Preceptors and clinical sites in central Louisiana for Southeastern NP students
Central Louisiana is the state health department's Region 6: eight parishes around Alexandria, each with a whole-parish primary care shortage designation. CHRISTUS St. Frances Cabrini wants a signed affiliation agreement started by your faculty, Rapides Regional posts nothing for NP students, and community health centers reach the rural towns. For Southeastern Louisiana University students, that calls for an early, organized search, which is what we run.
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Tell us your Southeastern program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with preceptor and site options in your community that fit your Southeastern course.
Region 6 at a glance
Region 6 takes in Avoyelles, Catahoula, Concordia, Grant, LaSalle, Rapides, Vernon and Winn parishes: an estimated 287,158 residents in July 2025, 3.2% fewer than in 2020. Rapides alone holds 125,877, centered on Alexandria and Pineville; Catahoula counts 8,223.
Only Rapides and Grant are metro, forming the Alexandria metro area. The other six are nonmetro under the USDA's 2023 codes, with Catahoula at code 9, the most rural rating. Concordia, home to Vidalia and Ferriday, is counted in the Natchez, Mississippi-Louisiana micropolitan area, and Vernon holds Leesville and Fort Johnson. Marksville, Bunkie, Colfax, Jena, Harrisonburg and Winnfield fill in the map, and Alexandria is roughly 169 road miles from the Hammond campus.
Hospitals in Alexandria and Pineville, by their own student pages
CHRISTUS Health operates CHRISTUS St. Frances Cabrini Hospital and CHRISTUS Central Louisiana Surgical Hospital in Alexandria. Its system-wide clinical learning page lists advanced practice practitioners among its learners and requires the school and CHRISTUS to sign a written Clinical Education Affiliation Agreement before the placement term starts. A current student's faculty advisor is asked to identify the CHRISTUS site and contact its office, and the page cautions that it cannot promise a rotation to every interested student. Online rotation requests cover Texas markets only.
Rapides Regional Medical Center, an HCA hospital, calls itself a teaching hospital. An archived April 2026 copy of that page covers residents, VCOM medical students and Northwestern State University's nurse anesthesia students, with no mention of NP students: a landmark rather than a posted route.
Pineville adds the Alexandria VA Medical Center and Central Louisiana State Hospital, the state psychiatric hospital, and Fort Johnson has Bayne-Jones Army Community Hospital. The VA takes trainees under a VA-school affiliation agreement; the sources we read show no student process for the other two. Wherever you train, the facility's contract with the university comes first, as clinical contracts explains.
Community health centers reach the small towns
HRSA's September 2026 file lists 86 active health center sites in Region 6, a large primary care network for a mostly rural region. Winn Community Health Center holds 56 of them, 39 school-based. School-based sites mostly follow the school calendar, which suits a fall or spring pediatric rotation better than a summer one.
| Organization | Sites | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Winn Community Health Center | 56 (39 school-based) | Nine Rapides towns including Alexandria and Pineville; Winnfield; Colfax and three other Grant towns; Marksville |
| Access Health Louisiana | 16 (14 school-based) | Rapides and Grant towns, Mansura, Moreauville, Jena |
| Catahoula Parish Hospital District #2 | 6 | Jonesville, Sicily Island, Ferriday |
| Rapides Primary Health Care Center | 5 | Alexandria, Bunkie |
| Iberia Comprehensive and Outpatient Medical Center | 1 each | Leesville |
| Tensas Community Health Center | 1 | Vidalia |
Shortage designations cover all eight parishes
In HRSA's September 2026 records every Region 6 parish holds a whole-parish primary care Health Professional Shortage Area (HPSA) and a mental health HPSA too. Scores run from 0 to 25, higher meaning greater need.
| Parish | Primary care | Mental health |
|---|---|---|
| Avoyelles | 17, high-needs | 20, high-needs |
| Catahoula | 18, high-needs | 18, high-needs |
| Concordia | 17, high-needs | 21, high-needs |
| Grant | 20, geographic | 15, high-needs |
| LaSalle | 15, LI | 16, geographic |
| Rapides | 16, LI | 19, LI |
| Vernon | 11, geographic | 17, geographic |
| Winn | 12, LI | 19, high-needs |
Avoyelles also carries facility designations for six rural health clinics. With a mental health shortage in every parish, psychiatric preceptors are scarce relative to need, so a PMHNP search here should start a semester early and cross parish lines.
Fitting Southeastern's courses to central Louisiana
Southeastern's graduate students choose their own preceptors and sites, working it out with course faculty; faculty approval and the graduate coordinator's review come before any hour counts (choosing your preceptor). Louisiana expects most NP hours under an APRN certified in your population focus (preceptor requirements).
NURS 6820(200 hours in pediatrics and the care of child-bearing women): with no children's hospital in the region, pediatric hours usually come from family practices, pediatric groups and the Winn and Access Health school-based sites.NURS 6830andNURS 6840(275 hours apiece, first adults, then adults and older adults): health centers in Alexandria, Bunkie, Jonesville and Leesville, rural health clinics, and family or internal medicine practices in Rapides.NURS 6910toNURS 6930(psychiatric foundations, a child and adolescent emphasis, then an older-adult emphasis): outpatient behavioral health practices and health centers, with Central Louisiana State Hospital as the region's state psychiatric hospital.- DNP residency,
NURS 8210toNURS 8230: parishes scoring near 20 give a project real population-health stakes.
Hours logged while an employer is paying you never count, even at your own hospital; see clinicals where you work.
Why central Louisiana students choose us
Our search starts where the published hospital routes stop. We reach past the two Alexandria hospitals to practices, health centers, rural health clinics and psychiatric groups from Leesville to Vidalia, confirm each preceptor's Louisiana license and population focus against your course, check the site's contract status with the university, and hand you a complete packet for the faculty conversation. When a CHRISTUS site fits, we gather the facility details your faculty advisor needs for the agreement. Send your parish and course through the placement request form.
Questions Southeastern students ask
I live in Vidalia. Can my clinical hours be in Natchez?
Not for the MSN or the PMHNP certificate. Concordia Parish sits in the Natchez micropolitan area, but Southeastern keeps those hours in Louisiana, and Louisiana's rules call for a preceptor with a Louisiana license. Vidalia and Ferriday both have health center sites, and Catahoula's hospital district runs clinics in Jonesville and Sicily Island. Louisiana-only clinicals explains the rule.
Does CHRISTUS St. Frances Cabrini accept Southeastern NP students?
CHRISTUS describes a process rather than a promise: advanced practice students come in once the school and CHRISTUS have signed a Clinical Education Affiliation Agreement before the term, with the faculty advisor identifying the site. None of the sources we read name Southeastern, so ask your course faculty whether an agreement exists or needs to begin.
Rapides Regional has no NP student page. Is it still worth a try?
Possibly, through an individual preceptor rather than a program. Its archived teaching page covers residents, medical students and nurse anesthesia students only. If an APRN there agrees to precept you, course faculty still approve the choice, and the hospital must hold a current contract with the university before your first hour.
Where do PMHNP students find psychiatric hours around Alexandria?
Central Louisiana State Hospital and the Alexandria VA Medical Center in Pineville are the anchors, though our sources show no NP student page for either, so any request runs through faculty. Outpatient psychiatric practices and health centers carry most of the load. The consortium faculty handbook asks that a behavioral health preceptor be independently licensed, not under supervision.
Do school-based clinics work for Family Health I pediatric hours?
They can, when an approved APRN preceptor sees children there and course faculty sign off. Winn Community Health Center lists 39 school-based sites in the region and Access Health Louisiana 14. Most follow the school calendar, so a summer section of NURS 6820 may need a family or pediatric practice instead.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-27
We check these pages against Southeastern's own catalog, program pages and consortium handbook, and Louisiana rules. Your course faculty, the graduate coordinator and your advisor have the final word.
Southeastern asks you to choose your preceptor. We find one near you.
Tell us your Southeastern track, where in Louisiana you live and when your next clinical course starts. We find Louisiana-licensed preceptors who fit the course, confirm whether the facility is already under contract with the university, and hand you what your course faculty need to approve it before the semester.
- Pediatric and women's health preceptors for
NURS 6820, adult and older-adult primary care forNURS 6830andNURS 6840 - Psychiatric preceptors for
NURS 6910toNURS 6930, with the child and older-adult focus each course sets - Across Louisiana, from the Northshore to Shreveport
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