NKU clinical hours for every track, and why older pages say 500 or 600

Every online NKU program with a clinical component is below, with the hours on its current program page and any earlier figure you may still come across.

NKU raised its NP totals, and not every page caught up. The FNP program listed five clinicals and 600 hours through 2023; the course sequence for Fall 2024 and later admits adds MSN 655L, and FNP program pages captured from late 2024 on show six clinicals and 750 hours. The AGACNP and PMHNP pages moved from four clinicals and 500 hours to five clinicals and 750 by April 2025.

Two NKU sources still carry the older numbers. NKU Online's FAQ says NP students "must complete 500-600 hours of clinical practice," and the New MSN Students advising page, written around 2025 registration, lists 600 hours and 47 credits for the FNP. Both appear to be out of date.

The total that binds you depends on your admit term and catalog year. If you started before Fall 2024, or your plan of study shows a different number, confirm it in your concentration Canvas shell or by writing to studentclinicalinfo@nku.edu.

NKU tells preceptors that each clinical rotation is "a 7-week commitment for approximately 125-150 hours per student," and preceptors are asked to be available two or three days each week. Spread over seven weeks, that is roughly 18 to 21 hours a week; the arithmetic is ours, not NKU's.

Exact hours per course are mostly unpublished, and the FAQ leaves weekly minimums and maximums to each course syllabus. The published figures come from the 2024-25 catalog: 150 direct patient-care hours each for MSN 659L and MSN 661L through MSN 663L, and 125 for MSN 669L. NKU's Nursing Education page gives 50 hours for MSN 614L and 150 for MSN 670.

Divide the totals and the FNP's six courses average 125 hours each, while the AGACNP's and PMHNP's five average 150. The 125-hour figure for MSN 669L shows the PMHNP courses are not necessarily equal. The course guides for FNP, AGACNP and PMHNP have the detail.

Some hours count only up to a cap. FNP students can spend up to 125 hours per specialty rotation in specialty offices, AGACNP students can log up to 50% of their hours in emergency or urgent care, and PMHNP students can count up to 80 hours of psychotherapy or counseling with a psychologist, LICSW or LPCC across the program. The setting rules guide explains each cap.

For PMHNP students, NKU's FAQ also suggests 170 pediatric hours, with 165 each for adults and geriatric patients. Those add up to 500, the older total, so use the split as a guide to spreading hours across the lifespan rather than a target. NKU notes that hours in all three groups are needed for ANCC certification.

Hours go into Medatrax as a time log. Your preceptor verifies the log weekly, and a verified entry cannot be edited afterward, so log accurately in the same week you work. The hour log guide covers logging and weekly verification in detail.

Because each rotation lasts only seven weeks, a missed week is a large share of the course. If a preceptor's schedule changes, raise it with your Clinical Instructor early rather than trying to compress hours into the last two weeks.

Certification boards, state boards and doctoral programs may ask you to document your clinical hours again. NKU's School of Nursing issues a certification of clinical hours as a graduate form request, with a per-form fee listed on the School's forms page.

For NKU's own post-master's DNP, verifiable MSN clinical hours count toward the 1,000-hour requirement. The DNP practicum guide shows how the remaining hours are planned across DNP 881 to DNP 884.

An hour total is only reachable with a preceptor who has the days to give. We confirm each preceptor can offer 2 to 3 days a week for the full seven weeks, in a setting that counts toward your track, before the name goes into your Medatrax request.

FNP, AGACNP and PMHNP students have five or six rotations ahead, so we map the whole sequence at the start and line up each preceptor inside NKU's recommended 90-day window. Our placement process is built on NKU's session calendar; send your plan of study through the form below to begin.