FNU clinical hours: 750 per track, plus the visit counts
If your clinical courses start in 2025 or later, every FNU MSN and PGC track asks for 750 clinical hours and 19 weeks of clinical, spread over three practicum courses. Hours are only half of it: each track also sets visit counts you must log before you finish. FNU publishes the track total, not a total for each course.
Planning your 750 hours?
Tell us your track and projected Clinical Bound term, and a placement advisor will reply by email.
Pick your FNU track
Your clinical courses and hours, who can precept you, where, and when to start looking. From FNU's own catalog and programs of study.
- Who precepts
- Ideally a CNM or CM as primary preceptor, a year or more in practice
- Where
- Settings where you can reach 40 births, at least 8 in a hospital
- Start looking
- Months before Clinical Bound: credentialing can take several months
- Who precepts
- An NP with a year or more in practice; up to 40% of hours with an MD, DO or PA
- Where
- Family practice across the lifespan, to meet the visit counts by age
- Start looking
- Months before Clinical Bound; submit the CSAF early
- Who precepts
- An advanced-practice clinician in women's health with a year or more in practice
- Where
- Gynecologic and prenatal care, to meet FNU's visit counts
- Start looking
- Months before Clinical Bound
- Who precepts
- A psychiatric provider with a year or more in practice; up to 135 hours with a therapist
- Where
- Psychiatric settings; telehealth capped at 450 hours
- Start looking
- Months before Clinical Bound
- Who precepts
- The same preceptor rules as your specialty's MSN track
- Where
- As for your specialty
- Start looking
- As for your specialty: before Clinical Bound
- Who precepts
- No placement service from FNU; your project site and practice hours
- Where
- FNU encourages your own workplace
- Start looking
- Before the practicum courses begin
One total for every track
FNU's catalog sets the same floor for nurse-midwifery, FNP, WHNP and PMHNP: 750 clinical hours and 19 weeks of clinical for students who begin clinical courses in 2025 or later. The rule is the same for the MSN and the post-graduate certificate, so a PGC student no longer carries a smaller total.
Earlier cohorts worked to different numbers, which is why classmates and alumni sometimes quote figures that do not match yours. If your clinical courses began before 2025, ask your RCF which rule sits on your record rather than assuming.
| Who | Clinical hours | Weeks of clinical |
|---|---|---|
| MSN or PGC, clinical courses starting 2025 or later | 750 | 19 |
| MSN, clinical courses starting before 2025 | 675 | 16 |
| PGC, clinical courses starting before 2025 | 540 | 14 |
Each track's program page repeats the 750 figure; the PMHNP page calls it 750 clinical clock hours. FNU's clinical experience page says you may plan two to three 11-week terms in clinical, and the catalog recommends three.
How the hours sit inside the clinical courses
Every track runs the same clinical block. The five-day Clinical Bound course comes first, then three practicum courses, then a one-credit final comprehensive review. Only the prefix changes by track (NM, FNP, WH, MH); the credits and the order stay the same.
| Number after the track prefix | Title pattern | Credits | Minimum clinical hours per week (catalog) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 750 | Clinical Bound: Transition to Clinical | 1, lab | Five days on campus |
| 751 | Clinical Practicum I | 4, clinical | 20 |
| 752 | Clinical Practicum II | 6, clinical | 28 |
| 753 | Clinical Practicum III | 5, clinical | 24 |
| 717 | Final Comprehensive Review | 1, didactic | Not a clinical course |
FNU does not publish how many of the 750 hours belong to each course. The weekly minimums are what a site must be able to offer you in each practicum; they are floors for a week, not course totals, so do not turn them into one. Your syllabus in Canvas and your RCF are where to confirm what each course expects.
A per-course hour figure passed around by classmates is not FNU policy until your syllabus or your RCF confirms it.
Weekly and site limits by track
The catalog caps clinic or office time at 40 hours a week for every track, and for nurse-midwifery that ceiling depends on the call schedule. FNU's clinical experience web page gives a lower midwifery figure of 32 hours and adds a 10-hour daily limit for the NP tracks. Where the two disagree, the catalog revised in August 2026 is the newer source, but your RCF settles it.
| Track | Maximum clinical sites | Weekly clinic or office maximum | Daily maximum |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nurse-midwifery | 4 unless the RCF approves more (typically 2 clinics and 2 hospitals) | 40 in the catalog, 32 on the website, depending on call | Not published |
| FNP | 4 | 40 | 10 (website) |
| WHNP | 3 in the catalog, 4 on the website | 40 | 10 (website) |
| PMHNP | 4 | 40 | 10 (website) |
If one site cannot give you enough patients, the catalog expects you to use more than one, and warns that this may mean relocating, possibly out of state. The site limit therefore shapes your plan as much as the hour total does.
Visit counts: the second requirement
Reaching 750 hours does not close the practicum if your visit counts are short. Each track has its own list of required experiences. The catalog also expects a complete clinical plan covering every visit type and all hours before you can register for Clinical Bound, and students without one may need to take an Academic Hiatus.
| Track | Examples of FNU's required counts | Courses |
|---|---|---|
| Nurse-midwifery | 40 births (at least 8 in a hospital), 40 labor management experiences, 140 return antepartum visits | NM751, NM752, NM753 |
| FNP | 150 adult episodic or wellness visits, 100 chronic illness visits under 65, well and episodic pediatric visits in three age bands | FNP751, FNP752, FNP753 |
| WHNP | 300 gynecologic care visits, 120 return antepartum visits, 100 primary care visits | WH751, WH752, WH753 |
| PMHNP | 300 medication management visits, 50 substance use disorder visits, 20 psychotherapy sessions | MH751, MH752, MH753 |
Midwifery students carry the longest list, so the intrapartum numbers have their own page on births.
What counts toward hours, and what does not
Rules from the catalog
- Time spent observing during orientation at a new site counts toward your hours.
- A visit you only observed does not count toward required experiences. Therapy visits for PMHNP students are the exception.
- WHNP and PMHNP students cannot count time spent observing at a specialty site.
- FNP students may spend no more than 20% of their time at specialty sites, with one specialty rotation drawn from the catalog's approved list.
- Telehealth counts only up to your track's cap, set out on the telehealth hours page.
- Some procedures stay off limits for students even if you already know how to do them, including vacuum deliveries, ultrasound and colposcopy.
Clinical Bound uses simulation, but no FNU source says simulation counts toward the 750. Treat those five days as preparation rather than hours unless CB101 says otherwise. Hours and visits are recorded in FNU's Clinical Log, which must be fully de-identified; the Clinical Log guide covers entries.
Planning 19 weeks before Clinical Bound
You log the hours after Clinical Bound, but you plan them long before it. Your RCF accepts a site only if it can offer the weekly hours the first practicum requires, and registration for Clinical Bound stays closed until you have named a site and it has gone to Clinical Credentialing.
Credentialing a site can take several months, and FNU staff put the RCF's sign-off on your clinical plan at roughly four to six months before Clinical Bound. Count back from the projected Clinical Bound term on your first-term degree audit to find your real deadline. The placement timeline walks through that sequence.
Plan for patient volume as well as hours. A site with generous hours but few children, prenatal patients or crisis visits can leave counts open at week 19. Adding a second site within your track's limit is the catalog's own answer to low volume.
Sites chosen for your hours and counts
We look for preceptors and sites whose patient mix can carry your track's hours and counts, in person near you where possible. Before passing on a lead, we check it against the limits above, such as the FNP specialty share or the WHNP site count. For each site and preceptor, we collect the details the CSAF and Clinical Credentialing request, and if a preceptor withdraws partway through, we search again.
FNU's hour and visit rules apply to every student in the same way, and your RCF and Clinical Credentialing approve each site against them, which is the same yardstick we search by. If you want us to look at your area, send a request with your track and projected Clinical Bound term.
Questions FNU students ask
Do the five days at Clinical Bound count toward my 750 clinical hours?
No FNU source says they do. Clinical Bound is a one-credit lab course built around simulation and standardized patients, while the 750 hours are described as clinical practicum time. Check the CB101 course in Canvas or ask your RCF before you count any of that week toward your total.
Can I finish FNU's clinical hours in two terms instead of three?
FNU's clinical experience page allows for two to three 11-week terms, and the catalog recommends three. By our arithmetic, 750 hours over 22 weeks averages about 34 hours a week, above every weekly minimum and close to the 40-hour cap, and your visit counts must keep pace. Your RCF approves the plan, so raise a compressed schedule early.
I started clinical courses before 2025. Is my total 675 or 540 hours?
The catalog lists 675 hours over 16 weeks for the MSN and 540 hours over 14 weeks for the PGC for students who began clinical courses before 2025. The 750-hour, 19-week rule applies to 2025 and later starters. If your start fell close to the change, confirm with your RCF which total applies to you.
Can hours at the place I work count toward the 750?
It depends on your track and your employer. The catalog sends MSN and PGC students to their syllabus and program guidelines for the answer, and the employer's own policy counts as well. Where it is allowed, FNU requires a strict line between your job and your student role. The employer site page explains how students keep those roles apart.
What happens if I reach 750 hours but not all my visit counts?
The practicum is not complete until both are met, because FNU sets the hours as a minimum alongside required visit numbers. The usual fix is more time at a site that sees the missing patient type, or an added site within your track's limit, arranged with your RCF. Our page on falling behind covers the options.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-23
We check these pages against FNU's own published sources. Your Clinical Advisor, your RCF and FNU's current guidelines have the final word.
Your site submitted before Clinical Bound.
Tell us your FNU track, your county and your Clinical Bound date. We look for a preceptor and site that fit FNU's rules for your track, and help you get the CSAF and credentialing details right.
- Matched to your track: CNM/CM, NP, or the right mix FNU allows
- Ready for the CSAF, the RCF and Clinical Credentialing
- In person near you, or telehealth within FNU's caps
Start your placement plan
A placement advisor replies with what an FNU-ready preceptor and site look like for you.