APU clinical hours by program and course

Hours for APU's NP, CNS and school nurse tracks

APU's NP and CNS specialties each land on 540 clinical hours, but APU prints that total only for the FNP and AGPCNP. For the other tracks it comes from course units at 45 hours per clinical unit, so the table marks it 'works out to'. Post-master's certificates use the matching MSN's clinical courses.

School nurse tracks add a California-approved audiometry course, listed as GNRS 559 Audiometry for School Nurses, with eight on-site practicum hours outside the totals above.

Doctoral, education, leadership and bachelor's hours

Away from the NP and CNS tracks, totals depend on the kind of practicum. The DNP counts residency hours instead of units, each online MSN has two practicum courses, and bachelor's and ELM prelicensure clinicals are assigned by the School of Nursing.

After the NCLEX, ELM students enter the matching MSN specialty, so their advanced practice hours follow the first table. The ELM-MSN page explains the switch from assigned clinicals to finding your own site.

Hours course by course

Preceptors ask about one course at a time, and multi-course tracks split their hours unevenly. Figures marked 'request form' come from APU's 2026 Graduate Preceptor Request forms.

Each course group has a page on preceptors and settings: PNP-PC courses, PMHNP courses, CNS courses, school nurse credential courses, the nurse educator practicum, the HAL practicum and DNP residency hours.

The 45-hour rule behind these numbers

APU prints clock hours for only a handful of courses, and each printed pair divides evenly into 45 hours per clinical unit: twelve units of GNRS 600 are 540 hours, and the three units of GNRS 663 are 135. Every other figure here is clinical units multiplied by 45, hence the label 'works out to'.

Count only the clinical side of a split such as 6 (3/3), which holds 135 hours, not 270. Doctoral hours are the exception to the math, since GNRS 732 carries no units and simply repeats until the residency total is met. Our page on 45 hours per clinical unit turns a unit load into weekly hours.

Where APU's own figures disagree

APU's catalog, program pages, 2026 request forms and older guidelines do not always agree. Each conflict appears below as APU publishes it; your syllabus, clinical faculty and APU's Graduate Placement Team settle the figure for your catalog year.

• 540, 750 or 765 in GNRS 600. The course description prints a range of 540-765. MSN and certificate students need 540 over 12 units; BSN-to-DNP students need 750 direct-care hours, while their 17-unit cap works out to 765. FNP students on either path owe 135 pediatric hours (FNP pediatric hours), and DNP-path AGPCNP students owe 135 in geriatrics.
• GNRS 589 Adolescent Health Care. APU's Azusa and Inland Empire request form puts it at 90 hours, yet the 2026-27 catalog shows the course as 2 (2/0), a classroom course with no clinical units.
• Older course numbers. The same form still lists GNRS 581 (135 hours), GNRS 591 (90), and GNRS 592B and GNRS 593 (90 each). The catalog keeps them, and GNRS 592B still says clinical hours are completed there, though current FNP and AGPCNP hours are logged under GNRS 600.
• Leadership practicum hours. APU's 2025-26 healthcare administration guidelines give GNRS 543 90 practicum hours and pair the three practicum units of GNRS 567 with 90 hours, where the 45-hour rule gives 135. Those guidelines cite the 2020-21 catalog.
• The doctoral overlap. APU's catalog lets earlier graduate clinical hours count toward GNRS 732, yet it never explains how a BSN-to-DNP student's NP hours and residency hours combine to reach 1,000.

Which logged hours count toward your total

The totals above count only hours that meet APU's rules, and a shift at the wrong site or in the wrong week can come off your record. Three rules do most of the work:

• Hours begin after the site is cleared in writing and are logged weekly; entries from an unapproved site are removed, as our Medatrax page explains.
• Pacing stays steady, and any hours from a stretch when faculty paused the rotation are struck; see clinical rotation rules.
• A failed course keeps none of its hours; grades and probation covers repeats.

Short on hours near the end of a term? Behind on clinical hours walks through the options.

Why APU students choose us to plan their hours

The reason APU students pick us: we begin with the hours your track owes and work backward to a preceptor who can carry them. Tell us your course and what is left, and we search close to where you live in Southern California for clinic days that fit: 135 hours with the right population for a PMHNP course, 180 in the right setting for a CNS course, or a steady pace through GNRS 600.

Every request we prepare carries the details APU's Graduate Placement Team checks: the preceptor's license and credential, the practice's legal name and who signs for it, and an office contact. We ask the site up front whether an APU affiliation agreement already exists. APU clears each site in writing; our job is making sure the file it reviews is complete and within the rules. When a preceptor has to leave mid-term, we go find the next one for the hours still owed. See how it works.

Questions APU students ask