NP preceptors in Shreveport, Monroe and Alexandria
North Louisiana runs on different rules from the south. Ochsner LSU Health, in Shreveport and Monroe, has required school-entered InPlace requests at least three months ahead since April 2024, and it needs an agreement separate from Ochsner Health's. Willis-Knighton and Rapides Regional publish no NP student page, and CHRISTUS St. Frances Cabrini wants a signed agreement before the term. We build searches around all of it for UL Lafayette students who live up north.
Find a north Louisiana preceptor
Tell us your city and your course.
Three regional hubs
The Shreveport-Bossier City metro counted an estimated 383,474 residents in 2025, and Monroe and Alexandria anchor the northeast and the center of the state. Each city has its own hospitals, its own mix of independent practices and its own student rules.
UL Lafayette's online MSN reaches students in all three. Its clinical rule asks that experiences happen in Louisiana, not near campus, so a nurse in Shreveport or Monroe can precept close to home and skip the long drive south entirely. The rule itself is covered under Louisiana-only clinicals.
Ochsner LSU Health: the Shreveport and Monroe rules
Ochsner LSU Health publishes the most detailed graduate student rules in north Louisiana. Since April 1, 2024, every graduate nursing student request goes through InPlace, and the system spells out how it works:
- School faculty or the school's coordinator enters each request; students cannot access the platform
- Requests must arrive no later than three months before the rotation
- A preceptor's verbal commitment is considered, yet it does not secure the spot
- Students should not call Ochsner LSU Health providers or their offices
- Its own employees get priority, along with students from what it calls highly rated graduate programs
The easily missed requirement is the contract. Ochsner LSU Health needs its own agreement with the school, separate from any agreement with Ochsner Health. A program with a long Ochsner relationship in Lafayette or New Orleans still needs a new contract for Shreveport or Monroe.
A friendly yes from an Ochsner LSU Health nurse practitioner is a starting point, not a placement. The request still has to come from the school, three months ahead, under a separate agreement.
Willis-Knighton in Shreveport
Willis-Knighton, Shreveport's other large system, has no page for nurse practitioner students from outside programs. Without a published route, a rotation there depends on a contract between the school and the system and on the system's own decision, one request at a time.
Course faculty can say whether any agreement already exists. Until one does, the independent family, pediatric and psychiatric practices around Shreveport and Bossier City are where a direct search can move, because those offices choose their students themselves.
Alexandria: CHRISTUS St. Frances Cabrini and Rapides Regional
In central Louisiana, CHRISTUS St. Frances Cabrini follows CHRISTUS Health's clinical learning rules. Advanced practice rotations are within scope, but a signed Clinical Education Affiliation Agreement has to be complete before the term starts, CHRISTUS works out that agreement with a school's faculty advisor, and it states that it cannot promise a placement. The Lake Charles guide covers the same CHRISTUS process in Southwest Louisiana.
Rapides Regional, an HCA hospital, has no NP student page. As with Willis-Knighton, any rotation would start with a school-to-hospital contract. Alexandria's independent practices are the direct option.
Access and distance in the north
Shortage-area designations reach nearly every corner of the state. HRSA's current files show 58 of Louisiana's 64 parishes with a primary care designation and 57 with a mental health designation. For an FNP or PMHNP student in the north, clinics serving those designated areas and populations offer the caseload variety a practicum rewards.
Distance cuts the other way. Between the hubs, towns are smaller and practices farther apart, so the best-fit preceptor can sit well outside your town, or in the next city. We weigh the commute against caseload fit and schedule before recommending anyone, because a long drive repeated through a whole practicum becomes a cost of its own.
How we search north Louisiana
- Sort by routeEach target is labeled: Ochsner LSU Health InPlace, CHRISTUS agreement, a hospital with no published route, or an independent practice we approach directly.
- Check the preceptorLicensure, population certification, the consortium's minimums and current student load are verified for every candidate before anything is sent.
- Work to the calendarOchsner LSU Health's three-month rule and CHRISTUS's before-the-term agreement set the schedule, so our timing starts from them.
- Prepare the fileContract details, a current CV and the letter of agreement are assembled early; clinical paperwork lists the full set.
- Stay with youIf a preceptor steps away, a replacement search begins immediately.
However UL Lafayette handles its side of your placement, the match we deliver already fits its rules. How it works walks through the full service.
Questions UL Lafayette students ask
Can I contact an Ochsner LSU Health nurse practitioner about precepting me?
Ochsner LSU Health asks students not to call its providers or their offices. Requests must be entered in InPlace by school faculty or the school's coordinator, and while a preceptor's verbal agreement is taken into account, it does not secure the rotation. A preceptor you already know is best passed to your school so the request comes through the proper channel.
How far ahead do requests need to reach Ochsner LSU Health?
No later than three months before the rotation, under the rules in place since April 1, 2024. That is the floor. Because the system also needs its own affiliation agreement with the school, and because it gives priority to its employees and certain programs, starting earlier than three months leaves room for a backup.
Does an agreement with Ochsner Health cover Ochsner LSU Health?
No. Ochsner LSU Health requires a separate agreement from Ochsner Health's. A school with an active Ochsner Health contract for Lafayette, Baton Rouge or New Orleans still needs its own contract with Ochsner LSU Health before any Shreveport or Monroe request can go through InPlace.
Does Willis-Knighton take nurse practitioner students?
Willis-Knighton publishes no page for NP students from outside programs, so there is no public process. Any rotation would depend on a contract between the school and the system and on the system's own decision. Meanwhile, independent practices in Shreveport and Bossier City choose their own students and can be approached directly.
Can I do UL Lafayette clinicals in Shreveport, Monroe or Alexandria?
Yes. UL Lafayette's MSN clinical rule is statewide, so any Louisiana city qualifies. Wherever you precept, the nurse practitioner must be licensed in Louisiana and certified for your population, and the school's agreement with the site must be signed before you begin. Need a preceptor fast helps if your term is close.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-27
We check these pages against UL Lafayette's 2026-27 catalog, its online program and state authorization pages, the ICMSN student handbook and Louisiana's nursing rules. Your course faculty and your plan of study have the final word.
Whether UL Lafayette helps or you start alone, we find the preceptor.
Tell us your UL Lafayette program, the practicum coming up and the Louisiana town you train near. We look for preceptors and sites that fit the course and gather the license, CV and agency details that must be on file before your first clinical day.
- Preceptors who meet Louisiana's rules: an active Louisiana license, most hours with an APRN in your population focus
- The preceptor's CV, the agency details and your letter of agreement items gathered early
- Across Acadiana and the rest of Louisiana, plus DNP residencies in your home state
Start your placement plan
Your program, your town and your next clinical semester is all we need to begin.