NSU clinical hours, program by program

Three kinds of hour figures, and two curricula

NSU publishes clinical hours in three forms, and most confusion clears once you know which one you are reading. A stated total is printed by NSU itself, such as the 1,455 clinical and practicum hours the ACON 2026-2027 Graduate Catalog gives for BSN to DNP. A computed total is a sum of NSU's per-course figures: the catalog prints 190, 95 or 285 beside each MSN clinical course but never prints 855 as a program total.

The third form is a rate. NSU's FNP, AGACNP and PMHNP pages carry the footnote “Requires 95 practicum hours per credit hour”, while the BSN curriculum counts clock hours at 50 per clinical credit. How the MSN rate produces each course's hours, and why it replaced the older figures, is the subject of the 95 hours per credit page.

Two curricula also circulate at once. The current one, on the program pages and in the 2026-27 catalog, is online with 45 or 48 credits. The previous one, in the 2025-26 health colleges catalog and parts of the 2025-26 Nursing Student Handbook, was a 51-credit hybrid plan with 765 clinical hours. Where NSU documents disagree, the table below shows both versions.

Certificates and doctoral hours: the exceptions

Certificate figures are the least settled numbers NSU prints. The certificates page still lists combined didactic-and-clinical courses at 170, 85 and 255 hours, while the 2026-27 catalog adds summer certificate plans with separate clinicals at 190, 95 and 285. A formal gap analysis can also waive coursework or clinical hours, so your own total may differ from every published one. The certificate gap analysis page explains how that review works.

Doctoral hours follow a different logic. Each of the four DNP project courses carries 150 practicum hours at a practice site that suits your project, covered on the DNP project practicum page. Post-master's students also need 500 clinical hours after the BSN, verified by the school that granted the master's, and NSU's sources disagree on whether that check comes before NSG 7431 or before NSG 7451. Anyone short enrolls in NSG 7460, 150 hours per 3-credit enrollment, as the 500 clinical hours page sets out.

How hours are logged, and what NSU keeps internal

NSU does not name, in any public document, the system APRN students use to record clinical hours. The handbook points APRN students to “the graduate clinical guide”, which is not posted online. The one compliance platform NSU names publicly, DISA CastleBranch, tracks clearance items such as immunizations and background checks rather than hours.

So the mechanics (where entries go, what your preceptor signs, when logs are due) come from that guide and from your clinical course in Canvas. Keep a simple week-by-week tally of your own as well, so a short week shows up while there is still time to schedule the make-up. In week one, ask your course faculty how and when entries are reviewed; the handbook names course faculty as the first contact for anything about a clinical course. The graduate clinical guide page lists what to check in it first.

Why NSU students plan their hours with us

Hour totals only become real when a preceptor has room for them week after week. We build each placement around the exact figure for your course, so the preceptor we find has agreed to 190 hours across the whole term, or 285 for a capstone, rather than a loose number of shifts. That preceptor is near your home ZIP code, and the details your clinical coordinator checks are ready well before NSU's two-semester notice.

When two clinicals share a semester, as FNP pediatrics and women's health do, we schedule both preceptors so their weekly days fit together around your job. If a preceptor steps away mid-term, we line up a replacement quickly so your weekly hours keep moving. Tell us your program and next clinical course in the form below, or read how it works first.