NURS 6612 Family Nurse Practitioner I: planning your 224 hours

Updated September 27, 2026 · Reviewed by the UTRGV Preceptor placement team

NURS 6612 is the first of the two long clinical courses in UTRGV's FNP sequence: 224 hours with children and adults, scheduled at 16 hours a week across two 7-week rotations. Your preceptor must be an NP, PA or physician that UTRGV has approved, and you pass only with the full hours plus a satisfactory preceptorship grade, so the placement you settle before fall shapes the whole term.

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224clinical hours in NURS 6612, Family Nurse Practitioner I

16clinical hours a week across two 7-week rotations

4hours of interprofessional activity credited as clinical time

Numbered steps. Your week: Wednesday reports, signed logs and site visits: 1 Before your first clinic day; 2 Every Wednesday; 3 Every clinic week; 4 If you miss a day. — Your week: Wednesday reports, signed logs and site visits: 1 Before your first clinic day; 2 Every Wednesday; 3 Every clinic week; 4 If you miss a day.

What NURS 6612 covers

The 2026-27 catalog gives NURS 6612 six credits of lecture and lab, centered on the assessment, diagnosis and management of "common episodic and chronic conditions of children and adults." Read that phrase as the brief for your clinical site: a practice with sick visits and long-term conditions across ages, rather than one narrow specialty.

MSN-FNP students and post-master's FNP certificate students both take it, and its 224 hours are the middle piece of the certificate's 605. The catalog lists NURS 6311 and NURS 6347 as prerequisites. The older 2019 MSN plan of study placed this course in the fall of year two for full-time students and year three for part-time students, yet its full-time order puts NURS 6311 afterward, so check your sequence against the current catalog with your advisor.

Class meets on the Edinburg campus in the Health Affairs Building East, while the clinical hours happen at your approved practice. The MSN-FNP guide shows where the course sits in the full program.

How the 224 hours are laid out

The Fall 2025 syllabus states the load directly: "This course requires 224 clinical hours in addition to the didactic content." It sets a pace of 16 hours a week and divides the semester into two 7-week rotations.

NURS 6612 hour rules in the Fall 2025 syllabus
Rule	What it means for you
224 clinical hours	The full count is required to pass, whatever your theory grade
16 hours a week	Two 7-week rotations; 16 times 14 weeks is exactly 224 (our arithmetic), so a lost week leaves no spare time
No early completion	Finishing ahead needs a legitimate reason and the course coordinator's approval in advance
Interprofessional activity	A 4-hour interprofessional session run with the School of Medicine and other health professions earns clinical hour credit
Mandatory Weekly Time Report	Handed in at every Wednesday class

Hours logged here belong to this course alone: UTRGV's FNP syllabi say hours may not double up across clinical courses taken in the same term. The page on rules for counting hours covers that rule and the Texas 500-hour floor.

The preceptor this course needs

The syllabus calls for "qualified and approved" preceptors who are NPs, PAs or MDs/DOs. For NURS 6612 that means a clinician whose panel includes both children and adults, who can host you 16 hours a week for seven weeks at a stretch, and who will sign your log every week.

On who arranges it, UTRGV's current syllabi put the job on you: you pick a preceptor and site from the list UTRGV posts in Brightspace (D2L), and a practice not yet on that list goes through the Clinical Request Form so the university can put an affiliation agreement in place. The graduate guide from 2023-24, now archived, described recruiting preceptors as work for "the faculty and the student." Either way, faculty approve the site before your hours begin.

Your course objectives reach the preceptor as part of the Clinical Preceptor Agreement, in line with the Texas Board of Nursing rule that written objectives go to the preceptor before the experience starts. For the list and for new sites, see the approved preceptor list, the Clinical Request Form and preceptor requirements.

Your week: Wednesday reports, signed logs and site visits

Before your first clinic dayBuy Typhon access (one purchase covers the MSN), finish HIPAA training (the course is in Brightspace) and turn in the certificate, and sign the Statement of Confidentiality. Wear a white lab coat and the "R.N. UTRGV MSN Student" name tag.
Every WednesdayHand in the Mandatory Weekly Time Report in class, covering this week and next. Faculty visit sites at random, so they need to know where you will be.
Every clinic weekLog encounters in Typhon and get your preceptor's signature. The course's log grading criteria reject a log that lacks weekly preceptor signatures or a preceptor evaluation.
If you miss a dayNotify all three clinical faculty, as the syllabus asks, and ask how the lost hours will be made up before the rotation closes.

The site visits and evaluations page explains what faculty look for, and the Typhon guide covers logging.

Passing takes hours and a preceptorship grade

NURS 6612 has two gates. You need all 224 hours and a satisfactory clinical preceptorship grade, and the syllabus applies both no matter how the theory grade turns out. High exam marks cannot make up for a missing week or a weak evaluation.

Your preceptor's written evaluation feeds that grade, though the archived graduate guide leaves final responsibility for judging clinical performance with faculty and the course coordinator. The same guide set the progression rule: any clinical course graded under a B halts your progress through the program. Since NURS 6613 requires this course first, a setback here moves your finish date. More in grades and progression.

The theory grade does not carry this course. Without all 224 hours and a satisfactory preceptorship grade, NURS 6612 is not passed, whatever your exam scores.

A preceptor mix for children and adults (our suggestion)

UTRGV publishes the population, not a required mix of sites, so this section is our suggestion rather than a UTRGV rule. The simplest fit is one family practice NP, PA or physician who sees newborns through older adults and can keep you for both rotations.

When no single practice covers every age, splitting the rotations works well: seven weeks in a family or adult primary care clinic, then seven in a pediatric practice. Public sources do not say whether the two rotations must use different sites or preceptors, so ask your course coordinator before planning a split, and remember that each site needs approval.

Look one semester ahead as well. NURS 6613 follows in spring at 24 hours a week, and a practice that can grow your schedule from 16 to 24 hours saves a second search. Physicians and PAs are allowed preceptors here, which widens the pool when NP preceptors near you are hard to reach.

How we line up NURS 6612 for you

Your placement advisor starts with your address, your rotation dates and whether you are an MSN or certificate student, then searches for a preceptor who sees children and adults and can commit 16 hours a week through both rotations.

What you get

A preceptor whose credential fits the course: NP, PA, MD or DO
A check against UTRGV's approved list first, and for a new practice, the site and preceptor details ready for the Clinical Request Form months ahead (UTRGV's PMHNP guidelines give 30 to 90 days for an agreement)
Your course objectives and agreement with the preceptor before day one
A clinic schedule that works around the Wednesday class and time report
The option to continue into NURS 6613 at 24 hours a week
Quick replacement if a preceptor leaves mid-rotation

Share your term on the placement request form to start the search, and see the clinical hours hub for how NURS 6612 fits your whole program.

Questions UTRGV students ask

Can a physician assistant be my preceptor in NURS 6612?

Yes. The Fall 2025 syllabus names NPs, PAs and MDs or DOs as possible preceptors, provided UTRGV has approved them. A PA who is new to UTRGV is entered through the Typhon PA data sheet, and a practice without an agreement also needs a Clinical Request Form, so begin that paperwork well before the rotation.

Is NURS 6612 an online course?

No. UTRGV lists the MSN-FNP as a campus program in Edinburg, and the Fall 2025 syllabus gives a classroom in the Health Affairs Building East for the weekly class. Your 224 clinical hours are completed at your approved practice, so plan each week around travel between campus and clinic.

Does the interprofessional activity count toward my 224 hours?

The syllabus awards that 4-hour interprofessional session clinical hour credit, so it is treated as clinical time within the course. Confirm with your course faculty how to record it in Typhon and on your Mandatory Weekly Time Report.

What if my preceptor cancels partway through a rotation?

UTRGV's public documents set out no replacement process, so contact your course coordinator and clinical faculty the day it happens. Because 16 hours a week over 14 weeks adds up to exactly 224 (our arithmetic), lost weeks are hard to recover. Our placement desk starts a replacement search right away and prepares the new preceptor's approval details.

How early should I line up my NURS 6612 preceptor?

UTRGV publishes no program-wide deadline, but a new affiliation can take 30 to 90 days under its PMHNP guidelines, and FNP courses want your agreement and time report in at least a week before clinical starts. For a fall course, our suggestion is to settle the preceptor by late spring, earlier for a site not yet on the list.

336 hoursNURS 6613 FNP IIUTRGV's NURS 6613 Family Nurse Practitioner II: 336 clinical hours at 24 a week, growing responsibility, the Spring 2026 forms list and new-preceptor steps.UTRGV systemClinical hoursClinical hours in every UTRGV nursing program, course by course: FNP 605, 740 or 800, PMHNP 520, 100 logged DNP hours, and the Texas 500-hour floor.UTRGV systemRules for counting hoursUTRGV's rules for counting clinical hours: no early finish without approval, no double counting, weekly loads, signed logs, PMHNP limits and the Texas minimum.UTRGV systemPreceptor requirementsWho may precept each UTRGV course: NPs, PAs or physicians for FNP, two NPs for NURS 6347, ABPN or ANCC board certification for PMHNP, and the DNP rule.UTRGV systemSite visits and evaluationsHow UTRGV faculty oversee clinicals: random FNP site visits, remote PMHNP oversight, evaluation forms both ways, and what it takes to pass a clinical course.ProgramMSN-FNPUTRGV's 48-credit MSN-FNP in Edinburg: the fall start, full-time and part-time plans, clinical hours in six courses, and how preceptors get approved.

Last checked 2026-09-27

We check these pages against UTRGV's own catalog, course syllabi, School of Nursing pages and Texas Board of Nursing rules. Your course faculty and the School of Nursing have the final word.

From the approved list or a brand-new site, we find the preceptor who fits.

Tell us your UTRGV program, where you live and when your next clinical course starts. We line up a willing preceptor who fits the course and UTRGV's rules, and hand you the details the Clinical Request Form, the affiliation agreement and the preceptor agreement ask for, well before the semester.

Family practice preceptors for NURS 6612 and NURS 6613, and two NP sites for NURS 6347
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