Greater New Orleans: two hospital systems, two sets of rules
Greater New Orleans is Louisiana's most populous health region, and two hospital systems with opposite approaches dominate it. Ochsner accepts graduate nursing requests only from schools on fixed dates, while LCMC Health leaves the preceptor search to the school and student. For a Southeastern Louisiana University NP student, community health centers and private practices matter here as much as the hospitals.
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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.
The four parishes of Region 1
Region 1 on the Louisiana Department of Health's map, the New Orleans Area, covers Jefferson (431,398 people, including Metairie, Kenner, Gretna, Marrero and Westwego), Orleans (362,154), St. Bernard (45,642, around Chalmette) and Plaquemines (22,256, from Belle Chasse to Pointe a la Hache).
Unlike the Northshore, this region is shrinking: its 861,450 residents in July 2025 were 3.4% fewer than the 2020 base of 892,193. All four sit in the New Orleans-Metairie metro area. From the Hammond campus, Metairie is roughly 50 miles by road and downtown New Orleans 57.
Clinical capacity here is spread across many schools. A 2016 Louisiana State Board of Nursing task force record, dated and about undergraduate clinicals, notes Southeastern's report that New Orleans agencies share their clinical obligation with other programs.
Ochsner Health: every request comes from the school
Ochsner's hospitals here include Ochsner Medical Center and Ochsner Children's on Jefferson Highway, Ochsner Baptist with its Women's Pavilion, Ochsner Medical Center - Kenner and the West Bank Campus in Gretna. Its clinical education page explains that a graduate nursing rotation begins only once someone representing a school that already holds an active affiliation agreement enters it in InPlace Network.
Ochsner tells students not to contact its providers, clinicians or staff directly, routing any preceptor of interest through their school coordinator. It asks for an RN license valid where the clinical happens, a compact license included. Ochsner allows at least four months for a new affiliation agreement, capacity fluctuates, and St. Bernard Parish Hospital in Chalmette needs its own agreement.
| Term | Request due | Placement notices begin | Compliance due |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fall | June 15 | July 1 | July 15 |
| Spring | November 15 | December 1 | December 15 |
| Summer | March 15 | May 1 | May 15 |
These are Ochsner's rules for every school, not Southeastern's own process, so raise an Ochsner site with your course faculty well before the request date.
LCMC Health and the Tulane hospitals
LCMC Health runs University Medical Center New Orleans, Touro Infirmary, East Jefferson General in Metairie, West Jefferson Medical Center in Marrero, New Orleans East Hospital, Lakeside Hospital in Metairie and Manning Family Children's, the former Children's Hospital New Orleans. According to an archived April 2026 copy of its nursing student page, LCMC's Academic Affairs office does not coordinate preceptor matching. The school needs an active affiliation agreement, after which learners work with their school and ask each hospital's education office about capacity and available preceptors.
Tulane Medical Center, Lakeside and Lakeview joined LCMC through its partnership with Tulane University, and LCMC's partnership page (archived copy) says most Tulane Medical Center services will shift to East Jefferson General and University Medical Center.
Community health centers across the parishes
HRSA counts 118 active health center sites in the region, run by 15 organizations. Many are school clinics that mostly run on the school year, so match their calendar to your semester.
- DePaul Community Health Centers: 34 sites (20 school-based, 2 mobile) in New Orleans, Harvey, Kenner and Metairie
- Access Health Louisiana: 22 sites (14 school-based) from Kenner and Westwego to Belle Chasse and Chalmette
- St. Thomas Community Health Center: 12 sites in New Orleans and Gretna
- InclusivCare: 10 sites in Kenner, Marrero, Westwego, Lafitte and Grand Isle
- Baptist Community Health Services: 8 sites in New Orleans and Chalmette
- EXCELth and the city's human services health centers: 7 sites each in New Orleans
- Smaller networks: CrescentCare, Priority Health Care, Plaquemines Medical Center in Port Sulphur, NOELA, Odyssey House Louisiana and others
Where the shortage designations fall
Every parish here is metropolitan, yet each holds shortage designations. The mental health ones cover low-income residents rather than whole-parish geography, and Jefferson's primary care designations cover census tracts on the West Bank and around Lafitte. St. Bernard's mental health score of 19 is the region's highest. Several records are proposed for withdrawal, so recheck HPSA Find first.
| Parish | Primary care | Mental health |
|---|---|---|
| Jefferson | Avondale-Westwego tracts: high-needs 16, geographic 15; Gretna-Terrytown low-income 13; Lafitte low-income 14 | Low-income, whole parish, 13 |
| Orleans | Low-income, whole parish, 12; 8 FQHC facilities | Low-income, 16, proposed for withdrawal; 7 FQHC facilities |
| Plaquemines | Geographic, whole parish, 10 | Low-income, 17, proposed for withdrawal |
| St. Bernard | High-needs geographic, 16, proposed for withdrawal | Low-income, whole parish, 19 |
Fitting New Orleans sites to Southeastern's courses
NURS 6820, whose 200 hours center on children and child-bearing women: Manning Family Children's and Ochsner Children's are two of Louisiana's children's hospitals, and the Ochsner Baptist Women's Pavilion is the one dedicated women's site in the state with a published student route. School-based centers run by DePaul and Access Health add pediatric primary care in the school year.NURS 6830andNURS 6840, the two 275-hour adult courses, the second adding older adults: health centers across the West Bank, Orleans and St. Bernard, plus private internal medicine and family practices.NURS 6910toNURS 6930: outpatient behavioral groups and health centers, matched to the age focus ofNURS 6920(children and adolescents) orNURS 6930(older adults).- DNP residency: both big systems want an affiliation agreement first, so start the facility paperwork a term ahead (DNP residency hours).
Every preceptor holds an active Louisiana license, most NP hours go with an APRN in your population focus, and paid work time never counts (Louisiana-only clinicals).
Why New Orleans-area students choose us
At Southeastern the preceptor and site are yours to propose, worked out with course faculty: faculty sign off on each one, the graduate coordinator reviews it, and the university holds the contract with the facility. Choosing your preceptor sets out those steps.
Where one system takes only school requests on fixed dates and the other leaves capacity questions to the school and student, we work the whole map: private practices from Kenner to Chalmette, the 118 health center sites and each hospital's own route. Your placement advisor tracks down a Louisiana-licensed preceptor for your exact course, checks whether a university contract covers the site or a new one must start, and works to the deadlines that apply. Tell us your course and parish.
Questions Southeastern students ask
Can I email Ochsner or call a provider to set up a New Orleans rotation?
No. Ochsner's clinical education page refuses emailed requests, gives students no InPlace access and asks them not to contact providers, clinicians or staff. Bring a site or preceptor of interest to your course faculty instead, well before the posted term dates.
Is Tulane Medical Center still a clinical site?
LCMC's partnership page (archived copy) says most Tulane Medical Center services will move to East Jefferson General Hospital and University Medical Center New Orleans. The downtown hospital is absent from LCMC's nursing student contact list and CMS's July 2026 hospital file, so ask about those two hospitals instead.
Does Ochsner's agreement cover St. Bernard Parish Hospital?
Not by itself. St. Bernard Parish Hospital in Chalmette appears on Ochsner's location list but belongs to a parish hospital service district, and Ochsner names it among sites needing a separate affiliation agreement, which can take months to set up.
Can the New Orleans VA precept a Southeastern NP student?
The Southeast Louisiana Veterans Health Care System's training page lists psychology, physical therapy, RN residency and BSN senior programs, but no NP or APRN student process. VA trainees also need a VA-school affiliation agreement, so raise it with your course faculty before counting on a VA preceptor.
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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