Spring Arbor clinical hours, track by track
Spring Arbor's live program pages set the family NP track at 625 clinical hours, the adult-gerontology, psychiatric and pediatric NP tracks at 500, and the Nurse Educator and MSN/MBA practicum at 125. Certificates run from 150 to 625, and the DNP is built around a 1,000-hour post-baccalaureate total. Where SAU's own pages disagree, the table shows both numbers.
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Tell us your Spring Arbor track and where you live. A placement advisor replies with what your preceptor and site need to look like for Spring Arbor to approve them.
Pick your Spring Arbor track
Your clinical courses and hours, who can precept you, where, and when to start looking. From SAU's program pages and the 2023-24 Graduate Catalog.
- Who precepts
- A certified NP, physician or PA, approved by SAU faculty
- Where
- Near you, in your home state: family practice, internal medicine, pediatrics, urgent care
- Start looking
- Start in your first months of the program; forms go in at least four weeks before the clinical course
- Who precepts
- A certified NP, physician or PA, approved by SAU faculty
- Where
- Adult and older-adult primary care near you
- Start looking
- Start in your first months of the program; forms go in at least four weeks before the clinical course
- Who precepts
- Psychiatric preceptors approved by SAU faculty; plan on several placements
- Where
- Psychiatric and mental health settings near you
- Start looking
- Start in your first months of the program; forms go in at least four weeks before the clinical course
- Who precepts
- Preceptors working within pediatric NP scope, approved by SAU faculty
- Where
- Pediatric primary care near you
- Start looking
- Start in your first months of the program; forms go in at least four weeks before the clinical course
- Who precepts
- A certified NP, physician or PA, or a master's-prepared nurse in a specialty field
- Where
- A direct-care setting for NUR 780B; an education setting for the internship
- Start looking
- Start in your first months of the program; forms go in at least four weeks before the clinical course
- Who precepts
- A certified NP, physician or PA, or a master's-prepared nurse in a specialty field
- Where
- A direct-care setting near you
- Start looking
- Start in your first months of the program; forms go in at least four weeks before the clinical course
- Who precepts
- Preceptors in your new population focus, approved by SAU faculty
- Where
- Near you, in your home state
- Start looking
- Forms at least four weeks before any clinical course
- Who precepts
- Set with your DNP faculty; NUR 880 is a faculty-led immersion
- Where
- Your practice setting and project site
- Start looking
- Only if you bring fewer than 500 practicum hours from your earlier degree
- Who precepts
- No external preceptor
- Where
- Clinical learning is built into the courses
- Start looking
- Plan ahead for the MSN, where you will need a preceptor
01Every track's hours in one table
Hours come from each track's live page and SAU's tuition page, read in September 2026. Course codes and credit splits are taken from SAU's 2023-24 Graduate Catalog; newer editions are locked behind a human check, so treat each row as a lead and confirm it in Brightspace or ask your advisor.
| Track | Hours on SAU pages (2026) | Clinical course (2023-24 catalog) | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| FNP (MSN and RN-to-MSN) | 625 | NUR 680, three semesters, 2/4/4 credits | Tuition page agrees |
| AGPCNP (MSN and RN-to-MSN) | 500 | NUR 680, three semesters, 2/2/4 credits | Adult and late-teen focus |
| PMHNP (MSN and RN-to-MSN) | 500 | NUR 780M, two semesters, 4/4 credits | An older SAU blog said 570 |
| PNP-PC (MSN and RN-to-MSN) | 500 | NUR 780K, two semesters, 4/4 credits | An older SAU blog said 530 |
| MSN Nurse Educator | 125, plus the NUR 660 internship | NUR 780B (current pages) and NUR 660 | Internship hours not stated |
| RN-to-MSN Nurse Educator | 225 (program page) or 125 (tuition page) | NUR 780B and NUR 660 | SAU's pages conflict |
| MSN/MBA (MSN and RN-to-MSN) | 125 | NUR 780B (current pages) | No clinical course in 2023-24 |
| PMC-FNP | 250 to 625 | NUR 680N, three semesters, 10 credits | Depends on prior certification |
| PMC-AGPCNP | 500 | NUR 680G, two semesters, 8 credits | Ask whether prior hours count |
| PMC-PMHNP | 500 | NUR 780M, two semesters, 8 credits | Several placements expected |
| PMC-PNP-PC | 500 | NUR 780K, two semesters, 8 credits | Page lists a PMHNP course in error |
| PMC-Nurse Educator | 150 internship hours | NUR 660 | 50 direct care, 100 academic |
| DNP (Strategic Leadership) | No figure on the live page | NUR 880, three 1-credit courses | 1,000 post-baccalaureate total (2023-24) |
| RN-to-BSN | No external preceptor | None; NUR 494 capstone | Hours built into coursework |
02The Nurse Educator conflict: 225 or 125
On SAU's RN-to-MSN Nurse Educator page, the track shows 225 clinical hours and 71 credits. The tuition page lists the same track at 125 hours and 38 credits, which are exactly the figures it gives the BSN-entry Nurse Educator track, so one of the two pages may carry a copied line. SAU has not said which is correct, so treat neither figure as settled.
The track's structure has shifted as well. In the 2023-24 catalog the Nurse Educator MSN had no practicum course, only the NUR 660 internship with 50 direct-care hours and 100 in an education setting. Current pages add NUR 780B, a 125-hour direct-care practicum, and still list NUR 660 without an hour count. None of SAU's pages explains how the two sets of hours add up.
Before you ask anyone to precept you, email your advisor or the Director of DNP and MSN-EDU/MSN-MBA Programs and ask which total applies to your cohort. Keep the reply. A preceptor who agreed to 125 hours may not be able to give 225. Course detail lives on the NUR 780B page and the NUR 660 page.
03Older numbers that still circulate
SAU's undated blog post on clinicals in nursing education gives 570 hours for the PMHNP track and 530 for the PNP track. Every current source disagrees: the live program pages, the tuition listing and the 2023-24 catalog each give 500. Plan around 500 unless your course faculty tell you otherwise.
A blog from around 2020 about the RN-to-MSN bridge says RN-entry students complete 200 clinical hours across three concentrations. SAU now runs six RN-to-MSN tracks with totals from 125 to 625, so that figure no longer describes any of them. Outside directories also show 570 hours for the AGPCNP; SAU's own AGPCNP page and the catalog both say 500.
Credit totals have moved too. The 2023-24 catalog listed the FNP at 55 credits and the AGPCNP at 50, and the live pages now say 52 and 47. The hour totals for those two tracks did not change.
04What counts toward the total
The 2023-24 catalog counts only time spent caring for or working with patients as a clinical practice hour, and it puts the usual pace at about one patient an hour. Time away from patients is not described as countable, so ask course faculty before you log anything else.
The same catalog converts NUR 680 credits at 125 clinical hours for every 2 credits. That ratio is why the FNP's 10 practicum credits line up with its 625 hours and the AGPCNP's 8 credits line up with 500. No per-semester hour figure appears anywhere SAU publishes for a multi-semester practicum, so get your semester targets from course faculty rather than working them out on your own.
How to record hours, what students say about Typhon and what an audit looks like are covered on the hour logs page.
05Certificates, the DNP and the RN-to-BSN
Post-master's certificate hours depend on what you bring in. The PMC-FNP page gives a range of 250 to 625 hours tied to your prior certification, the AGPCNP, PMHNP and PNP-PC certificates list 500, and the Nurse Educator certificate lists 150 internship hours. Which earlier hours may count is laid out on the PMC hour transfer page.
The live DNP page talks about practicum work without putting a number on it. Under the 2023-24 catalog the program counts toward AACN's 1,000-hour post-baccalaureate requirement, and anyone entering with under 500 practicum hours adds three 1-credit NUR 880 courses. The NUR 880 page follows that path.
No external preceptor is involved in the online RN-to-BSN. SAU describes its clinical hours as built into coursework (its phrase is embedded within the classroom environment), and the program ends with the NUR 494 Senior Nursing Project.
06From an hour total to a preceptor plan
A total only helps once you break it into preceptors and semesters. NP practicum courses stretch across two or three semesters, SAU's didactic courses come one seven-week block after another with clinicals alongside (see the 7-1-7 schedule), and the PMHNP course asks you to plan on more than one placement. Faculty approve each preceptor and site for each rotation.
The post-master's section of the 2023-24 catalog adds a paperwork clock: forms for the clinical agreement, affiliation and preceptor verification are due no later than four weeks before a clinical course. Count back from that date for every semester, not only the first one.
A placement advisor looks for preceptors near you who can realistically give the hours your track needs, and pulls together the documents faculty look at. SAU's faculty keep the final say on each preceptor and site. Tell us your track and when clinicals begin and we will begin the search.
Questions Spring Arbor students ask
How many clinical hours is Spring Arbor's FNP program?
625, on both the BSN-entry and RN-to-MSN versions. The 2023-24 catalog spreads them over three semesters of NUR 680 at 2, 4 and 4 credits, at 125 hours per 2 credits. SAU does not publish a per-semester hour target, so ask course faculty what they expect by the end of each semester and check the current course list in Brightspace.
Does the Spring Arbor PMHNP need 500 hours or 570?
500 is the figure on SAU's live PMHNP page and tuition page, and in the 2023-24 catalog. An undated SAU blog post says 570, and that is the figure most likely to be out of date. If a preceptor or employer asks, quote 500 from the current program page and let course faculty confirm it.
Do RN-to-MSN students complete more clinical hours than BSN-entry students?
For the four NP tracks and the MSN/MBA, no: the RN-to-MSN pages list the same totals as the BSN-entry pages (625, 500 and 125). The exception is the RN-to-MSN Nurse Educator track: its program page says 225 and the tuition page 125. RN-entry students also reach clinicals later, after the bridge courses and a third-year residency.
Can a nurse who isn't an NP precept the 125-hour practicum?
For NUR 780B, yes. SAU's Nurse Educator and MSN/MBA pages allow a certified NP, physician or PA, and also a nurse prepared at the master's level in a specialty field, subject to faculty approval. The NP tracks have no such option. SAU does not define specialty field, so describe the nurse's role plainly when you submit the paperwork.
Can I front-load clinical hours in an early semester?
SAU publishes no rule on this. Students report that some were allowed to double up hours in a semester, and a 2019 forum post describes such a request being turned down because the preceptor had not yet been approved. Treat those as anecdotes. Ask course faculty before you schedule extra shifts, and have your preceptor approved first.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-24
We check these pages against Spring Arbor's own published sources. SAU's nursing faculty and current catalog have the final word.
More preceptor leads, sooner, for your SAU clinicals.
Tell us your Spring Arbor track, where you live and when your clinical course starts. We look for a preceptor and site that fit SAU's rules for your track and help you get the paperwork in on time.
- Matched to your track: FNP, AGPCNP, PMHNP, PNP, Nurse Educator or DNP
- Clinical agreement, affiliation and preceptor verification forms ready early
- In your home state, near where you live
Start your placement plan
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