Pacing your NAU clinical hours across a semester
Spread over a full 16-week term, the 300 hours in NUR 663 or NUR 665 come to under 19 a week. You rarely get all 16 weeks, though: take out the wait for approval, spring break and holidays, and the target climbs past 21 hours, roughly two long weekdays at the site every week. The number of weeks you really have sets the pace, and the preceptor's schedule decides whether you can keep it.
Get your placement plan
Tell us your NAU program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with the preceptor and site options that fit your course.
The hours you are pacing
NAU's 2022-23 FNP Clinical Guidelines set 780 clinical hours for the MS FNP and the post-master's FNP certificate, including at least 500 hours of faculty-supervised practice in the family population focus. The graduate handbook for 2021-22 splits them the same way: 180 in NUR 661 over the summer, then 300 in each of the fall and spring practicums, NUR 663 and NUR 665. The clinical hours guide covers every program, and the hour mix guide covers how those hours divide across pediatric, adult and women's health patients.
For PMHNP students the pacing target is less certain. NAU publishes no hour total for NUR 680. At the 60-hours-per-unit ratio NAU uses for graduate practicums, the MS's 13 units would come to about 780 hours and the 9-unit certificate track to about 540, but those are our inferences, not NAU figures. Your program coordinator confirms the real number and how the units spread across your terms.
Weekly math for 300 hours in fall or spring
Fall 2026 runs 16 weeks, Aug. 24 to Dec. 11. Spring 2027 spans 17 calendar weeks, Jan. 11 to May 7, and spring break takes one of them. Those are ceilings, not the weeks you will have at the site.
| Weeks at the site | Hours a week | 10-hour days a week | 12-hour days a week |
|---|---|---|---|
| 16 | 18.75 | about 2 | about 1.6 |
| 14 | about 21.4 | about 2.1 | about 1.8 |
| 12 | 25 | 2.5 | about 2.1 |
| 10 | 30 | 3 | 2.5 |
| 8 | 37.5 | about 3.75 | about 3.1 |
The curve bends quickly. Losing two weeks at the start costs under three hours a week; losing six adds more than eleven. Counted as whole days, 300 hours is thirty 10-hour days or twenty-five 12-hour days, and the handbook keeps all of them on weekdays unless the coordinator approves otherwise.
Weekly math for 180 hours in summer
Summer 2027 offers five session lengths, from 3 weeks up to 12, opening between May 10 and July 6 and closing by Aug. 3. NAU's public pages leave out which of those NUR 661 uses, so the table shows the likely range. Your syllabus settles it.
| Weeks at the site | Hours a week | 10-hour days a week | 12-hour days a week |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12 | 15 | 1.5 | 1.25 |
| 10 | 18 | 1.8 | 1.5 |
| 8 | 22.5 | 2.25 | about 1.9 |
| 5 | 36 | 3.6 | 3 |
As whole days, 180 hours is eighteen 10-hour days or fifteen 12-hour days. NUR 661 is also your first primary care practicum, so a slower opening week or two while you learn the clinic's flow is normal; build that into the plan instead of assuming full speed from day one.
Days that come off the calendar
Weekends, holidays and university breaks are closed to clinical under the 2022-23 guidelines unless the FNP Program Coordinator signs off ahead of time. Weekdays are the working currency, and every university holiday on a weekday removes one. In spring 2027, the week of March 15-19 comes out entirely; the semester calendar lists the other dates.
The guidelines also tie every hour to the preceptor being on site with you. A preceptor who works three days a week, takes a conference week or covers a colleague's leave shrinks your supply of days, whatever NAU's calendar says. Ask about those patterns before you commit.
Most NAU NP students are working RNs, so clinical days have to fit around your own shifts. If you hope to precept where you work, the workplace practicum guide covers the agreement NAU still requires.
What a late start does to the pace
The weekly number is only as good as your start date. Under NAU's 2022-23 guidelines your clinical paperwork has to be complete a full two months ahead of the rotation, and late paperwork can cost you both the practicum and the theory course paired with it. A site without an affiliation agreement can add anywhere from a few days to a few months, according to the 2021-22 form.
Here is how that plays out. If approval comes through in the fourth week of fall, 13 weeks remain and the 300-hour target rises to about 23 hours a week. Start in week seven and you face 30 hours a week on top of your job and coursework. The earlier the Green Form goes in with the site's approval, the gentler the math.
The weeks you lose before your first shift are the most expensive ones: each one raises every remaining week's target.
A pacing plan that holds up
Before the term starts
- Ask the syllabus or course faculty for the exact dates your section may be on site.
- Count the weekdays in that window, then strike breaks, university holidays and your preceptor's planned leave.
- Divide the course hours by the weeks left and add a cushion of a week or two for illness or clinic closures.
- Agree on fixed clinical weekdays with your preceptor and your employer at the same time.
- Log hours as you go in the tracking system your course names; the Typhon and Exxat guide explains both.
- Check your running totals against the recommended patient mix every few weeks, not only at the end.
If you fall behind mid-term, tell your course faculty early. Waiting until the last weeks leaves nobody much room to help.
How we keep your hours on track
We match the preceptor to the pace, not just the specialty. Before we put a name forward, your placement advisor confirms which weekdays the preceptor works, how many hours a clinic day runs and any leave planned during your term, then checks the result against the hours your practicum needs. The preceptor's CV, license and certification are collected at the same time, so approval moves fast.
Because we plan all three FNP practicums together, a clinic that can carry you from summer into fall and spring keeps your rhythm steady. Should a preceptor's hours shift partway through a term, we line up a qualified replacement fast. The full sequence is on how it works; send your term and hour totals through the form below to start.
Questions NAU students ask
How many clinical hours a week is NUR 663 at NAU?
NUR 663 carries 300 hours in the fall term. Across all 16 weeks that is 18.75 a week, but after approval time and holidays most students have fewer weeks. With 14 weeks the target is about 21.4 hours; with 12 it is 25. Your syllabus gives the actual clinical window for your section.
Can NAU FNP students do clinical hours on weekends?
Only with approval given in advance. The 2022-23 FNP Clinical Guidelines treat weekends like breaks and holidays: closed to clinical unless the FNP Program Coordinator agrees beforehand. If a weekend clinic is your best option, ask before the term begins and keep the approval with your records.
Can I finish my NAU practicum hours early?
NAU's public guidelines set the hour totals and the break and weekend rule, but say nothing about finishing ahead of the term's end. Whether you may front-load hours, and whether evaluations and logs still follow the course timeline, is a question for your course faculty before you build the schedule.
Do extra hours carry over to the next NAU practicum?
The FNP guidelines set hours per course and are silent on carrying extras forward, so assume each practicum stands on its own until your course faculty says otherwise. The only related NAU wording is for the DNP, whose 2022-23 project handbook says hours are not carried over and each credit unit incurs 60 hours.
How should PMHNP students pace NUR 680?
Start from the units on your plan of study each term. NAU publishes no hour total for NUR 680; at the 60-hours-per-unit graduate ratio, each unit suggests about 60 hours, which is our inference rather than NAU's figure. NAU also marks the course as requiring in-person engagement, so confirm hours and format with your program coordinator.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-27
We check these pages against Northern Arizona University's own catalog, program pages and published nursing documents. Your program coordinator and course faculty have the final word.
NAU welcomes a preceptor you arrange. We arrange one close to home.
Tell us your NAU track, your town and your next practicum. We line up preceptors who fit the course and Arizona's preceptor rule, confirm the site's approval, and gather the CV, license and certification the Green Form needs, well before NAU's cutoff.
- Preceptors matched to the course: all-ages family primary care for FNP, psychiatric settings for PMHNP
- License, experience and certification checked against the rule NAU applies, before the Green Form goes in
- All three FNP practicums planned together, near home instead of a long drive away
Start your placement plan
Track, town and next practicum is all we need to begin.