What counts as an FNP clinical hour at USU

Updated September 23, 2026 · Reviewed by the USU Preceptor placement team

USU's FNP needs 540 clinical hours, 135 in each of FNP592, FNP594, FNP596 and FNP597, and not every hour at a site counts. Inpatient hours never do, urgent care is capped at 135, optional specialties at 40 combined and telehealth at 40, and immersion or lab hours don't count at all. Each encounter must be in Project Concert within 48 hours.

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540clinical hours in USU's FNP track

135hours in each of the four FNP practicums

48hours to log each encounter in Project Concert

540 hours across four practicums

FNP clinical hours start in the second year of the program. Each practicum is an 8-week course of 135 hours, and hours don't roll over from one course to the next, so extra hours in one course don't reduce the next. The FNP Clinical Handbook and Appendix I describe the setting for each course.

USU FNP clinical practicums (2026-27 catalog and FNP Clinical Handbook)
Course	Hours	Setting USU expects
`FNP592` Common Illnesses Across the Lifespan – Clinical Practicum	135	Family practice, primary care or primary care internal medicine; Appendix I also lists retail clinics, health departments and primary care home care; no urgent care
`FNP594` Primary Health of Acute Clients/Families Across the Lifespan – Clinical Practicum	135	Primary care settings; urgent care with a primary care focus allowed
`FNP596` Primary Healthcare of Chronic Clients/Families Across the Lifespan – Clinical Practicum	135	Chronic care; the pediatrics, women's health, geriatrics and optional specialty rotations
`FNP597` Clinical Residency and Practice Management	135	Primary health care across the lifespan, taken with `MSN600`

Hours that never count

Some time at a clinical site, or near one, doesn't go toward the 540 however it's logged. USU's FNP handbook and appendices rule out:

Inpatient hours. USU says an inpatient hospital setting isn't appropriate for FNP students at any point, specialty rotations included.
Immersion and lab hours, including the MSN572 immersion. We found no simulation allowance toward FNP clinical hours.
Hours before your OFE Approval Letter, before the course starts, or during holiday breaks without approval.
Hours entered in Project Concert more than 48 hours after the encounter.
Hours while your preceptor is over the ratio of two students, or one in New Jersey, counting NP students from other schools.
Hours that are part of your paid job, or paid for by the site or preceptor.
Phone-only telehealth, and teleprecepting where you and your preceptor are in different places.
Hours during a clinical pause caused by an expired Complio item.

Inpatient hours never count toward USU's FNP, whatever the unit or the preceptor.

Caps: urgent care, specialties, telehealth

Caps don't stop hours in a setting from counting; they stop them counting past a limit. USU has set these:

FNP hour caps (FNP Clinical Handbook and Appendix I)
Setting	Most that counts	Conditions
Urgent care	135 hours	Not in `FNP592`; doesn't count toward the 135 family practice hours; cap in effect as of March 2024
Optional specialties	40 hours combined	Using one before `FNP597` needs Program Director approval (effective July 2024)
Telehealth	40 hours for the whole program	Approved only; preceptor physically with you; video required; patients in your state on file
Hospice or skilled nursing	40 hours	Part of the geriatrics rotation
Inpatient hospital	None	Never approved

One conflict matters for FNP594. Its catalog description mentions acute presentations in primary care, urgent care or emergency department settings, but Appendix I lists emergency departments among inappropriate FNP sites and adds only urgent care with a primary care focus for FNP594. Get written confirmation from OFE before you count on ED hours. The rules for telehealth are on our virtual clinical options page.

Minimums: family practice, NP time and journal entries

Minimums have to be reached by the end of the program. You need at least 135 hours in family practice or primary care, and urgent care doesn't count toward them. At least 135 hours must be with a nurse practitioner preceptor, and USU highly recommends spending most of your hours with FNPs.

Journal entries have their own targets, logged in Project Concert's Journal Entry logs:

Minimum FNP journal entries by end of program
Population	Minimum entries
Geriatrics (65 and older)	100
Pediatrics: newborn and infant	15
Pediatrics: ages 1 to 12	50
Pediatrics: ages 13 to 17	15
Women's health, OB and GYN	40

Pediatric entries total 80. Women's health settings must be OB/GYN or a practice with at least 50% women's care; infertility clinics aren't accepted, and births and surgeries are excluded. A board-certified CNM can precept women's health hours only.

Logging: the 48-hour rule and the weekly pace

Every encounter goes into Project Concert within 48 hours, or the handbook says the associated hours won't count. Hours go in the Hours log and patient encounters in the Journal Entry logs. How the system works is on our Project Concert page.

USU tells students to look for preceptors available about 17 hours a week, with no more than 12 hours in a clinical day and at least one clinical day each week. Attendance must be 100%, and the catalog says most clinical hours run Monday to Friday, 8:00am to 5:00pm.

If you fall short, an Incomplete needs at least 81 of the course's hours done. Without one, the catalog says incomplete clinical hours are lost and repeated the following term. See behind on clinical hours for what to do mid-course.

Appendix M and what USU leaves unclear

USU's FNP handbook includes Appendix M, the FNP Hours & Journals Breakdown Matrix. It's the document to check for how hours and journal entries break down. The figures on this page come from the handbook's Clinical Hour Requirements page and Appendix I; this page summarizes those figures rather than the matrix itself, so open the current version from the handbook on USU's catalog site each term.

A few rules are loose at the edges. The FNP Site & Preceptor Guidance is labeled Appendix I in the appendix list but Appendix J in places.

Appendix I also lists optional specialties under FNP596, while the hour rules say using one before FNP597 needs Program Director approval, so ask before you book specialty time in FNP596. We found nothing on whether telehealth hours in a specialty clinic count against both 40-hour caps. And the handbook asks you to declare telehealth on a Preceptor Nomination Form that isn't in the appendix list. When a rule is unclear, ask your course faculty or Clinical Placement Coordinator in writing before you log the hours.

Why students choose us to protect their hours

Hours only count if the setting does, so a placement advisor looks for preceptors in the settings USU's hour rules call for: family practice and primary care first, then pediatrics, women's health and geriatrics for FNP596. We check the caps before suggesting urgent care or specialty time. OFE and the Program Director approve every preceptor and site, and because USU's counting rules are fixed, we match the setting to them from the start. Ask about a search.

Questions USU students ask

Do urgent care hours count toward USU's FNP clinical hours?

Yes, up to 135 hours across the program, a cap USU has applied since March 2024. Urgent care isn't accepted in FNP592, and it doesn't count toward the 135 family practice or primary care hours you need. Appendix I allows urgent care with a primary care focus in FNP594.

Do FNP immersion hours count toward the 540?

No. USU's handbook says immersion and lab hours don't count toward clinical hours. That includes the MSN572 immersion, which is virtual for students accepted on or after May 6, 2024 and was held in Phoenix for earlier admits. We found no separate simulation allowance for FNP clinical hours.

Can I count hours in a hospital for USU's FNP?

Not inpatient hours. USU says inpatient hospital settings are never appropriate for FNP students, even for specialty rotations, and it won't count those hours. An outpatient clinic connected to a hospital is a different question: it depends on whether the clinic meets Appendix I's site rules for your course.

How many pediatric journal entries does USU require?

At least 80 by the end of the program: 15 for newborns and infants, 50 for ages 1 to 12, and 15 for ages 13 to 17. Appendix I places the pediatrics rotation in FNP596 and names a pediatrician, or an FNP or PNP working in a pediatrician's office, as ideal preceptors.

Can telehealth count if my preceptor is somewhere else?

No. USU doesn't approve teleprecepting, where you and your preceptor are in different places. Telehealth can count for up to 40 hours across the program if approved, with your preceptor physically present, video on and patients located in the state of your address on file with USU.

SystemProject ConcertHow USU nursing students use Project Concert: login, hours and journal logs, evaluations, portfolio, compliance status and the 48-hour logging rule.HoursClinical hours by USU programEvery USU nursing program's clinical and practicum hours in one table, by course number, plus the rules USU uses to decide which FNP hours count.TelehealthVirtual clinical optionsWhat virtual means for USU nursing students: the 40-hour FNP telehealth cap, the patient-state rule, immersion hours that don't count, and what stays in person.FNPMSN572 and the FNP immersionUSU MSN572 Advanced Health and Physical Assessment: the required FNP immersion, virtual or Phoenix by admit date, why it adds no hours, and FNP592 timing.FNPFNP592 Common Illnesses PracticumUSU FNP592, your first FNP practicum: 135 hours in 8 weeks with FNP591, family or primary care only, no urgent care, and OFE approval before day one.Placement helpBehind on clinical hoursBehind on hours in a USU clinical course? The 48-hour logging rule, hour caps, the 81-hour Incomplete line, and when to talk to your course faculty.

Last checked 2026-09-23

We check these pages against USU's own catalog, handbooks and disclosures. USU's current handbook and your Clinical Placement Coordinator have the final word.

Six months out is USU's rule. We start now.

Tell us your USU program, your state and when your next practicum opens. We look for preceptors who meet USU's rules and help you build the packet the Office of Field Experience and Program Director review.

Preceptors matched to the course: family practice, pediatrics, women's health, urgent care within USU's caps
Appendix H, license, CV and board certification gathered the way OFE asks
In person near you; telehealth only inside USU's 40-hour limit

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