Missing an NSU clinical day: who to tell, and how to make it up

Updated September 25, 2026 · Reviewed by the Nova Preceptor placement team

If you cannot make a clinical day, NSU's handbook asks graduate students to tell the preceptor, the clinical site and the program director at least two hours beforehand, and APRN students tell the clinical coordinator as well. Every missed day is made up, religious holidays included, so the real work is agreeing make-up time with your preceptor before you ever need it.

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2 hoursminimum notice a graduate student gives the preceptor, site and program director before missing a clinical

48 hoursthe notice NSU asks of undergraduate students for an excused clinical or lab absence

Clinical absences and make-up. 2 hours: minimum notice a graduate student gives the preceptor, site and program director before missing a clinical; 48 hours: the notice NSU asks of undergraduate students for an excused clinical or lab absence. — 2 hours: minimum notice a graduate student gives the preceptor, site and program director before missing a clinical; 48 hours: the notice NSU asks of undergraduate students for an excused clinical or lab absence.

The graduate rule in one list

NSU's absence rules for graduate students sit on printed page 123 of the Nursing Student Handbook 2025-2026, next to the placement and weekly-hours rules. They are brief, and together they name four people who should hear from you before a missed clinical:

Your preceptor, at least two hours before the clinical was due to start.
The clinical site, on the same two-hour timeline, since the site plans its own staffing and patient schedule.
Your program director, also two hours ahead.
Your clinical coordinator, because APRN students must tell both the site and the coordinator whenever they cannot attend a planned clinical day.

The passage ends with the rule that matters most: all absences must be made up. NSU's public text draws no line between excused and unexcused graduate absences and sets no allowance of missed days. Your course syllabus in Canvas and the graduate clinical guide may add detail, so read both in the first week of the course.

How to send the notice

Two hours is a floor, not a target. If you wake up sick, send word as soon as you know, and if you can see a conflict days ahead, say so days ahead. Preceptors build patient schedules around a student, and early warning is what keeps a preceptor glad to host you for the rest of the semester.

For NSU people, use SharkMail. The handbook requires your university email for all communication with faculty, staff and administration about university business, which covers your program director and clinical coordinator. Reach your preceptor and the site the way they asked you to at the start, then note the time and content of that message in your SharkMail thread so everything sits in one record.

What the message should say

The course number and the clinical date you will miss.
A short, general reason, with no patient details of any kind.
The make-up date you have agreed, or the dates you are asking for.

Keep patient information out of email entirely. NSU prohibits forwarding protected health information to non-NSU email accounts.

Every absence is made up

NSU's rule covers every kind of absence: illness, a family emergency, a car that will not start. The hours still count toward the course total, so the missed time comes back as a make-up day later in the term.

NSU's public documents do not say how make-up time fits beside the rule against compressing hours at the end of the semester. The safest reading is to schedule make-up hours soon after the absence and spread them over the following weeks, rather than stacking them into the final week. Ask your course faculty how they want make-up time scheduled and logged, and keep the answer in writing.

Your preceptor's absences fall outside the student rule, but they have the same effect on your total. If your preceptor is away for a conference or vacation, you still owe those hours, so ask about planned time off at the start of the term. The weekly hours rule explains why a few lost weeks are hard to recover.

No NSU document gives graduate students a set number of allowed absences. Treat every missed clinical day as hours you still owe.

Religious holidays and clinical days

NSU's university-wide religious holiday policy states that it does not cover required attendance in the clinical care setting. The College of Nursing section repeats the point: clinical hour requirements are not excused for a holiday, and a missed clinical follows the college's missed-clinical policy. For a graduate student, that means the same notice and the same make-up as any other absence.

The practical answer is to plan around holidays from the start. When you and your preceptor choose clinic days, check the semester for observances you keep and pick days that avoid them, or agree the make-up date at the same time. A preceptor who hears in week one that you will miss a particular day has weeks to plan for it; one told two hours before has none.

How NSU's undergraduate rules differ

Entry and Accelerated BSN students work under a separate, stricter rule on printed page 122. It matters if you are in the BSN program, and it is a useful contrast if you are a graduate student comparing notes with classmates from other programs.

Clinical absence rules in NSU's 2025-26 Nursing Student Handbook
Rule	Graduate and APRN students	Undergraduate (BSN) students
Notice	Two hours before the clinical, to preceptor, site and program director; APRN students also tell the clinical coordinator	At least 48 hours before, to the clinical instructor and course faculty, with documentation
Excused or not	No distinction published	The program director and the dean of Academic Programs decide
Make-up	All absences made up	Missed hours completed before the term ends, on a day ACON assigns
Make-up instructor	Not addressed	The student may be responsible for paying the clinical instructor
Consequences	Not spelled out beyond make-up	Unexcused absences can lead to course failure, warning, probation or dismissal, and a CSP referral

One conflict to know about: the 2024-25 handbook named the program director with the department chair as the final authority on excused undergraduate absences, while the 2025-26 edition pairs the program director with the dean of Academic Programs. BSN students should confirm the current process with their program director.

Planning make-up time with your preceptor

The best moment to arrange make-up hours is before any absence happens. In your first scheduling conversation with a preceptor, settle three things:

A standing backup day or half-day you can use when a clinical is missed.
The preceptor's own planned time off during the term, so you can shift hours in advance.
How the preceptor wants to hear about a last-minute absence, and who else at the site should be told.

Keep your own week-by-week tally beside whatever log NSU requires, so a shortfall shows up while there is still time to fix it. If absences start to stack up, move quickly: behind on clinical hours covers talking to course faculty and the incomplete rules, and a longer interruption may call for a leave of absence, which NSU asks you to request at least 14 days before the semester or term it covers.

How we keep your hours on track

When we match an NSU student with a preceptor, the schedule is part of the match. Your placement advisor confirms the weekly clinic days, asks about the preceptor's planned time off and looks for room for make-up hours, so a missed day has somewhere to go. We then prepare the preceptor and site details for your clinical coordinator, whose decision the approval is, and have them ready well before your notice date.

If a preceptor becomes unavailable for weeks rather than days, we begin a replacement search near your home straight away, in the setting your course needs, so the hours you owe have a place to land. Read how it works or use the form below to tell us your course, your term and the days you can give each week.

Questions NSU students ask

Do I have to make up a sick day at NSU?

Yes. The graduate rule says all absences must be made up, and it makes no exception for illness. Give your preceptor, the site and your program director at least two hours' notice, tell your clinical coordinator as well if you are an APRN student, and agree the make-up date with your preceptor as soon as you are well.

How many clinical absences are allowed in an NSU graduate course?

NSU's handbook publishes no number for graduate clinical absences. It treats each one the same way: notice beforehand and full make-up. Your syllabus or the graduate clinical guide may say more, so check both. The handbook does warn that missing 20 percent of classes makes course success unlikely, but that figure is about classes, not clinical days.

Can I miss clinical for a religious holiday?

You can, but the hours are not excused. NSU's religious holiday policy excludes required clinical attendance, and the College of Nursing applies its missed-clinical policy instead. Choose clinic days that avoid your observances at the start of the term, or agree the make-up date with your preceptor well ahead of the holiday.

What if my preceptor cancels a clinical day?

The notice rule is written for student absences, but the hours are still yours to complete. Log the canceled day, agree a replacement day with your preceptor, and tell your clinical coordinator if cancellations become a pattern. A preceptor who repeatedly cannot host you can put the course at risk, which the fell-through guide covers.

Do graduate students pay for make-up clinical hours?

The graduate rule says nothing about payment. The charge the handbook mentions is for undergraduates: BSN students absent from a clinical or lab may be responsible for paying the clinical instructor for the make-up. Graduate students make up hours with their preceptor, so ask your course faculty if you are unsure how your course handles it.

Weekly hoursWeekly clinical hours ruleNSU APRN clinical hours start with the didactic course, run every week and can't be compressed. How to plan clinic days around a nursing job, course by course.Placement helpBehind on clinical hoursBehind on hours in an NSU clinical course? The weekly and make-up rules, incompletes, what to ask course faculty and your coordinator, and adding clinic days.ProgressionLeave of absenceNSU nursing leave of absence rules: 14 days' notice, up to 180 days in 12 months, the administrative break for lockstep programs, check-ins and re-entry.BSNEntry and Accelerated BSN clinicalsHow NSU's Entry and Accelerated BSN clinicals work: placement within 75 miles of campus, 750 clock hours by course, math competency, NUR 4180 and CastleBranch.RolesWho does what at NSUEvery NSU nursing role that touches a clinical course, from the clinical coordinator to CSP and CWAC, the handbook's channel of communication, and who to ask.

Last checked 2026-09-25

We check these pages against NSU's own handbook, catalog and program pages. The graduate clinical guide, your course in Canvas, your clinical coordinator and your program director have the final word.

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