UTRGV clinical hours in every nursing program

Start with the planner on this page

The planner on this page gives each UTRGV program its own tab: the clinical courses in order, the hours each one carries, the kind of preceptor it calls for, the usual setting and when to begin your search. Every course code opens that course's own guide, where its hours, preceptor rules and paperwork are covered in full.

The planner follows the newest UTRGV source for each course. Where an older document prints a different number, the sections below show both, name the document and its year, and say which figure we plan to. The MSN-FNP total in the planner is our own addition of the course figures, not a number UTRGV prints anywhere. Use the planner to see your whole path at once, and come back to these sections when a number does not match what you heard in class.

605, 740 or 800: the MSN-FNP total

Three totals circulate for the FNP, and each one has a source. 605 is the catalog's figure for the post-master's FNP certificate: 45, 224 and 336 hours in NURS 6347, NURS 6612 and NURS 6613. The archived 2023-24 Graduate Nursing Student Guide gives the certificate the same 605.

740 is our arithmetic, not UTRGV's: the six course figures in the table above added together. 800 is the MSN total printed in the curriculum table of that archived 2023-24 guide. The current catalog prints no MSN total at all, and nothing public explains the 60 hours between 740 and 800 (again our subtraction).

For planning, the course figures matter more than any total. NURS 6612 and NURS 6613 each pass only when their full hours are done, and an hour logged for one course cannot also count for another you are taking that term, so a surplus in one course does not cover a shortfall in the next.

DNP and BSN: what UTRGV publishes

UTRGV prints no total of practice hours for its online DNP. The one figure in the public record sits in the Fall 2025 NURS 8211 syllabus, where clinical logs of 100 hours are part of the grade while the DNP Project is carried out at an approved site. NURS 8210 develops the project and NURS 8512 is the capstone clinical course, and neither syllabus we read gives an hour figure. UTRGV's 2022 announcement of the program said only that students complete the clinical hours accreditation standards require. The DNP project hours guide follows all three courses.

For the BSN, UTRGV publishes no hours per clinical course and no total. The School of Nursing assigns BSN clinical sites, and UTRGV says high-fidelity simulation in some courses at Edinburg and Brownsville is used to complete required clinical hours. Its clinical courses run through all four nursing semesters on the Edinburg and Brownsville campuses.

How we plan a placement around your hours

Hours are where a placement succeeds or stalls, so our placement desk plans from them. For NURS 6612 and NURS 6613 we look for a family practice preceptor who can host you 16 or 24 hours a week across both seven-week rotations. For NURS 6347 we line up two master's-prepared NPs at separate sites. For PMHNP students we find a board-certified psychiatric preceptor in your home state whose clinic can carry 220 or 300 hours with enough in-person time.

We start a semester or more ahead, because a site new to UTRGV needs an affiliation agreement first, and those take 30 to 90 days. You receive the preceptor's details ready for the Clinical Request Form and the preceptor agreement, plus a backup plan if a preceptor's schedule changes mid-term. Tell us your program, your city and your next clinical course in the form below, and we build the plan from those hours.