NP clinicals in Lake and McHenry counties
Lake and McHenry counties hold just over a million people and sit 53 to 69 road miles from Romeoville, the farthest of the collar counties. Northwestern Medicine runs a graduate placement committee for its four hospitals here, Mercyhealth asks students to apply rather than approach its providers, and a county-run health center network anchors Waukegan.
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Tell us your Lewis program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with preceptor and site options in your community that fit your Lewis course.
Counties, towns and distance
The July 1, 2025 Census estimates put Lake County at 719,339 and McHenry at 317,751, for 1,037,090 in all. Lake's towns include Waukegan, North Chicago, Zion, Gurnee, Libertyville, Mundelein, Vernon Hills, Grayslake, Round Lake Beach, Lake Forest, Highland Park and Lake Zurich. McHenry's include Crystal Lake, McHenry, Woodstock, Huntley, Algonquin, Lake in the Hills, Cary and Harvard.
From Lewis's campus, Libertyville is about 53 miles by road, roughly 81 minutes without traffic; Waukegan about 64 miles, roughly 88 minutes; and Woodstock about 69 miles, roughly 1 hour 40 minutes. USDA codes both counties metropolitan: Lake anchors its own 'Lake County, IL' Metropolitan Division, while McHenry sits in the Chicago-Naperville-Schaumburg division. This guide is for students who live or work up here.
Northwestern Medicine's graduate placement committee
Northwestern Medicine runs four hospitals in the region: Lake Forest, paired with its Grayslake campus in NM's student pages, plus Huntley, McHenry and Woodstock. According to its north and northwest suburbs page, one graduate application for APRN, PA, MSN and DNP students covers those hospitals and ambulatory settings across the region.
The terms are explicit. Only students from schools with a current Northwestern affiliation agreement are placed, Northwestern's own staff get priority, and graduation dates are weighed. Requests typically outrun availability, and women's health, pediatric and other specialty spots are not always open. A committee meets monthly, and Northwestern asks for at least four to eight weeks before a response.
For a Lewis student, that means two moves at once: ask the Clinical Placement Office whether Lewis holds a current Northwestern agreement covering graduate students, and keep a second preceptor search running. FNP students aiming at NURS 64100 or NURS 64300 should read Northwestern's specialty caveat as a reason to start early; the women's and pediatric practicum guide covers both courses.
Advocate, Endeavor, Mercyhealth and the federal center in North Chicago
Advocate Condell in Libertyville and Advocate Good Shepherd in Barrington, which geocodes to Lake County, come under Advocate Health Care's placement page. It offers Illinois NP students an inpatient route through myClinicalExchange but lists Illinois NP rotations among those where Advocate does not find the preceptor.
Endeavor Health's Highland Park Hospital follows Endeavor's rules: school requests in myClinicalExchange, with fall and winter requests due March 1 and spring and summer requests due August 1, an executed school agreement before day one, and for licensed nurses, a preceptor who has agreed before the application goes in.
Mercyhealth, with hospitals in Harvard and Crystal Lake, works differently: NP students apply through Mercyhealth's own form, one per clinical request, rather than approaching its providers, as the FAQ below explains. We respect that, and we build your wider search around a Mercyhealth application.
The Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center in North Chicago, a combined VA and Navy facility, trains through academic affiliation agreements that schools arrange, so any interest there goes through Lewis. Vista Medical Center East, an independent Waukegan hospital, completes the map.
Health centers and shortage designations up north
The Lake County Health Department runs a federally qualified health center with nine active sites across Waukegan, North Chicago, Zion, Round Lake, Round Lake Beach, Libertyville and Highland Park; HRSA scores its facility designation 21. Erie HealthReach Waukegan adds another, and McHenry County has sites run by Greater Family Health (McHenry), Community Health Partnership of Illinois (Harvard) and Aunt Martha's Health & Wellness (Woodstock).
Primary care need centers on Waukegan: HRSA designates a low-income 'LI-Waukegan' area scored 17 in Waukegan township, while a wider 43-tract low-income area across Waukegan, Zion and Benton, scored 15, is proposed for withdrawal. McHenry County has no primary care HPSA.
Both counties are covered by HRSA's low-income 'LI-Northern IL MHCA', a mental health designation scored 17. McHenry also has a whole-county geographic mental health designation scored 11 that is proposed for withdrawal, and HRSA marks McHenry's mental health HPSAs 'Partially Rural'. Competition for hospital slots is real as well: the Board of Nursing's minutes from May 2026 approve an out-of-state nursing program's students for clinicals at Advocate Condell and Northwestern Medicine Lake Forest.
Matching Lewis practicums to Lake and McHenry settings
Each 16-week Lewis practicum needs its own kind of preceptor; here are local options and catches.
| Practicum | Local options | Plan for |
|---|---|---|
NURS 61100, NURS 61800 | Family and internal medicine offices; county and McHenry health centers | Mercyhealth clinics go through Mercyhealth's application |
NURS 64100, NURS 64300 (FNP) | Women's health, pediatric and family offices | Northwestern says these spots are not always available |
NURS 61500 (AGPCNP) | Adult-gerontology primary care for your course's population | Confirm the population with your track coordinator |
NURS 62500, NURS 62700 (AGACNP) | Inpatient teams at Condell, Good Shepherd, Highland Park and Northwestern | Northwestern's monthly committee; Advocate wants the preceptor first |
NURS 63300, NURS 63500, NURS 63700 (PMHNP) | Outpatient psychiatric practices, all ages | McHenry's mental health shortage is partly rural |
Lewis approves every choice through its contract request, as the identifying preceptors guide explains. The acute care practicum guide covers both AGACNP courses, and Illinois's preceptor CE credit is worth raising when you ask a local NP to take you on.
Why students in Lake and McHenry choose us
Up here, the right route depends on the system: Northwestern's committee, Advocate's inpatient process, Endeavor's cutoffs, Mercyhealth's application. We sort that out first, then search the practices and teams that can realistically take you, close to where you live and work in Gurnee, Crystal Lake or Highland Park.
You get a preceptor matched to your Lewis course, every detail the contract portal asks for in time for Lewis's review, and a placement advisor on call through the term who finds a replacement if a preceptor drops. Tell us your town and practicum on the placement request form.
Questions Lewis students ask
What if Northwestern Medicine turns down my placement application?
Northwestern's page anticipates it: requests typically exceed availability, so applicants are told to pursue alternate placements at the same time. A second preceptor in a private practice or health center, ready for Lewis's contract request, keeps your practicum term on schedule while the committee decides.
Can I call Mercyhealth clinics in Crystal Lake or Harvard to find a preceptor?
Mercyhealth's rotation page tells students and schools to stay out of direct contact with its providers and locations. NP students submit Mercyhealth's own application instead, one per clinical request, and Mercyhealth offers placement assistance, given an active affiliation agreement and its compliance checklist. We help you prepare that application and run your wider search alongside it.
Can a Lewis NP student train at the Lovell Federal Health Care Center?
Lovell trains more than 400 residents, interns and students a year, but VA training runs through academic affiliation agreements between a school and the VA. Interest therefore starts with Lewis's Clinical Placement Office rather than a direct request from you, and whether a graduate NP rotation is possible depends on that agreement.
I live near the Cook County line. Which guide should I use?
If your likely sites are in Highland Park, Lake Zurich or Barrington, this guide applies. For Evanston, Schaumburg and the rest of north and northwest Cook County, see the north suburbs guide. Lewis's approval and contract request work the same on either side of the line.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-25
We check these pages against Lewis's own catalog, program pages and FAQ, its contract portal and Illinois law. Your course, your track coordinator and the Clinical Placement Office have the final word.
Lewis asks you to identify your preceptor. We do the searching.
Tell us your Lewis program, where you live and when your next practicum starts. We find preceptors near you who fit the course and prepare every detail the contract portal asks for, so your request goes in complete.
- Preceptors matched to the practicum: primary care for
NURS 61100andNURS 61800, acute care forNURS 62500, psychiatric care forNURS 63300 - Preceptor, license and site details ready for your preceptor contract request
- In your own community, anywhere Lewis enrolls you and your RN license is valid
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