Behind on clinical hours in a Graceland practicum

Updated September 25, 2026 · Reviewed by the Graceland Preceptor placement team

If your hours are slipping, act before midterm, not in week 13. Graceland University wants practicum hours done by the end of week 14 and counts nothing after the term ends, but its rules give you real tools: a substitute preceptor for up to 40 hours, an approved second preceptor, and, last of all, an incomplete that costs a term.

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Catch up on your hours

Tell us your course, the hours you still owe and the weeks left. Your placement advisor looks for a second preceptor or substitute who fits your course.

Numbered steps. Ways to add hours inside Graceland's rules: 1 Ask your preceptor for more time; 2 Use a substitute for short absences; 3 Add a second preceptor for longer gaps; 4 Keep your current preceptor. — Ways to add hours inside Graceland's rules: 1 Ask your preceptor for more time; 2 Use a substitute for short absences; 3 Add a second preceptor for longer gaps; 4 Keep your current preceptor.

Measure the gap first

Start with arithmetic. Divide the hours you still owe by the weeks left before the end of week 14. A 225-hour practicum needs about 16 hours a week from the first day; a 300-hour practicum needs about 21. If your figure is well above 24, the top of the 16 to 24 hours a week Graceland tells students to expect, your current schedule will not close the gap by itself.

Weekly hours needed to finish by the end of week 14
Hours still owed	8 weeks left	6 weeks left	4 weeks left
100	12.5	16.7	25
150	18.8	25	37.5
200	25	33.3	50

Check your patient count alongside the hours. FNP practicums expect as many patients as hours, and the handbook says extra hours may be needed to reach the count; AGACNP and PMHNP practicums aim for about 100 patients each.

Why logs come up short

Some shortfalls are really counting problems. Graceland counts only direct patient contact that provides learning. Drug representative lunches, observing during hospital rounds and patients outside your course's population are all excluded, and so is anything logged before your approval email, before the first day of term, or at a site or with a preceptor not approved for you. What counts as practicum hours goes through each case.

The first 8 hours of every practicum are mostly observation, so the real pace starts on day two. Your time logs go to the course's assignment folder and your preceptor validates them at regular intervals; case logs and evaluations sit in Typhon. Settle unvalidated logs weekly, before they turn into a gap nobody noticed.

Ways to add hours inside Graceland's rules

Ask your preceptor for more timeA third day or longer shifts, within 16 to 24 hours a week, can close a gap with no new paperwork at all.
Use a substitute for short absencesGraceland lets a single fill-in at your main site supervise up to 40 hours a term without an Appendix B; from hour 41 on, time counts only once a Preceptor Application is approved.
Add a second preceptor for longer gapsGraceland allows two preceptors per practicum. The second needs an Appendix B, and a new address also needs an Appendix A, a site contract and its own approval email before any hours there count.
Keep your current preceptorOnce a preceptor has agreed and the forms are in, Graceland asks you to keep them. Add rather than replace unless your preceptor has actually left.

Whoever you add has to suit the course: a primary care clinician in NURS6740 or NURS6760, an acute or specialty setting for AGACNP, a psychiatrist or certified PMHNP for PMHNP, and in no case a physician assistant. Requests to add a second preceptor are also closed in the two weeks before a term begins. Changing or adding a preceptor has the full procedure.

Hours logged at a new site before its approval email arrives do not count, even with the right preceptor. When you add someone to catch up, wait for that email before logging.

Tell the right people early

Your course instructor is the first person to tell, as soon as the numbers look wrong. The instructor is also the one who later decides whether an incomplete is possible, and a problem raised at midterm leaves more room than one raised in week 15. Faculty keep in touch with your primary preceptor throughout the course and may arrange a random midterm site visit, so it is better that your instructor hears about a shortfall from you first.

For anything involving a new preceptor or site, email soncontracts@graceland.edu, which the handbook makes the address for every practicum question. Keep your preceptor's midterm evaluation on schedule in Typhon as well, because missing evaluations can stop your progress within the course and lead to an administrative block.

If the hours will not fit in the term

Hours worked after the term's end date do not count toward that course. The remaining route is an incomplete: put the request in writing no later than two weeks before the course ends, while you are passing, and with your instructor's approval. The owed hours are then finished during the next term, no second extension exists, and your next practicum starts a term later. Ask the contract coordinators what paperwork the make-up term needs, since Graceland files Appendix B for each term a preceptor is used.

Because Graceland expects the practicum courses in a track to fall within 12 months of each other, a second delay is harder to absorb than the first. Incompletes and delays walks through the rules, and delayed graduation covers what a lost term does to your finish date.

How we help you catch up

Speed matters most here, and we move fast. Tell your placement advisor your course, the hours you owe, the weeks left and your current preceptor's schedule. We look for a second preceptor or a substitute who fits your course's setting rules, close to your current site, with days open now, and we gather the license, credentials and site details for Appendix B, and for Appendix A when the address is new, so the contract coordinators have a complete request in hand.

Then we plan the rest of the term with you, week by week against week 14, and start early on your next practicum so a slow term does not repeat. If your preceptor has left altogether, read preceptor dropped out and send us the details through the form below.

Questions Graceland students ask

How many hours a week should I spend in a Graceland practicum?

Plan on 16 to 24 hours a week on site, the handbook's minimum expectation, and aim to be done by the close of week 14. Its own examples: two eight-hour days for 14 weeks gives 224 hours, and three eight-hour days for 12.5 weeks gives 300. Falling below that pace early is the clearest warning sign.

Can I count hours I work after the term ends?

No. Graceland counts only hours done within the date range of the term, starting on its first day. If you cannot finish by the last day, the option is an incomplete approved by your instructor, with the remaining hours completed during the next term and your following practicum moved back a trimester.

Can a substitute preceptor help me catch up?

Yes, within limits. Each term, one stand-in at your primary site can supervise up to 40 hours before any Appendix B is needed. Any hours beyond 40 with that person count only once a Preceptor Application is completed and approved, which makes them a second preceptor, the most a single practicum allows.

Can telehealth hours help me catch up?

It depends on your track. AGACNP students may not log any telehealth hours. FNP students may do so only if the instructor approves. PMHNP students can use telehealth for as much as two terms or 450 hours, as long as they hold a license valid where each patient is during the visit.

Can I start my next practicum early to make up time?

No. Hours count only from the first day of the term in which the practicum is scheduled, Graceland allows one practicum per trimester, and paperwork sent early waits until the term before. The time to get ahead is in the search: have your next site and preceptor lined up well before its deadline.

HoursWhat counts as practicum hoursWhich hours Graceland University counts toward NP practicums: direct patient care only, the observation start, patient targets, weekly pace and week 14.PreceptorsChanging or adding a preceptorA substitute may cover 40 hours at your primary site; more needs Appendix B. How Graceland handles second preceptors, the two-week cutoff and preceptor changes.ProgressIncompletes and delaysHow Graceland handles an incomplete practicum, the 12-month practicum rule, stop-outs, sitting out a term and completion plans with Program Advising.Right nowPreceptor dropped outYour preceptor left partway through a Graceland practicum. Who to tell first, how to protect logged hours, the 40-hour substitute bridge and a replacement plan.Right nowDelayed graduationHow a missing preceptor pushes back a Graceland University graduation: four months per term sat out, incompletes, the 12-month rule and getting back on track.PreceptorsTwo-preceptor ruleGraceland needs two or more different preceptors across three NP practicums, no more than two per practicum and none for all three terms. How to plan it well.

Last checked 2026-09-25

We check these pages against Graceland's own catalog, program pages and Graduate Student Handbook. Your handbook, your track coordinator and the contract coordinators have the final word.

Graceland's practicums are arranged by you, with Graceland's help. We do the searching.

Tell us your Graceland track, your city and your next practicum. We find preceptors who fit the course, line up what Appendix A and Appendix B ask for, and aim everything at Graceland's paperwork deadline for your term.

Preceptors matched to the course: primary care for FNP, hospital and ICU clinicians for AGACNP, psychiatrists and PMHNPs for PMHNP
Site address, contract contact and preceptor details ready before the June 15, October 15 or February 15 deadline
Close to home in your approved state, with a second preceptor planned for Graceland's two-preceptor rule

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