FNP specialty hours at Graceland University: the 150-hour cap and what counts as primary care
Graceland University allows FNP students specialty hours in one course only, the Family practicum NURS6830, and caps them at 150, half of its 300 hours. Pediatrics and Adult must be entirely primary care. Knowing which settings Graceland treats as primary care, and which it does not, keeps specialty time from quietly using up hours you need elsewhere.
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The rule in plain terms
The handbook states the cap two ways, and on the current plan they agree. Specialty hours are limited to half of the required Family practicum hours, and students are allowed a maximum of 150 specialty hours at an approved clinic. With a 300-hour Family practicum, half is exactly 150.
NURS6740Pediatrics: a primary care clinic only, with no specialty hours.NURS6760Adult: a primary care clinic only, with no specialty hours.NURS6830Family: at least half the hours in primary care; specialty time up to half the requirement, never above 150.
If you matriculated before July 31, 2023 and are on the 240-hour Family practicum, half of your requirement is 120. The 150 figure fits the 300-hour course, so confirm your own ceiling with the Family practicum's lead faculty before you plan specialty days.
Settings Graceland does not treat as primary care
Graceland names the settings it does not recommend as primary care sites. None of them can be used in Pediatrics or Adult, and together they can make up no more than half of the Family practicum.
- Minute clinics, and acute care settings in general
- Emergency departments and urgent care centers
- Diagnostic specialty clinics, for example women's health, cardiac, diabetic and wound centers
- Hospitalist services
The handbook closes its specialty list with “etc.,” so treat it as examples rather than a complete catalog. A clinic organized around one organ system, one condition or one procedure deserves a question to the lead faculty before you file Appendix A. Urgent care, for instance, is specialty time under Graceland's rules no matter how many families walk through its doors.
Choosing specialty hours that help you
Specialty time is optional. The rule is a ceiling, so a student can spend all 300 Family hours in primary care. Use specialty hours to fill a gap: exposure you have not had, or a preceptor who can take you on days when your primary care site cannot.
Keep the patient mix in view. The Family practicum expects patients across the lifespan with roughly 10 to 20 percent children, and the FNP patient count equals the hours. A specialty clinic that sees only adults leaves the whole pediatric share to your primary care hours.
The preceptor limit shapes the plan as well. A practicum may have at most two preceptors, so a primary care preceptor plus one specialty preceptor fills the course, with no room for a third preceptor in the same term.
Who can precept specialty hours
The qualifications do not relax in a specialty clinic. An NP preceptor needs at least an MSN and a year of experience. A physician preceptor must be board-certified or board-eligible, and the handbook's wording is “in a primary care area of practice.”
Read literally, that physician wording is a hurdle in specialty settings, because a cardiologist or a wound surgeon is not board-certified in a primary care area. The NP rules carry no primary-care wording, so an NP in the specialty clinic is the more straightforward choice. If the only preceptor available is a specialist physician, ask the lead faculty before any paperwork goes in.
Physician assistants cannot precept any Graceland practicum hours, in specialty clinics or anywhere else. Confirm your specialty preceptor's role and credentials before you commit to the site; the preceptor requirements page has the full list.
Telehealth in the FNP track
FNP students may not do any telehealth hours unless the instructor approves them. The rule covers all three practicums, including specialty time in the Family course.
If your specialty preceptor sees part of the week by video, build your schedule around the in-person sessions, or ask the course instructor in writing before you count any virtual visits. The PMHNP track has its own telehealth allowance of up to two terms or 450 hours; that allowance does not extend to FNP students.
An approved virtual visit still has to pass the ordinary test: direct contact with a patient from the course's population, under your approved preceptor, inside the term's dates. The practicum hours rules page sets out that test in full.
Paperwork for a specialty site
A specialty clinic goes through the same approval chain as your primary care site, and the steps run in parallel with it.
- Appendix A for each addressFile it online through myGraceland for the specialty clinic, even when your primary care clinic is already approved. Every term, site and address needs its own.
- Affiliation agreementThe contract coordinator checks for an agreement with the specialty site and starts one if needed. It must be signed before any clinical activity there.
- Appendix B from the preceptorThe specialty preceptor completes it online, which approves them for this practicum.
- Approval emailGraceland sends one email per approved preceptor and site. Without it, specialty hours do not count.
Everything is due June 15 for Fall, October 15 for Spring or February 15 for Summer, and requests to add a second preceptor close two weeks before the term. See Appendix A and affiliation agreements.
How we plan specialty time
Graceland students choose us because we plan the Family practicum as one piece: a primary care preceptor who can cover at least 150 hours with the right age mix, and, when you want it, a specialty preceptor who meets Graceland's qualifications. We check each specialty preceptor's role and board status before we bring you the site, so the specialty half moves through review cleanly.
We gather the address, contract contact and credentials each Appendix A and Appendix B needs and aim both sites at the same deadline. Tell us which specialty interests you, and read the Family practicum guide for the course itself.
Questions Graceland students ask
Does urgent care count as primary care for Graceland FNP students?
No. Graceland lists emergency departments and urgent care among the settings it does not recommend as primary care sites. Urgent care hours can count only as specialty hours in NURS6830, the Family practicum, within the cap of half the required hours and no more than 150.
Can I do specialty hours in NURS6740 or NURS6760?
No. The handbook states that no specialty hours are allowed in the Pediatrics or Adult practicums; both must be completed in a primary care clinic. Specialty time belongs only to the Family practicum, so save any specialty interest for your final term.
Is women's health a specialty setting for Graceland's FNP?
Yes. The handbook names women's health among the diagnostic specialty clinics it does not recommend as primary care sites. Hours there count toward the specialty cap in the Family practicum and cannot be used in the Pediatrics or Adult courses.
Are hospitalist hours allowed for FNP students?
Only as specialty hours in the Family practicum. Graceland lists hospitalists among the settings that are not primary care, so hospitalist time sits under the 150-hour cap with the other specialty settings. In the AGACNP track, by contrast, time with an internist or hospitalist is a core requirement of NURS5450.
Do I need a separate Appendix A for my specialty site?
Yes. Appendix A is filed for every term, site and address where you train, so a specialty clinic needs its own even when your primary care site is approved. The clinic also needs its own affiliation agreement and approval email, and its preceptor completes an Appendix B.
Related pages
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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