Clinical Hour Requirements
For FNP education, the majority of students hours are in primary care across the lifespan to prepare students for licensure and national certification. However, there are additional hour requirements to meet the program of study and broaden the experience. Please note that APRNs cannot practice in a population focus for which they were not educated. For example, if students want to pursue a practice in a pediatric or women’s health sub-specialty (e.g., Pediatric Gastroenterology, or Reproductive Endocrinology), the preceptor would need to demonstrate PNP or WHNP education and certification. For more information about the APRN Consensus Model, students may visit: https://www.ncsbn.org/736.htm.
Preceptor Availability & Scheduling Hours
The student’s clinical practicum hours are to be scheduled at the convenience and availability of the preceptor. Students should not request or expect preceptors to conform to a schedule to meet their own personal and/or employment needs/preferences. Students are expected to participate in the required number of clinical hours prescribed by the clinical course, and students are expected to amend their own personal and work schedules accordingly.
Students are expected to begin their clinical experience when the course begins to ensure adequate time to complete assignments unless stated otherwise in the syllabus. Students are not permitted to begin hours PRIOR to the start date of the course, or on holiday breaks without approval, and the course required hours must be completed prior to the end of the course. If hours are not completed within the clinical course dates, the student will be required to retake the clinical and didactic course. If a student fails or withdraws from a clinical course, the respective hours will be rejected and all hours must be made up to meet the course requirement, though journal entries will remain subject to faculty approval. Clinical hours do not roll over from course to course – students must obtain the minimum required hours of each clinical course. By the end of the program, all clinical hours must be complete.
Each clinical course requires 135 clinical hours. Students are advised to break up these hours weekly and seek preceptors that are available for about 17 hours per week. Students should not spend more than 12 hours in a clinical day. Students are responsible for contacting their preceptor/site to ensure appropriate availability and schedule to achieve the course requirements.
Students may not be paid by the clinical site and preceptor while completing clinical hours. Clinical hours must be separate from students’ normal job duties and hours, if applicable. Students who are pursuing a clinical site at their place of employment must disclose this in writing to their Clinical Placement Coordinator and to their course clinical instructor. Students may not work with a preceptor who is a spouse, domestic partner, or first degree relative, unless they have written permission from the Program Director.
Documenting Hours
Timely and complete documentation is a professional responsibility of all clinicians. Students are expected to document all patient encounters, whether observed or performed, and experiences using Project Concert within 48 hours of the clinical encounter or the associated hours will not count towards the clinical hour or entry requirements. Students’ are required to obtain a total of 540 clinical hours associated with patient experiences. Hours are entered into Project Concert by completing Hours log and Journal Entry logs. All patient experiences must be entered into a Journal so that it counts toward your Journal Entry Specialty requirements. Patient experience time includes the time you are in the room with the patient, the time you are talking with your preceptor about that particular patient and the time you take to chart for that, and any administrative activities associated with the patient. That entire time counts as patient time because it is related to the single visit.
Notice of Faculty Discretion
Approval of clinical logs is at the discretion of the designated faculty based on evidence of clinical achievement. This includes all associated meetings and contact related to the clinical experience, adequate demonstration of progress related to documentation of patient encounters, and timely documentation of clinical experiences/hours.
Hours & Journal Entry Breakdown
An FNP program shall provide clinical instruction that includes, at a minimum, selected and guided experiences that develop a student's ability to apply core principles of advanced practice nursing in varied settings when caring for patients within the full lifespan. Most of the clinical hours will be completed in a family practice or internal medicine setting. All hours for each population must be identified separately in your clinical log in Project Concert.
Students should review FNP Site & Preceptor Guidance (Appendix J) to review requirement details and recommendations prior to selecting their preceptor and site for approval.
Within the required 540 clinical hours students must complete:
Clinical Rotations (four): 135 hours per 8-week rotation
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First rotation (FNP592) must be family practice or primary care across the lifespan setting Notice for students starting clinicals March 2021 and later: If you are unable to rotate in family practice/primary care setting in your first rotation, you must contact your Clinical Placement Coordinator. If you receive approval to start in a rotation other than family practice, you will be required to meet the 135 hours in family practice/primary care across the lifespan by the end of your final clinical course.
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Subsequent rotations to meet the specialty requirements is at student’s discretion
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Students are highly recommended to spend the majority of their clinical experience with Family Nurse Practitioner preceptors. At minimum students are expected to spend 135 hours with a Nurse Practitioner preceptor.
Required/Core Hours & Journal Entry Specialty Requirements
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You may be able to meet all required/core specialty requirements in the family practice/primary care setting
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If you rotate in an Internal Medicine clinic, you will likely not see pediatrics and will need to seek out a pediatrics preceptor/site
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Urgent cares will not fulfill this requirement
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Geriatrics cases include care for people age 65 and older
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Inpatient hours may not be counted as FNP student experience; however, you may follow and learn from your preceptor for your own knowledge expansion
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Pediatrics cases include care for people age 0-17
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For students who enter clinicals after March 2021, the journal entry requirements are broken down as follows:
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Newborns to infant (0 to <12 mo): 15 journal entries minimum
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Children (ages 1-12): 50 journal entries minimum
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Adolescent (ages 13-17): 15 journal entries minimum
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Pediatrics are seen in a variety of locations, including but not limited to primary care pediatric practices, urgent care centers, student health centers, and Emergency departments
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Students need to ensure they are exposed to primary care pediatric cases, to include well-child health supervision and vaccine administration
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The majority of the cases should come from primary care and not only ER and urgent care
Approved cases:
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Annual, or other interval (every three years, etc.) women’s health exams
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Pelvic exams, pap smears, clinical breast exams
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Hormone replacement therapy
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Birth control supervision and management
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Pregnancy supervision (specific visits for pregnancy-related issues)
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Specific visits solely pertaining to women’s health and not other problems
Unapproved cases:
Optional Specialties (must be college-approved)
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Up to 40 hours maximum in college-approved specialty rotation(s)---(combined total in multiple specialties or all in 1 specialty).
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ER/ED: 60 hours maximum (Trauma unit is not acceptable)
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Telehealth: 135 hours maximum
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Students may rotate in an Urgent Care setting, but must meet all required/core specialty requirements by the end of the program.
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Urgent Cares are not held to the same quality standards by insurance companies that family practices are held to. Additionally, to maximally prepare you for the board exam, the 135 family practice/primary care requirement will not be met in an Urgent Care setting.
- Refer to Appendix I FNP Site and Preceptor Guidance for additional information on appropriate and inappropriate optional specialty settings.
All other hours/journal entries will be in family practice or primary care setting.