The process
A clinical placement, stage by stage — including the points where it can stop
Nothing here is hidden until you have paid. This is the whole sequence, what happens at each stage, and who is responsible for it.
- Clear stop points
- Staged payment process
- School approval remains required
Who this is for
If any of these is you, the process below is built around exactly that problem.
You have a deadline
A rotation to place this term
Your program has given you hours, a specialty, and a window. You need a verified preceptor your school will actually approve.
You have been searching
Cold-emailing clinics is not working
Self-arranged placements fall through on the same three things every term: an unverified preceptor, a missed school requirement, or paperwork nobody is tracking.
You have been here before
A placement collapsed at approval
That costs a semester. Approval is a required stage here, checked against your program's rules from the first search.
Four phases, eight stages
Each stage has a defined owner and a defined exit. You can see which one a placement is in at any point.
Phase 1: Describe and match
Stage 1: Rotation request
You describe what your program requires. Your school's placement rules are attached from the start.
Stage 2: Matching
You see why each preceptor matched. Candidates that cannot work are excluded with the reason shown.
Phase 2: Agree and arrange payment
Stage 3: Offer and mutual acceptance
Nothing becomes a placement until both sides accept. Offers expire if they are not accepted.
Stage 4: Quote and staged payment
A fixed quote at acceptance, split across three milestones tied to progress.
Phase 3: Complete approvals
Stage 5: Paperwork and signatures
One packet, with every outstanding item owned. Items that block progress are marked as blocking.
Stage 6: School approval
A required stage. A placement cannot proceed to onboarding without it.
Phase 4: Begin and complete the rotation
Stage 7: Site onboarding and scheduling
Checklists, orientation, then a confirmed schedule stored in the site's own time zone.
Stage 8: Start, delivery, and completion
Both sides confirm the start. The preceptor's honorarium is only released after a verified one.
What changes versus arranging it yourself
Not a comparison against a competitor — a comparison against the way most rotations are actually arranged.
| Subject | Self-arranged | Through Preceptor Cove |
|---|---|---|
| Verifying a preceptor | Self-arranged: You verify a preceptor's licence yourself, or you do not | Through Preceptor Cove: Licensure and malpractice cover verified before a preceptor can accept you |
| School approval | Self-arranged: Your school's requirements surface at approval, after you have committed | Through Preceptor Cove: Your program's placement rules applied from the first search |
| Paperwork coordination | Self-arranged: Paperwork lives in a dozen email threads with no owner | Through Preceptor Cove: One packet, one checklist, every outstanding item owned and tracked |
| If a placement falls through | Self-arranged: A withdrawal or a denial is entirely your problem, mid-semester | Through Preceptor Cove: Withdrawal and school denial are refundable under a published policy |
| Price and payment | Self-arranged: No fixed price, and no recourse if it falls through | Through Preceptor Cove: A fixed quote at acceptance, paid across three milestones |
What happens if it goes wrong
The three failure modes that actually occur, and what each one costs you.
Built-in safeguards
School denial is refundable
Under our published exception policy a school denial is fully refundable, and it opens a case rather than quietly closing.
Preceptor withdrawal is ours to fix
Fully refundable under the same policy. Approved paperwork carries over where it is still valid, and we search for a replacement.
Nothing is charged up front
Payment is released against three milestones you can see. The quote issued at acceptance is fixed and cannot change afterwards.
Full terms, milestone amounts, and the exception policy are on the pricing page.
What we deliberately do not do
Two decisions that cost us marketing material and are worth it.
Clear boundaries
We do not hold patient data
No patient names, medical record numbers, encounter notes, or any other patient health information. Hours are tracked in aggregate, not as a log of who you saw. There is no clinical reason for a coordination platform to hold that data, so it does not.
We do not publish preceptor identities
Matches are visible to the student whose request produced them, and identifying details are released at a defined point in the process. That is what stops preceptors being contacted directly and their availability being scraped.
Your school remains the approving authority for your placement, and your clinical site remains responsible for supervising your practice. Neither responsibility moves to us.
Questions about the process
What happens if my school denies the placement?
The placement stops there, and a school denial opens a case rather than quietly closing. Under our published exception policy a school denial is fully refundable, and we can search for a placement that meets your program's requirements instead.
What if my preceptor withdraws after I have paid?
A preceptor withdrawal is treated as our problem to solve, not yours. It is fully refundable under the same policy, your approved paperwork carries over where it is still valid, and we search for a replacement.
When do I get my preceptor's contact details?
After mutual acceptance and the payment stage that follows it. Contact details are released at a defined point rather than being visible while you browse, which protects preceptors from being contacted directly outside the process.
How long does the whole process take?
It varies by specialty, area, and how quickly your school responds — the stages that depend on us are fast, and the ones that depend on a school or a site are not always. Rather than quote an average we do not stand behind, we show you exactly which stage a placement is in and what is outstanding at each one.
Do I pay to search?
No. Creating an account, describing a rotation, and seeing matched preceptors with an estimated cost are all free. The first payment milestone is at mutual acceptance, once you have a real placement to pay for.
Can my school talk to you directly?
Yes. Schools get their own view of a placement to review and approve, and the paperwork packet is assembled to the requirements your program specifies. See the schools page for how that works.
Ready to describe your rotation?
Creating a request is free. You will see matched preceptors and an estimated cost before any payment is due.