Illinois practice rules and who can precept you

Two ways an Illinois NP practices

Illinois licenses nurses through the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR), which issues separate advanced practice license types for APRNs with and without full practice authority. Section 65-35 of the Nurse Practice Act makes collaboration the default: until an APRN qualifies for full practice, clinical work requires a signed agreement with a physician. APRNs holding privileges at a hospital, a hospital affiliate or an ambulatory surgical treatment center are carved out of that requirement.

Collaboration is looser than many students expect. The statute says it does not require an employment relationship with the physician, and it does not require the physician to be physically present where care is given. So an NP running an outpatient practice under a collaborative agreement may well be the only provider in the building.

Full practice authority sits in Section 65-43. The NP swears, in a notarized filing with IDFPR, to two totals reached since first becoming nationally certified: 4,000 or more clinical hours in the certification area, worked in collaboration with a physician, and 250 or more hours of CE or training. Once that filing is accepted, the written agreement falls away. The AANP still classes Illinois as a reduced practice state.

What this means for who can precept you

Nothing in Bradley's public rules asks whether a preceptor has full practice authority or works under a collaborative agreement. What Bradley does publish is narrower and more practical. Its welcome sites insist that each preceptor's license be active and unencumbered, and warn that an infraction on the license may block approval. Its 2017 preceptor webinar accepted nurse practitioners, MDs and DOs, wanted most hours spent with NPs, and excluded physician assistants, clinical nurse specialists and clinical nurse leaders.

That makes a newly certified NP working under collaboration a candidate on the same footing as a veteran with full practice authority, as far as Bradley's public rules go. Bradley publishes no minimum years of experience, so check your track's clinical packet in MyOnline before relying on a recent graduate. A collaborating physician can also precept, though the NP-majority guidance means physician hours are best kept to a share of the course. The full list sits on Bradley preceptor requirements.

Why an Illinois NP may be glad to say yes

Illinois gives preceptors something concrete. Title 68, Rule 1300.130 lets precepting count toward an Illinois APRN's renewal: each APRN student supervised through a full semester or quarter is worth 10 CE hours, capped at 30 in a single renewal cycle, and the proof comes from the school. When you ask, mention it.

The same framework explains where preceptors sit. Hospital-privileged APRNs fall outside the written-agreement rule, which is useful context for AGACNP students seeking acute care preceptors in Chicago or Peoria. Outpatient NPs in primary care and mental health practices may hold either status, and either one fits Bradley's published rules. Our placement desk confirms each preceptor's role, setting and license standing against Bradley's rules before a name reaches you, and the preceptor page explains the commitment to the NPs we approach.