Clinical hours question, how many?

Specializes in ICU/ER.

I have been looking at NP jobs, and noticed some requesting 700 or 720 clinical hours. The program I am in only requires 600 clinical hours. Can people tell me how many clinical hours their program requires? I know 500 is needed to sit for boards. I am worried this could be a problem.

11 Answers

Specializes in PICU.

My acute care PNP program requires 612 hours. If you do both acute care and primary care PNP it would be 872 hours.

Thanks for asking this question Mrmike. I am researching and applying to NP programs and I have seen anywhere from 540 to 860 clinical hour requirements. That's a pretty large gap. I am leaning towards the programs with more hours because I think they will offer better preparation for real life.

Good luck on your job search

Specializes in family nurse practitioner.

Hi, at my school we had to do 720 hrs but I am doing FNP. What state are you in? I have never seen an hourly requirement prior to applying for a job. In Michigan the state board requires 500. But you can do more clinical hours usually with out any problem. Are you done with the program?

Specializes in Med/Surg.

I'm at NYU, the program contains 750 clinical hours but it ranges widely depending on specialty.

Specializes in PICU.

FNP is usually more hours I believe. My ACPNP program is 630, but if you do the dual option of AC and PC PNP it is around 1100 hours. So it varies by program.

Specializes in cardiac (CCU/Heart Transplant, cath lab).

My adult acnp program requires 630. 135 IM, 135 hospitalist, 360 in up to 2 different services in hospital setting. I feel well prepared, but may do some more hours in my last rotation just bc I may have an opportunity to take a job with the pulmonary/critical care group and want to learn the ropes as much as possible.

Specializes in Level II Trauma Center ICU.

My ACNP program requires 672 hrs. It has a critical care focus so all of my hours will be on an inpatient basis. I plan on completing additional hours though.

The minimum number of hours required for graduation varies by specialty - i.e. as an ANP my minimum was 500, my school agreed that 500 was sufficient, but in reality most of my class completed more in the 700+ range.

There is also a HUGE difference in how schools count clinical hours. Some allow you to include conference time, meetings, transit time, etc in your total. My program was quite strict about only counting true clinical time into our completed hours. I would be wary of comparing hours between one program and another unless I knew exactly what standards each was using.

I have yet to see a job posting requesting a specific number of hours - guess this is a new trend. I have seen some new NP resumes that list hours worked per clinical site instead of the traditional dates and I rather liked that format.

Specializes in PICU.

I'm curious re: how/why most of you did 200 more clinical hours than was required? I think that's great, don't get me wrong. It's just that most of my class struggles to get in the required hours, pretty sure none of us are doing extra.

The minimum number of hours required for graduation varies by specialty - i.e. as an ANP my minimum was 500, my school agreed that 500 was sufficient, but in reality most of my class completed more in the 700+ range.

There is also a HUGE difference in how schools count clinical hours. Some allow you to include conference time, meetings, transit time, etc in your total. My program was quite strict about only counting true clinical time into our completed hours. I would be wary of comparing hours between one program and another unless I knew exactly what standards each was using.

I have yet to see a job posting requesting a specific number of hours - guess this is a new trend. I have seen some new NP resumes that list hours worked per clinical site instead of the traditional dates and I rather liked that format.

My program made a good effort to get us multiple clinical sites with lots of hours. There were those who chose to do closer to the minimum (or were working outside of school and couldn't), and a few with clinical placements that didn't work out so they were tighter on hours at the end of the program. but in general we were expected to take full advantage of whatever placements were available and to not focus on the minimum number of hours. Just a school culture sort of a thing.

Specializes in allergy and asthma, urgent care.

My program required 600 clinical hours for the FNP. I graduated with close to 800 hours. I did as many hours as my preceptors would let me and my schedule would allow. I wanted to get as much experience as possible before sitting for boards and working.

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