NP clinicals on the Northshore, Southeastern's home region
The five parishes around Hammond form Southeastern Louisiana University's home region and the fastest-growing part of Louisiana. Both hometown hospital systems take student requests through online forms, the Hammond hospital offers no pediatric rotations for now, and every parish carries a mental health shortage designation.
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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.
Five parishes, three metro areas, one growing region
The Louisiana Department of Health groups Livingston, St. Helena, St. Tammany, Tangipahoa and Washington parishes as Region 9, the Tangipahoa Area. Its 631,185 residents in July 2025 were 5.8% more than the 2020 base, while Louisiana as a whole slipped 0.9%. St. Tammany alone holds 279,108 people, Livingston 155,036, Tangipahoa 141,346, Washington 44,937 and St. Helena 10,758.
Federal maps split the region, so students here look both ways. Tangipahoa is the Hammond metro area, St. Tammany is grouped with New Orleans, and Livingston and St. Helena belong to the Baton Rouge metro. Washington Parish, around Bogalusa and Franklinton, is the only nonmetro parish. By road from campus, Covington is roughly 26 miles, Slidell 47 and Bogalusa 55.
North Oaks and St. Tammany Health System: the two front doors
North Oaks Medical Center in Hammond is run by a public hospital district. According to an archived May 2026 copy of its student clinical request page, a student or school with a course requirement uses an online form, the quickest route to review. The page says pediatric clinical rotations are not offered at this time and names no NP rule, deadline or portal. North Oaks' graduate medical education page lists Southeastern as an academic partner.
St. Tammany Health System, home of St. Tammany Parish Hospital in Covington, has partnered with Ochsner since 2014 under its own name. An archived April 2026 copy of its Nurse Practitioner Clinical Requests page asks current NP students to apply online through the Learning and Development Department, with processing that may take 7 to 10 business days. STHS also describes a joint accelerated BSN with Southeastern in Covington, a bachelor's program rather than a route into NP clinicals.
Either form is only a request to the hospital. Southeastern still needs course faculty approval of the preceptor and a university contract with the facility before any hour counts.
Slidell, Bogalusa, Independence and Lakeview
Other hospitals say less, so start with a preceptor you have identified and a talk with your course faculty.
- Slidell Memorial Hospital East, the former Ochsner Medical Center - Northshore, became a campus of Slidell Memorial Hospital in 2023 under SMH's joint operating agreement with Ochsner. Ochsner's clinical education page lists the Slidell Memorial hospitals among sites needing their own affiliation agreement.
- Lakeview Hospital in Covington now belongs to LCMC Health, whose student page (archived copy) says it runs no preceptor matching and requires a school affiliation agreement first.
- Lallie Kemp Medical Center in Independence, a state-run critical access hospital, plans agreements with schools of nursing in its 2023-2027 strategic plan but posts no student process.
- Our Lady of the Angels Hospital in Bogalusa belongs to FMOL Health, whose website has no nursing or NP student page.
Community clinics and psychiatric hospitals
The five parishes hold 91 active health center sites on HRSA's list, many of them school clinics that follow the school calendar. RKM Primary Care runs 60, 56 in schools, across Livingston and Tangipahoa towns from Walker and Denham Springs to Ponchatoula and Roseland. Southeast Community Health Systems has 21 in Tangipahoa, Livingston and St. Helena. Access Health Louisiana, Start Corporation, Baptist Community Health Services, Family Health Care Clinic, DePaul and HAART add a few sites each, from Slidell and Covington to Bogalusa.
For psychiatric hours, CMS's July 2026 hospital file shows Northlake Behavioral Health System in Mandeville, Universal Behavioral Health Hospital in Hammond, Oceans Behavioral Hospital of Kentwood, Greenbrier Behavioral Health in Covington and Beacon Behavioral Hospital - Northshore in Lacombe. None of the five posts a process for PMHNP students.
Shortage designations, parish by parish
HRSA's September 2026 records split the region. St. Tammany is among just four parishes statewide lacking a primary care designation by area or population, while its four Northshore neighbors each hold one. Every parish carries a mental health designation, three of them the high-needs kind. Scores top out at 25; the higher the score, the greater the need.
| Parish | Primary care | Mental health |
|---|---|---|
| Livingston | Geographic, whole parish, 12 | Geographic, whole parish, 17 |
| St. Helena | Low-income population, 15 | High-needs geographic, 20 |
| St. Tammany | None | Geographic, 8, proposed for withdrawal |
| Tangipahoa | Low-income population, 11; 3 rural health clinics | High-needs geographic, 18 |
| Washington | Low-income population, 19 | High-needs geographic, 16 |
For a PMHNP student, that is a shortage of mental health clinicians running from Denham Springs to Bogalusa, so the search crosses parish lines. Designations change often: check HRSA's HPSA Find before you cite a score.
Which Northshore settings fit which Southeastern course
NURS 6820Family Health I, 200 hours with children and child-bearing women: the region has no children's hospital and North Oaks takes no pediatric rotations, so pediatric time tends to come from family medicine, pediatric groups and the school clinics RKM and Southeast Community Health Systems run.NURS 6830Family Health II andNURS 6840Family Health III, 275 hours apiece with adults and then older adults too: the deepest pool, from family and internal medicine practices to health centers and Tangipahoa's rural health clinics.NURS 6910throughNURS 6930, general psychiatric care followed by child and adolescent and then older adult emphases: the five psychiatric hospitals and outpatient behavioral groups. ForNURS 6920, confirm the preceptor's age mix first.- DNP residency (
NURS 8210toNURS 8230): you select a residency mentor from beyond Southeastern, with faculty weighing in, and a Northshore system or clinic can host the project.
Time on your employer's payroll never counts toward hours, even beside a preceptor on your own unit (clinicals where you work). Specialty hours often pull Northshore students west or east, to the children's and women's hospitals described on the Baton Rouge and Greater New Orleans pages.
Why Northshore students choose us
At Southeastern, graduate students pick preceptors and sites in consultation with course faculty. Faculty approval and the graduate coordinator's review come first, and the university holds the facility contract; choosing your preceptor and clinical contracts cover both. Every preceptor needs an active Louisiana license, with most NP hours beside an APRN in your population focus.
We know this region parish by parish: which hospitals take a form, which need their own agreement, where the school and community clinics are, and where pediatric and psychiatric preceptors run short. Your placement advisor locates a preceptor licensed in Louisiana who matches your exact course, confirms whether a university contract already covers the site, and hands you what the faculty conversation needs, early enough to settle approval before the semester. Start your request.
Questions Southeastern students ask
Does North Oaks take Southeastern NP students for clinicals?
North Oaks' own pages describe no NP placement route. Its graduate medical education page lists Southeastern as an academic partner, and its student request page (archived May 2026 copy) takes course requests through an online form without saying who finds the preceptor. It also rules out pediatric rotations for now.
How long does St. Tammany Health System take to process an NP request?
An archived April 2026 copy of its Nurse Practitioner Clinical Requests page says processing may take 7 to 10 business days after you apply online. Southeastern still needs faculty approval of the preceptor and a university contract with the facility, which can take weeks to months if none exists.
Is Slidell Memorial Hospital East still part of Ochsner for student rotations?
Not automatically. The campus was Ochsner Medical Center - Northshore until 2023 and now belongs to Slidell Memorial Hospital under a joint operating agreement with Ochsner. Ochsner's clinical education page names the Slidell Memorial hospitals among sites that need a separate affiliation agreement, so plan on an extra contract.
Is there a group in Hammond that organizes clinical training sites?
The Southeast Louisiana AHEC is based in Hammond, and its stated role includes organizing clinical training sites for students in medicine, nursing, allied health and dentistry. Its pages describe no NP preceptor matching service, and any preceptor still needs Southeastern's faculty approval.
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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Program, city and start date is all we need to begin.