Graceland focus sessions: Zoom for most tracks, Independence for AGACNP
Every Graceland University NP track includes a focus session of two or three full days tied to a competency lab course. FNP (NURS5194) and PMHNP (NURS5196) students usually meet on Zoom in week 6 or 7; AGACNP students (NURS5195) come to the Independence, Missouri campus. Graceland's own sources disagree on two details, and both are set out below.
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Tell us your Graceland program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with the preceptor and site options that fit your course.
Three lab courses, three sessions
The handbook schedules a focus session every trimester for each NP track. Each lasts two to three full days, 8 am to 5 pm, and covers meeting faculty and your cohort, learning activities and competency requirements. Holidays can move the dates, and Graceland emails the specifics well in advance; the 2026-27 dates are not posted publicly.
| Track | Lab course | Credits | Format | Usual timing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FNP | NURS5194 Advanced Practice Competencies Lab | 1 | Virtual, on Zoom | Week 6 or 7 |
| PMHNP | NURS5196 Psychiatric and Mental Health Advanced Practice Competencies Lab | 1 | Zoom per the handbook; on campus per the course description | Week 6 or 7 (handbook) |
| AGACNP | NURS5195 Acute Care Diagnostics and Procedures II | 2 | On campus in Independence; a 24-hour skills lab | Week 11 or 12 (handbook); week 6 (course description) |
Where Graceland's sources disagree
Two conflicts affect planning, one for each of the non-FNP tracks.
- PMHNP format. The handbook and the MSN catalog's introduction say FNP and PMHNP focus sessions are held virtually on Zoom, and a 2025 Graceland PMHNP blog post mentions virtual focus sessions. The
NURS5196description on the PMHNP program page, in the catalog and on the DNP page still says the course "includes a mandatory face to face focus session on the Independence, Missouri campus", wording that has run in every catalog since 2020-21. - AGACNP timing. The handbook places the campus session "usually during week 11 or 12" of the trimester, and the October 2023 handbook said week 12. The
NURS5195description says week 6.
Treat the current handbook as the working rule and your invitation email as final. If you are a PMHNP student deciding whether to book travel, or an AGACNP student laying out practicum days around week 6 or week 11, ask your track coordinator which applies to your term before you commit money or leave.
FNP and PMHNP: two or three days on Zoom
NURS5194 is taken alongside NURS5193 Advanced Practice Nursing in Primary Care, with NURS5143 finished no more than two terms earlier, and it is a prerequisite for the first two FNP practicums, NURS6740 and NURS6760. NURS5196 comes before PMHNP Practicum I, and the handbook lists it among the prerequisites for NURS6841.
That places the session ahead of your first practicum. If you take the lab in the term right before it, the session and that practicum's paperwork deadline fall in the same trimester, so start the preceptor search before the lab term begins.
A Zoom session saves travel but not time. It still fills two or three full weekdays, so arrange leave from work, a quiet room and a reliable connection, and treat it as you would a clinical day. Graceland's official channel for the invitation is your @sting.graceland.edu email, described on student systems.
AGACNP: the campus session in Independence
The catalog requires AGACNP students to attend one focus session on Graceland's Independence campus during the program, through NURS5195, a pass/fail course that follows NURS5192. The first course covers skills content such as suturing, intubation and line insertion; the second carries the 24-hour competency skills lab on campus. The details of the track are on the MSN AGACNP page.
The School of Nursing's home is at 1401 W. Truman Road, Independence, Missouri, about 20 minutes from Kansas City, in a 55,000-square-foot building with a nursing skills lab fitted with cameras for recording and playing back demonstrations.
Planning the trip
- Book lodging yourself: the handbook says there are no housing facilities on campus.
- Plan ground transport; the handbook notes that most students rent a car.
- Coffee, snacks and lunch are provided on each session day.
- The campus computer lab is open to students on weekdays.
Fitting a session around practicum days
If your completion plan puts a lab course and a practicum in the same trimester, the session takes two or three weekdays out of the same 16 weeks in which faculty want your hours finished by week 14. Tell your preceptor the dates the day the invitation arrives, and add the lost shifts back earlier in the term rather than hoping to recover them in weeks 15 and 16.
Timing changes the pressure. An AGACNP session in week 11 or 12 lands late, when most of a practicum's hours should already be banked; a week-6 date lands in the middle. For an on-campus session, count travel days as well, since the trip can take most of a working week. The trimester calendar shows where week 6 and week 11 fall in each 2026-27 term.
Passing the session, and what failing costs
Focus sessions are assessed work. The handbook says a student who attends and is assessed as failing during the session may not then withdraw from the course, and that failing a required session may delay progression. Because NURS5194 and NURS5196 are prerequisites for the first FNP and PMHNP practicums, a delay there can push the whole practicum chain back a term; AGACNP students should ask Program Advising where NURS5195 sits in their own plan. Prepare as you would for a skills exam: review the lab course material in Canvas beforehand and arrive ready for full days.
Illness or an emergency is best raised before the session starts, with your instructor and Program Advising, while options remain. How a delayed course reshapes the rest of your plan is covered on incompletes and delays.
How we help around the focus session
The session itself is between you and your faculty; the weeks around it are where we come in. Your placement advisor times the preceptor search so your first practicum's Appendix A and Appendix B details are ready before a lab term gets busy, with the June 15, October 15 or February 15 deadline in view.
When a session falls inside a practicum term, we build a preceptor schedule that absorbs the missing days and still finishes by week 14. For AGACNP students, we line up all three hospital practicums early, so no preceptor search is competing with the campus trip. You keep one placement advisor who knows your track, your term and your deadlines through all three practicums. Tell us your track and term through our contact page.
Questions Graceland students ask
When is the 2026-27 focus session for my track?
Specific dates are not posted publicly. The handbook gives the usual window, week 6 or 7 for FNP and PMHNP and week 11 or 12 for AGACNP, notes that holidays can shift it, and says the details are emailed well in advance. Watch your Sting email, Graceland's official channel, and ask your track coordinator if you need the date sooner for work leave.
Is there housing on the Independence campus for focus sessions?
No. The handbook states there are no housing facilities on campus and that students make their own housing and transportation arrangements, adding that most students rent a car. Lunch, coffee and snacks are provided each session day, so plan for lodging, dinners and travel around the two to three days you are on campus.
Do PMHNP students have to travel to Independence?
Graceland's handbook and catalog introduction say PMHNP focus sessions are virtual on Zoom. The NURS5196 course description still describes a face-to-face session on the Independence campus. Before booking anything, ask the PMHNP track coordinator which format applies to your term, and follow the invitation email Graceland sends.
Can I withdraw from the lab course if the focus session goes badly?
Not once a failure has been assessed during the session. The handbook says students who attend a focus session may not withdraw from the course if a failure is assessed there, and failing a required session may delay progression. If something prevents you from attending, contact your instructor and Program Advising before the session begins.
How long is a focus session?
Two to three full days, 8 am to 5 pm, according to the handbook. The AGACNP lab description counts 24 hours of competency skills work, which matches three eight-hour days. Virtual sessions for FNP and PMHNP follow the same day length, so plan on full days away from work either way.
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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