Samford's 750 clinical hours, course by course
Every Samford NP program page says the pathway requires a minimum of 750 clinical hours at 10 to 20 hours a week. The plans of study divide those hours among three FNP or four PMHNP clinical courses, one per semester, and load the most hours into the final two terms.
Map your 750 hours
Tell us your Samford track and where you live. A placement advisor lines up a preceptor near you for each clinical course and term.
NURG 730 for FNP or NURG 790 for PMHNP
The line on every Samford NP page
The Clinicals & Practicum block on Samford's NP program pages carries the same sentence on the FNP, PMHNP, MSN, certificate and DNP pages alike: "This pathway requires a minimum of 750 clinical hours with patients across the lifespan (10 to 20 hours per week depending on the clinical rotation)."
Read it in three parts. The word minimum makes 750 a floor that the plan of study fills in course by course, not a target to trim. Patients across the lifespan means direct care with people of every age over the program as a whole. And the weekly range swings with the course you are in, because a 150-hour summer course and a 300-hour spring practicum ask very different things of your schedule.
Where the 750 hours sit
The plans of study dated December 2025 split the 750 hours the same way in every track of each specialty. FNP students share one sequence whether they entered with a BSN, an ADN, a master's for the certificate or a master's for the DNP; all four PMHNP tracks share another.
| Specialty | Course | Name in the plan | Hours | Running total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FNP | NURG 723 | FNP Clinical: Adult | 150 | 150 |
| FNP | NURG 724 | FNP Clinical: Across the Lifespan | 300 | 450 |
| FNP | NURG 730 | NP Practicum | 300 | 750 |
| PMHNP | NURG 767 | Psychotherapeutic Frameworks and Modalities | 75 | 75 |
| PMHNP | NURG 788 | Advanced Practice Clinical I - PMHNP | 150 | 225 |
| PMHNP | NURG 789 | Advanced Practice Clinical II - PMHNP | 225 | 450 |
| PMHNP | NURG 790 | PMHNP Practicum | 300 | 750 |
Two patterns matter for placement. The first FNP course holds only 150 of the 750 hours, so the preceptors for NURG 724 and NURG 730 carry most of your program. In the PMHNP sequence, the short therapy course comes first and the three psychiatric clinicals climb from 150 hours to 300.
What 10 to 20 hours a week means in each term
Samford publishes no weekly target for individual courses, so the figures below are our own arithmetic: each course's hours spread evenly over its 2026-27 term. The summer rows use the 12-week term the graduate catalog assigns to College of Health Sciences programs; check your section's dates in Canvas.
| Course | Hours | Term in the plans | Term dates | Even weekly load |
|---|---|---|---|---|
NURG 723 | 150 | Summer | May 17 to Aug 5, 2027 (12 weeks) | About 12 to 13 |
NURG 724 | 300 | Fall | Aug 24 to Dec 3, 2026 (about 15 weeks) | About 20 |
NURG 730 | 300 | Spring | Jan 11 to Apr 22, 2027 (about 15 weeks) | About 20; about 21 with spring break off |
NURG 767 | 75 | Spring; fall in the PMHNP MSN to DNP | One full term | About 5 |
NURG 788 | 150 | Summer | May 17 to Aug 5, 2027 | About 12 to 13 |
NURG 789 | 225 | Fall | Aug 24 to Dec 3, 2026 | About 15 |
NURG 790 | 300 | Spring | Jan 11 to Apr 22, 2027 | About 20; about 21 with spring break off |
The summer courses sit near the floor of Samford's range and the final practicums at the ceiling, with little slack if a preceptor cancels a week. The calendar also lists a January 4 start in spring 2027 for certain clinical experiences, so ask your course faculty whether yours qualifies.
Where 750 is not your number
The 750 sentence is copied onto pages whose plans say something else. Check your track against this list before you plan any placements.
- FNP BSN to DNP: four clinical courses, from
NURG 716through the sharedNURG 730, add up to 1,050 hours in the plan, yet the web page repeats 750. The BSN to DNP clinicals guide sets out that conflict. - PMHNP therapy hours:
NURG 767counts 75 hours in the plans but a minimum of 60 in the catalog, so the PMHNP sum depends on which figure your section applies. - DNP degree hours: the handbook's rule of 1,000 post-baccalaureate hours sits beside the 750 direct clinical hours rather than replacing them, and up to 500 may come from an earlier MSN or certificate. The DNP hours guide explains how the two fit.
- Emergency NP: the closed ENP plans list 540 hours for the DNP and 360 for the certificate, though their pages carry the same 750 sentence.
Old hour counts still in circulation
Samford's totals have changed, and older numbers live on in forum threads and saved screenshots. An archived 2016 FNP page listed 720 clinical hours, split into 480 in family practice, 120 in women's health and 120 in pediatrics. The PMHNP MSN page read a minimum of 660 hours in a June 2025 capture, and a 2022 to 2024 version told PMHNP students to expect an average of 16 to 20 hours a week in clinical courses.
None of those figures governs current students. If Samford now sets a split by setting or age group, it is written into the NP Clinical Manual, a document kept in Canvas and closed to the public. Read that part before choosing preceptors, since a split changes which sites you need. The Homeroom guide covers what else is kept there.
Turning 750 hours into a plan that holds
- Pull your plan of studyOpen the PDF for your track and entry term and note the semester for each clinical course. Per-course hours are printed only there.
- Convert hours to clinic daysDivide each course's hours by the weeks in its term and hold the result against your work schedule. A 20-hour fall or spring week usually means two or three fixed clinic days.
- Match a preceptor to each courseAn adult primary care site suits the first FNP course, the lifespan course needs children too, and PMHNP clinicals need a psychiatric-mental health setting. One preceptor can sometimes carry you through two courses.
- Leave room for Samford's reviewSamford reviews each clinical rotation request, may need a new affiliation agreement with your site, and can deny a request on state rules. Rotation requests covers the steps.
- Log as you goRecord hours weekly under the NP Clinical Manual's rules, and raise lost clinic days with your course faculty the week they happen.
How we keep your 750 hours on schedule
Samford's affiliation agreements reach hundreds of agencies, mainly in the Southeast, and its NP pages lean on students' own contacts to find sites near home. We are those connections. Your placement advisor finds a preceptor close to you for each clinical course, checks that the practice and its patients fit the course, and assembles what Samford needs to review the rotation.
We plan all three or four courses together, so the heavy fall and spring terms are covered before they start, and before anything goes to Samford we confirm each preceptor can give you the clinic days that course's hours require. If a preceptor pulls out, we find the next one near you to keep your weekly count on pace. Share your track, your state and your next clinical term on the request form.
Questions Samford students ask
Is Samford's 750 an exact number or a minimum?
Samford's NP pages call it a minimum, and the plans of study assign exact hours to each clinical course that add up to 750 for most tracks. Complete every hour your plan lists for each course. Whether hours beyond a course's figure count toward anything is not public; your course faculty will tell you, drawing on the NP Clinical Manual.
Can I do more than 20 clinical hours a week in a Samford NP course?
Samford ties its range of 10 to 20 hours a week to the rotation, and no public NP document sets a hard weekly cap. Longer weeks can help in a 300-hour spring, but they depend on your preceptor's schedule and your course faculty's rules. Ask before you plan a heavy stretch, and keep your RN work hours in view.
Do on-campus intensive days count toward the 750 hours?
The plans list clinical hours only against clinical courses and mark campus visits separately, often in a didactic course such as NURG 610 Advanced Health Assessment. Nothing public counts intensive days toward the 750. Treat each intensive as time away from clinic and plan around it; the intensives guide covers timing.
Does Samford split the 750 hours into direct and indirect care?
No public Samford document splits NP hours into direct and indirect care. The handbook refers to the direct clinical hours in the plan of study, and the plans give one number per course. If your course allows any indirect time, the syllabus or the NP Clinical Manual will say so, so read both before you log anything that is not patient care.
Can extra hours in one Samford clinical course carry into the next?
Samford's plans give each clinical course its own hour figure, and each course is graded on its own. Nothing public says surplus hours roll forward to the next course. If you reach a course's total early, ask your course faculty before logging more hours with that preceptor, since the answer comes from the NP Clinical Manual.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-25
We check these pages against Samford's own program pages, plans of study, the 2026-27 Graduate Nursing Student Handbook and Alabama rules. Your course, your program coordinator and Graduate Student Services have the final word.
Samford says connections are essential. We are the connection.
Tell us your Samford track, where you live and when your next clinical course starts. We find preceptors near you who fit the course and prepare the details Samford needs to approve the rotation, including a new affiliation agreement where one is needed.
- Preceptors matched to the course: adult primary care for
NURG 723, family practice across the lifespan forNURG 724, psychiatric care forNURG 788 - Preceptor, license and site details ready for your clinical rotation request
- In your own community, anywhere Samford accepts you and your RN license is valid
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