YSU AGACNP clinical hours: 750 on the program page, 540 in the catalog
Youngstown State University's online AGACNP page lists 750 supervised hours in acute care, built from five practicums of 150 hours each, while the 2026-27 catalog still prints 540. The gap traces back to an older three-course sequence. Plan your preceptors for the larger figure, keep every hour in an acute care setting, and ask your clinical faculty which total governs your catalog year.
Plan your five AGACNP practicums
Tell us your first practicum term and where you live. Your placement advisor maps acute care preceptors for all five.
Why YSU publishes two totals
Both numbers come from YSU itself. The online MSN AGACNP page, edited in August 2026, describes a supervised practicum of 750 hours in an acute care setting, and the FAQ's course list gives NURS 7071 through NURS 7075 150 hours apiece. The 2026-27 Graduate Catalog and the post-master's AGACNP pages still say 540.
The 540 figure fits the retired design: three 3-credit practicums, NURS 7038, NURS 7040 and NURS 7042, which an older YSU online guide split into 180 hours each. The 750 figure fits the five 2-credit practicums the 2026-27 catalog now requires. The catalog's descriptions of the new courses give no hours, and the 2026-27 graduate handbook states no total at all.
| YSU source | Total | What it matches |
|---|---|---|
| Online MSN AGACNP page (edited August 2026) | 750 | Five practicums of 150 hours |
| Online FAQ, practicum course list | 750 | NURS 7071 to NURS 7075 at 150 each |
| 2026-27 Graduate Catalog, MSN AGACNP | 540 | The three older practicums |
| Post-master's AGACNP catalog and online pages | 540 | The three older practicums |
| Online FAQ, hour recommendations | 540 | The three older practicums |
Our reading, not a YSU statement: the catalog sentence was carried over from the three-practicum design. Planning for 750 leaves you covered whichever figure applies, while planning for 540 could leave a practicum short. Confirm the total with clinical faculty before your first practicum starts.
The hours, practicum by practicum
Each AGACNP practicum is a 2-credit course in its own 7-week term, taken one at a time and in order. The FAQ assigns 150 hours to each, which is where the 750 comes from. What changes from course to course is the acuity of your patients and how closely your preceptor watches, covered stage by stage in the AGACNP practicums guide.
| Course | Credits | Hours | Needs first |
|---|---|---|---|
NURS 7071 Practicum 1 | 2 | 150 | NURS 7037, NURS 7039 and NURS 7041, each with a B or better |
NURS 7072 Practicum 2 | 2 | 150 | NURS 7071 with a B or better |
NURS 7073 Practicum 3 | 2 | 150 | NURS 7072 with a B or better |
NURS 7074 Practicum 4 | 2 | 150 | NURS 7073 with a B or better |
NURS 7075 Practicum 5 | 2 | 150 | NURS 7074 with a B or better |
| Total | 10 | 750 | Catalog program total: 540 |
Post-master's AGACNP students, including those on the advanced placement option, take the same five courses, yet their certificate pages print 540. If you are on a certificate, ask which total your plan of study uses; the certificate guide covers the rest of that track.
Settings that count as acute care
Every AGACNP hour has to be in an acute care setting. YSU's FAQ grid states that as a requirement, not a preference, and its hour recommendations name the focus areas YSU has in mind. The grid adds two options that sit closer to the front door of the hospital.
Settings YSU names for AGACNP hours
- Intensive care
- Internal medicine
- Emergency and trauma care
- Long-term care
- Specialty areas such as cardiology, pulmonology and neurology
- Freestanding emergency departments and urgent care, listed in the FAQ's settings grid
A listed setting still has to fit the practicum. The catalog moves you toward intensive care and specialty units by NURS 7073 and toward critically ill patients by NURS 7075, so urgent care or long-term care suits an earlier course better than a late one. That sequencing is our suggestion; your clinical faculty make the call. If you work in a hospital, your own unit is off limits even when it is an ICU, and the workplace rules guide explains what stays open at your employer.
Pace: 150 hours in seven weeks, or 180
At 150 hours, a 7-week practicum works out to roughly 21 hours a week, or about 13 twelve-hour shifts across the term (our arithmetic). The FAQ also says 180 practicum hours per 7-week term, about 26 a week. That 180 matches the old three-practicum split, so it is probably another leftover, but it is YSU's published figure and worth raising with clinical faculty.
Either way, the calendar belongs to you and your preceptor: YSU asks you to agree a schedule that reaches the course's hours. The handbook adds that you arrange paid work around clinical time, that job hours never substitute for practicum hours, and that missed hours are made up when the preceptor and clinical faculty approve. A preceptor who works three shifts a week leaves room to recover a lost day; one who works a single shift a week makes 150 hours tight. The 7-week terms guide shows how the terms chain together.
Critical care experience and ACLS come first
The AGACNP track has two entry conditions the FNP track lacks. The catalog requires at least one year of recent critical care experience, which it says can include emergency room, ICU or intermediate acute care work, before you register for the first specialty course. It also requires current ACLS certification before clinicals start, the handbook repeats that rule, and the post-master's AGACNP certificate carries it too.
ACLS sits alongside BLS, required immunizations, an annual drug screen and an annual background check, all due in Exxat at least 30 days before your first practicum. Keep ACLS current through NURS 7075: the handbook expects compliance to be maintained for the whole program, not only at the start. The compliance checklist lists every item.
How we plan 750 acute care hours with you
Five practicums means five preceptor approvals, each due two months before its term, stacked into less than a year while you keep working as a nurse. Your placement advisor maps all five terms at the start, finds acute care preceptors near you whose settings fit each stage, and checks every candidate's credentials against YSU's handbook before anything reaches clinical faculty.
We also catch the details that trip AGACNP students: a site that is acute care in name but not in caseload, a unit that turns out to be your own, a preceptor whose schedule cannot carry 150 hours in seven weeks. While one practicum runs, we are already securing the next. Read how it works or send your dates through the request form.
Questions YSU students ask
Do my paid ICU shifts count toward YSU AGACNP clinical hours?
No. YSU lets you train at your employer, but never while you are on the clock, and the handbook says employment hours cannot replace practicum hours even at the same site. Your practicum also has to be outside your own unit and away from your immediate supervisor, so an ICU nurse needs a different unit or facility for practicum time.
Can I split AGACNP hours between two preceptors in one practicum?
Yes. YSU's FAQ says hours may be divided among multiple approved preceptors and sets no required number for the NP program. Each one needs YSU approval before you start with them, so bring a second preceptor in at the planning stage rather than halfway through a 7-week term.
Where do I record my AGACNP clinical hours?
The 2026-27 graduate handbook says you document hours, patient encounters and other practicum records in Exxat or another approved system, and your preceptor verifies the hours. The older FAQ says hours are tracked in Medatrax. Treat Exxat as current, and when a syllabus names a specific log, follow the syllabus.
What happens if I fall behind on hours in an AGACNP practicum?
Tell your preceptor and clinical faculty early. The handbook requires missed hours to be made up at a time both approve, and an unfinished course can hold up the next practicum, since each one needs a B in the one before. The behind on hours guide walks through the options.
Does the AGACNP track have an on-campus clinical requirement?
YSU's catalog describes the AGACNP program as fully online, and no on-campus immersion appears in the catalog, handbook, FAQ or program pages. Clinical faculty evaluate you through site visits or virtual evaluations as the program requires, and your practicum hours take place at approved acute care sites.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-26
We check these pages against YSU's own catalog, graduate handbook, online program pages and FAQ, and Ohio rules. Your clinical faculty, the Graduate Clinical Coordinator and your advisor have the final word.
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