Aspen MSN Informatics Practicum & Preceptor
If you’re heading into the practicum for Aspen University’s MSN in Nursing Informatics, you need two things lined up before the course begins: a qualified preceptor and an approved field-experience site. This page explains exactly what Aspen requires for the Informatics track, the hours, the preceptor credentials, the kinds of sites that qualify, and the paperwork, and then shows how we can help you secure a specialty-matched preceptor without the months-long search.
What the Informatics practicum requires
Aspen University’s MSN is a 36-credit program delivered as 12 online courses in an 8-week format, completable in as little as 24 months. Nursing Informatics is one of five MSN specializations, alongside Forensic Nursing, Administration & Management, Nursing Education, and Public Health. Each specialization carries a 120-hour practicum that requires a preceptor.
For the Informatics track, you complete 120 practicum hours under a qualified preceptor at an approved site. The practicum coursework is built around courses including N550, N552, and N586, for Informatics, the course is designated N586IN. Practicum courses are graded on a Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory basis. Your hours are documented and signed off as you progress, so getting your preceptor and site approved before the course starts is what keeps you on schedule.
Aspen’s MSN, BSN, and DNP nursing programs are accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE), and Aspen University is institutionally accredited by the Distance Education Accrediting Commission (DEAC). You can review the full set of MSN specializations if you’re still deciding, or read more about how practicum hours are approved.
Who can serve as your Informatics preceptor
For the MSN practicum, your preceptor must be a Registered Nurse who is affiliated with the practicum site and who holds a master’s degree with expertise relevant to the specialty. For the Informatics track, that means a master’s-prepared RN with genuine informatics experience, someone working in or close to the systems, data, and workflows you’ll be learning from.
This credential requirement is often where students get stuck. Finding a master’s-prepared RN with informatics expertise who is also affiliated with an approvable site, and who has the time and willingness to precept, is a narrow search. Aspen leaves that search largely to the student, and many report it dragging on for months. Matching you to a preceptor who actually fits the Informatics specialty is the core of what we do.
Where Informatics practicum hours can be completed
Aspen’s MSN Handbook describes the site types that fit each specialty. For Nursing Informatics, appropriate sites include ambulatory and outpatient informatics departments and Health Information Management (HIM) informatics departments. Many students complete the practicum at their own workplace when it offers a suitable informatics setting and an eligible preceptor.
Much informatics work, systems analysis, data quality, documentation workflows, and quality-improvement projects, is project-based. We offer a virtual practicum service that pairs you with a remote preceptor and a virtual experience, as an alternative to an in-person site. Note that the MSN practicum is project-based, specialty-matched field experience; Aspen does not offer nurse-practitioner tracks, so this is not direct patient-care clinical work.
The paperwork: getting approved before you start
Aspen’s Office of Field Experience (OFE) assists with identifying and approving your site and preceptor, but it does not guarantee placement, students remain responsible for securing their own. Before your practicum course begins, a defined set of forms has to be completed: a Practicum Site Agreement, a Preceptor Agreement, a Student Profile, and a Student Performance Evaluation. Together these lead to a Practicum Approval Letter, which you must obtain before the course starts.
Once you’re underway, hours are logged in ProjectConcert, with a signed preceptor audit report and Week-7 site and preceptor evaluations. You can reach the OFE at ofe@aspen.edu, and we walk you through this whole sequence so nothing stalls your start date. For more detail, see our overview of the Office of Field Experience.
How we help, and when you pay
aspenpreceptor.com is an independent service. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or partnered with Aspen University. What we do is source a real, master’s-prepared Informatics preceptor and an approved field-experience site, in person or virtual, and guide you through Aspen’s approval process so you can begin your N586IN practicum on time.
We assist; we don’t guarantee placement. But our focus is getting students past the months-long preceptor search that Aspen leaves to you. You pay when you’re matched, not before. When you’re ready, find a preceptor or contact us to get started.
What we line up for you
- A master’s-prepared RN preceptor with informatics expertise
- An approved ambulatory/outpatient or HIM informatics site, or a virtual alternative
- Guidance through Aspen’s site agreement, preceptor agreement, and approval-letter steps
- Support documenting hours in ProjectConcert through the Week-7 evaluations
Frequently asked questions
How many practicum hours does the MSN Informatics track require?
The Informatics specialization requires a 120-hour practicum completed under a qualified preceptor at an approved site. Your hours are documented and signed off as you progress, and the practicum course is graded Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory.
What qualifications must my Informatics preceptor have?
Your preceptor must be a Registered Nurse affiliated with the practicum site who holds a master’s degree with expertise relevant to nursing informatics. We match you specifically to a preceptor who fits the Informatics specialty.
What kinds of sites qualify for the Informatics practicum?
Per Aspen’s MSN Handbook, appropriate Informatics sites include ambulatory and outpatient informatics departments and Health Information Management (HIM) informatics departments. Many students use their own workplace, and we can also arrange a virtual alternative through our practicum service.
Can the Informatics practicum be done virtually?
Much informatics work is project-based. We offer a virtual practicum service that pairs you with a remote preceptor and a virtual experience as an alternative to an in-person site.
Are you affiliated with Aspen University?
No. aspenpreceptor.com is an independent service and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or partnered with Aspen University. We help Aspen MSN Informatics students secure a specialty-matched preceptor and an approved site, and you pay only when you’re matched.
Get your Aspen practicum handled.
Tell us your program and specialty. We’ll map your field-experience requirement and start the search, in person or virtual. No payment until you’re matched.