preceptor or clinical faculty |
A 2024 onboarding document says preceptors don't log in to Project Concert and instead receive emailed links to complete evaluations. The handbook text we rely on doesn't give due dates for each evaluation, so check your D2L course and the schedule in Project Concert. USU's FNP program page also names a College Practicum Evaluation Rubric used in FNP592, FNP594 and FNP596. Our clinical evaluations page has more on each form.
Getting your preceptor ready
USU's handbook says the College of Nursing and Health Sciences is responsible for orienting preceptors to the program's mission and curriculum, course objectives, preceptor and faculty roles, performance expectations, evaluation standards and lines of communication. Preceptors are expected to take part in that orientation. We found no public orientation module or video, so your preceptor may hear about it only through USU's emails.
A few habits make the visit smoother. Tell your preceptor at the start of each course that a faculty member will contact you both. Keep your Project Concert hours and journal entries current, since the visit record sits in the same system. And make sure your preceptor knows the visit evaluates both the site and the preceptor, as Appendix K's name says.
DNP, Leadership, RN-to-BSN and California
The DNP Practice Immersion Handbook has its own faculty review: Appendix K there is the Faculty Evaluation of DNP Mentor and Site, alongside Appendix I, the DNP Student Evaluation of DNP Mentor/Site. The handbook describes no visit process for DNP students, so ask your DNP faculty how the mentor and site review happens.
For MSN587, NUR378 and NUR499, the practicum handbook describes check-ins at weeks 1, 4 and 8 of the 8-week course rather than a named site visit, and Nurse Educator students report MSN578 hours weekly in Project Concert. Ask your course faculty whether a site visit is planned for your course.
California adds a rule for FNP preceptors there: under 16 CCR 1486, program faculty must evaluate each California preceptor at least every two years. See out-of-state clinicals for the rest of California's conditions.
What USU doesn't publish about visits
USU's handbook text says little about the visit itself. It doesn't explain what triggers an in-person visit, how long a visit takes, or what happens if a supervisor rates a site poorly. Appendix K is listed among the handbook appendices, so open it there to see what the supervisor records. Treat any claim about those details, including from other students, as unconfirmed until your faculty says so.
What USU does say around the edges: preceptors are subject to periodic re-review, OFE asks preceptors to renew licenses before they expire, and after a jeopardized placement the Program Director or OFE Director can require you to find placements on your own. If a visit surfaces a real problem with a site, the changing preceptors page covers USU's 16-week rule for switching.
How we prepare preceptors for site visits
When a placement advisor looks for a preceptor for you, we ask up front whether they're comfortable with a faculty visit, virtual or in person, and with completing USU's emailed evaluations, and we share what USU's published handbook says about both. The visit and any judgment about the site belong to USU's faculty, and USU approves every preceptor. If you're still looking, send us your course.
Questions USU students ask
Does a USU faculty member come to my clinical site in person?
Sometimes. The FNP handbook says the Clinical Site Supervisor sets up a virtual visit unless an in-person visit is required, but the same process list also describes a summative in-person visit. A 2024 onboarding document says visits may be virtual, on site or both. Ask your course faculty which applies to your course.
Is the Clinical Site Supervisor my course instructor?
Not necessarily. USU's handbook says the Clinical Site Supervisor is a faculty member assigned to evaluate your site and preceptor, and that person may or may not be the clinical faculty for your course. You'll hear from them at your USU email address when it's time to schedule the visit.
Does my preceptor need a Project Concert login for the site visit?
No preceptor login is described. A 2024 USU onboarding document says preceptors receive emailed links to complete evaluations instead. The site visit record itself is entered by the Clinical Site Supervisor in Project Concert within 24 hours of the visit, so your preceptor's part is to be available for it.
What is Appendix K in USU's FNP handbook?
Appendix K is the Preceptor and Site Evaluation by Site Supervisor. It's the evaluation tied to the site visit: the Clinical Site Supervisor completes it and records it in Project Concert. In the DNP handbook, Appendix K is a different document, the Faculty Evaluation of DNP Mentor and Site.
What should I prepare before a virtual site visit?
USU doesn't publish a checklist. Practical steps: agree a time your preceptor can do during clinic hours, find a private spot at the site with a reliable camera and connection, bring your Project Concert logs up to date, and reply from your USU email so the whole thread stays in one place.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-23
We check these pages against USU's own catalog, handbooks and disclosures. USU's current handbook and your Clinical Placement Coordinator have the final word.
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