When I accepted my first faculty position, I thought I understood the job: I would teach. Then I received my first workload assignment. There was something about credit hours, clinical ratios, and committee meetings, and I stared at it the way a new grad stares at a 12-lead EKG for the first time. I recognized the words, but not in those particular combinations. Nobody explains faculty workload to clinicians before they make the jump.

Clinical preceptors are essential to NP education. However, they often find themselves overextended. They teach while juggling productivity, mentor while managing complex patients, and support students while meeting organizational expectations that rarely acknowledge their educational role. Preceptor burnout isn’t a sign of a lack of commitment. Instead, it stems from systems that rely on goodwill instead of structure. Supporting preceptors requires intentional design—not jus