New Castle, Kent and Sussex: a preceptor search county by county
Delaware has three counties, and none of them carries a whole-county shortage designation today; HRSA's designations follow low-income and Medicaid-eligible residents, community health centers and correctional facilities instead. That map, the state's NP license roster and each county's health systems shape where a Wilmington University student's preceptor search goes.
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Tell us your WilmU program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with the preceptor and site options that fit your WilmU course.
How Delaware's shortage map works now
HRSA's shortage-area data for September 2026 shows no geographic health professional shortage area covering a whole Delaware county, in any discipline. The older geographic mental health designation for Kent County has been withdrawn. What remains are designations tied to populations (low-income or Medicaid-eligible residents), to federally qualified health centers, and to correctional facilities.
Each designation carries separate scores for primary care, mental health and dental care, and a higher score marks a deeper shortage. For a WilmU search, the primary care and mental health scores are the ones to read: they point to where demand runs highest on the ground the Family Practicums and the PMHNP practicums cover.
New Castle County: WilmU's home county
New Castle County holds WilmU's main campus in New Castle and its Brandywine location in Wilmington. HRSA lists a low-income population designation for Wilmington, Stanton and Newark, dated October 24, 2025, scored 16 for primary care, 16 for mental health and 17 for dental. Two health centers hold their own FQHC designations: Westside Family Healthcare, and the Southbridge Medical Advisory Council, better known as Henrietta Johnson Medical Center.
The county's correctional designations cover the James T. Vaughn, Howard R. Young and Baylor facilities. ChristianaCare, in Newark and Wilmington, is the large system here, and its student intake begins with the school's affiliation agreement; the Delaware NP preceptors guide sets out what each system's own page says.
Kent County: Dover and the middle of the state
Kent County is home to WilmU's Dover location and its Dover Air Force Base affiliate site. HRSA's Medicaid-eligible population designation for Kent County scores 16 for primary care, designated July 30, 2025, with mental health at 15 and dental at 13, designated March 5, 2026. Earlier low-income Kent designations for mental health and dental are proposed for withdrawal.
Westside Family Healthcare also runs sites in Dover, and HRSA files those under the health center's FQHC designation in New Castle County, so Westside's scores cover its Dover locations too. Bayhealth, with hospitals in Dover and Milford, is the large system in the middle of the state. Its own page describes one-to-one NP and DNP rotations that begin when a Bayhealth preceptor accepts the student.
Sussex County: the southern end of the state
Sussex County's Medicaid-eligible population designation, dated March 2026, scores 14 for primary care, 16 for mental health and 16 for dental, and older versions are proposed for withdrawal. La Red Health Center, including Western Sussex Community Health Center, holds an FQHC designation scored 21 for primary care and 22 for mental health, the highest mental health score on this page. Sussex Correctional Institution carries its own designation.
Beebe Healthcare in Lewes onboards NP students through Clinician Nexus, and TidalHealth sits just over the Maryland line in Salisbury with a 90-day request window. A rotation across that line brings in WilmU's condition of RN licensure for the state of the clinical, so check your license before counting on a Maryland site.
The three counties side by side
Scores run primary care, mental health, dental, from HRSA's shortage-area data. None of these designations covers a whole county's population.
| County | WilmU locations | Population designation | Health center designations |
|---|---|---|---|
| New Castle | New Castle (main campus), Brandywine | Low-income, Wilmington/Stanton/Newark: 16, 16, 17 | Westside Family Healthcare: 21, 16, 25; Henrietta Johnson Medical Center: 20, 15, 25 |
| Kent | Dover; Dover Air Force Base | Medicaid-eligible, Kent County: 16, 15, 13 | Westside's Dover sites, under its New Castle County designation |
| Sussex | None on WilmU's current list | Medicaid-eligible, Sussex County: 14, 16, 16 | La Red Health Center, incl. Western Sussex Community Health Center: 21, 22, 25 |
How many NPs Delaware has, and where they live
Delaware's open-data license roster, updated September 26, 2026, lists 5,413 active NP licenses. Family NP is the largest focus at 3,147, then Psych/Mental Health NP at 1,034 and Adult/Gerontology NP at 754; Pediatric NP (233) and Women's Health NP (116) are far smaller. These are license records, not people, and one clinician can hold more than one population-focus license.
Only 1,791 of those NP licenses carry a Delaware address. The next largest groups list Pennsylvania (846), Maryland (472) and New Jersey (291), a reminder that the region's clinicians cross state lines. The roster is statewide, so it offers no county-by-county figure for comparing New Castle with Sussex.
Where we look in each county
We build each Delaware search outward from the student's home. In New Castle County that means family and psychiatric practices around Wilmington, Stanton and Newark along with the health centers named above; in Kent County, practices around Dover and Westside's Dover sites; in Sussex County, community practices and La Red's network, with Lewes and the Maryland line in range for students who live nearby.
Community health centers belong in every Delaware search: their designations carry both primary care and mental health scores, and Delaware's 2027 preceptor grant law names FQHCs among the facilities that can receive grants. Each preceptor we propose is checked for a license and focus that fit your course, and WilmU's faculty have the final word on every preceptor and site. Start with your county and course.
Questions WilmU students ask
Is Sussex County, Delaware a health professional shortage area?
Parts of its population are. HRSA lists a Medicaid-eligible population designation for Sussex County, scored 14 for primary care and 16 for mental health, plus an FQHC designation for La Red Health Center and a correctional designation. No Delaware county currently holds a whole-county geographic designation in any discipline.
How many family nurse practitioners are licensed in Delaware?
Delaware's roster, updated in September 2026, shows 3,147 active Family NP licenses among 5,413 active NP licenses in all. The figures count license records rather than people, and only 1,791 of the NP records list a Delaware address, so the totals include many clinicians who live in neighboring states.
Where is mental health need highest in Delaware?
The three population designations score close together for mental health, 15 in Kent and 16 in New Castle and Sussex. The standout is La Red Health Center's FQHC designation in Sussex County, scored 22 for mental health, which makes community mental health in southern Delaware worth a look for a PMHNP search.
Why are Westside's Dover sites filed under New Castle County?
HRSA files Westside Family Healthcare's FQHC designation under New Castle County, and that designation covers the health center's Dover sites as well. For a Kent County student, Westside's scores of 21 for primary care and 16 for mental health therefore describe its Dover locations too.
Can a Sussex County student train at a Maryland site?
WilmU's catalog ties clinicals to RN licensure for the state where the clinical takes place, so a Salisbury rotation calls for licensure valid in Maryland. TidalHealth asks for its request form at least 90 days before the start date and locates the provider itself. Confirm any out-of-state site with your NP Program Chair.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-27
We check these pages against Wilmington University's own program and curriculum pages, the 2026-27 graduate catalog, the College of Nursing and Health Sciences policies and the State Licensures by Program page. Your NP Program Chair, your course faculty and the College have the final word.
A WilmU practicum coming up? Your preceptor search starts here.
Tell us your WilmU program, where you live and when your next practicum starts. Whether WilmU's faculty help with your placement or you are starting the search yourself, we find preceptors who fit the course, check the health system's own intake steps, and organize the preceptor's license and credentials well before the first day.
- Preceptors matched to the course: family practice across the lifespan for
GRN 7121toGRN 7124, psychiatric mental health forGRN 7221toGRN 7224, doctorally prepared for the DNP - Clinicians who meet Delaware's rule for APRN program preceptors: an active APRN, PA, pharmacist or physician license in a comparable focus
- Close to home, in a state where you hold an RN license, with each system's onboarding mapped out early
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