Spring Arbor FNP clinicals: preceptors for all 625 hours

01The FNP clinical load at a glance

The live FNP page lists 52 credits, 625 clinical hours and six starts a year, with part-time completion in as little as two years and five months. SAU's tuition page repeats the 625 figure, so the hour count is consistent across its current pages.

Those hours sit inside SAU's 7-1-7 rhythm: seven-week didactic courses taken one at a time, a week off between them, and the practicum running alongside. The FAQ says the one-course limit excludes clinical and residency, which is why a clinical semester and your coursework overlap. The 7-1-7 schedule page explains that rhythm in full.

02NUR 680 and the lifespan mix FNP rotations should cover

In the 2023-24 Graduate Catalog, the FNP practicum is NUR 680, taken over three semesters at 2, 4 and 4 credits. The catalog pegs 2 credits to 125 hours but gives no per-semester split, and course numbers may have changed since that catalog. Before you tell a preceptor which course you are in, confirm the number on your Brightspace course list or with your advisor.

The catalog gives NUR 680 a primary care focus without assigning a population to each semester. The population comes from the didactic courses beside it: NUR 685 for adults, NUR 686 for older adults, NUR 645 for the childbearing family and NUR 687 for children in families. No SAU page sets a quota for pediatric or prenatal hours, yet a preceptor who sees only adults will leave gaps against that coursework.

SAU's clinicals blog, first seen in 2021, suggests settings ranging from family practice and internal medicine to pediatrics, urgent care, community health clinics and hospitals. Course-level detail, including how the credits stack, lives on the NUR 680 practicum page.

03Who can precept an SAU FNP student

The 2023-24 catalog is specific: the NP practicum is arranged with a local preceptor who is a certified NP, a physician or a PA, and program faculty approve that person. SAU clinical faculty keep in regular contact and oversee the preceptor-led experience. SAU pages from 2015 and 2022 allowed only an NP or a physician in primary care, so advice claiming PAs don't count predates the catalog.

Several things are not published anywhere we could find: a minimum number of years in practice, which state the preceptor must be licensed in, whether a relative or your own manager can precept, and limits on telehealth hours. Put those questions to program faculty before you sign anyone up. The preceptor requirements page keeps the full list of what SAU does and does not say.

04What must be passed before your first FNP clinical day

Under the 2023-24 catalog, you need passing grades in NUR 612 Advanced Pathophysiology, NUR 618 Advanced Pharmacology, NUR 602 Advanced Health Assessment and NUR 602R, the campus residency, before a NUR 680 practicum can begin. Current FNP pages also list NUR 628, a pharmacology course for nurse practitioners that builds on NUR 618. Whether it now gates the practicum is not confirmed, so ask your advisor.

NUR 602R is one four-day visit to the main campus in Spring Arbor, Michigan, in year two for BSN-entry students. It is tied to health assessment and includes a head-to-toe check-off. Because it gates the practicum, a missed or repeated residency pushes back every clinical date after it; the MSN residency page covers timing and what is checked.

Your license, insurance, background check, drug test and health records run on a parallel track and are covered on the clinical compliance page.

05SAU's 2026 support line for FNP students

The FNP page now says SAU "works with you to secure clinical placements that match your preferred location" and offers "access to our clinical partner network". Archive copies show the line was absent on June 10, 2026. It is live today on the MSN FNP, RN-to-FNP and certificate FNP pages, yet no page names the partners or explains how a student reaches them.

The same site's FAQ still says you will choose your own preceptor in your home state. Read together, the two lines describe support for a search you lead, not a placement SAU arranges, and no SAU page promises a site. Use everything SAU offers: the program director's list of volunteer providers, the affiliation lookup and your Student Success Coach. The partner network page sets out what the new wording commits to and what it leaves open.

06State limits for FNP students

Four states are off the table on SAU's state authorization page: Alabama, Arizona, Louisiana and New York. SAU's March 2026 licensure disclosure adds that its FNP falls short of licensure requirements in each of them. Washington is open for practice experiences to Washington residents only; the state board's June 2026 list includes SAU's MSN FNP on that basis.

Your RN license has to be current and unrestricted in the state where the hours happen, and SAU's FAQ frames the preceptor search around your home state. If you plan to move mid-program or want hours across a state line, raise it with faculty before you approach anyone there. The state authorization page tracks how SAU's list changed during 2026, including Mississippi and Washington.

07Why Spring Arbor FNP students choose us

1. Map your 625 hoursWe look at your start term, where you live and which parts of the lifespan your coursework covers, then set search targets for adult, older adult, pediatric and prenatal exposure.
2. Search near homeA placement advisor contacts NPs, physicians and PAs in family practice, internal medicine, pediatrics and urgent care within driving distance, alongside any leads from SAU's own list.
3. Assemble what faculty reviewWe collect the preceptor's CV, license number and practice address, plus the agreement and verification paperwork, so it can reach faculty ahead of the four-week lead time.
4. Stay reachable after the startWhen a preceptor pulls out partway through a semester, we reopen the search for the hours still owed. Program faculty approve every replacement too.

SAU's faculty give the final approval, and every FNP preceptor we bring them arrives screened against SAU's rules with the paperwork done. The form at the bottom of this page starts a search, and how it works walks through our side step by step.