YSU's five AGACNP practicums, from direct supervision to indirect
Youngstown State University's AGACNP track ends with five 2-credit practicums, each in its own 7-week term and each needing a B before the next one opens. The catalog walks you from common acute problems under direct preceptor supervision to critically ill patients under indirect supervision. Here is what each course asks of you, who can precept it, and how far ahead acute care hospitals want to hear from you.
Line up your AGACNP preceptors
Tell us which practicum comes next and where you live. We plan acute care preceptors stage by stage.
The sequence at a glance
The five practicums follow the three specialty courses, NURS 7037, NURS 7039 and NURS 7041, and each one requires the course before it with a B or better. YSU allows only one practicum at a time and bars pairing a practicum with a didactic course in the same term. The FAQ lists 150 hours for each, although the catalog's program total still reads 540; the AGACNP hours guide sorts out that conflict.
| Course | Place in the sequence | Catalog focus |
|---|---|---|
NURS 7071 | First practicum term | Beginning to manage common acute health problems under direct preceptor supervision |
NURS 7072 | Second practicum term | See the full catalog description and your syllabus |
NURS 7073 | Third practicum term | High-acuity environments, such as intensive care and specialty units |
NURS 7074 | Fourth practicum term | See the full catalog description and your syllabus |
NURS 7075 | Final practicum term | Acutely and critically ill patients, with increasing independence under indirect supervision |
Each practicum, one by one
NURS 7071: common acute problems, close oversightThe catalog has you start managing common acute health problems while your preceptor supervises directly. Expect to present each patient, propose a plan and have it checked. A steady, available preceptor matters more here than a prestigious unit.NURS 7072: the second termIts prerequisite is a B inNURS 7071. Read the catalog description and the syllabus objectives before you settle the site; syllabi sit in Blackboard rather than on YSU's public pages, so ask clinical faculty if you need them early.NURS 7073: high-acuity unitsThe catalog names intensive care and specialty units for this stage. If your first two terms were on a general medicine service, this is the term to move into an ICU or a specialty service such as cardiology, pulmonology or neurology, all among YSU's AGACNP focus areas.NURS 7074: the fourth termAgain the syllabus sets the specifics. A setting you have not yet covered, such as emergency and trauma care, can round out your caseload before the final term; that choice is our suggestion for your clinical faculty to weigh.NURS 7075: indirect supervisionThe catalog describes managing acutely and critically ill patients with growing independence while the preceptor supervises indirectly. A preceptor who already knows your work, perhaps fromNURS 7073, can step back sooner. YSU sets no required number of preceptors, so returning to an earlier one is worth raising with clinical faculty.
The B rule across five terms
A grade below B in any practicum stops the chain. The catalog says a C or lower must be repeated and that a course can be repeated only once, and the handbook caps repeats at two required nursing courses across the whole MSN. Because each practicum is the prerequisite for the next, one repeat pushes every later practicum back a 7-week term, and every preceptor lined up for those terms needs new dates.
An Incomplete blocks progress in the same way: the handbook bars moving to later courses until it is resolved. A long pause carries its own cost, since more than 12 consecutive months away from practicum courses means repeating every practicum and its hours. Appeals, deadlines and time limits are in the grades and time limits guide.
Matching acute care preceptors to each stage
This mapping is our suggestion, built from the catalog wording and YSU's list of acute care focus areas. Clinical faculty approve every site and preceptor and may prefer a different order.
NURS 7071: an acute care NP or physician on an inpatient internal medicine service, where common acute problems arrive every shift and close oversight is routine.NURS 7072: the same kind of service at more depth, or intermediate and step-down care. Long-term care, which YSU lists, can also fit an early term focused on older adults.NURS 7073: an ICU-based NP or critical care physician, or a specialty service in cardiology, pulmonology or neurology.NURS 7074: emergency and trauma care, including a freestanding emergency department, to add undifferentiated patients.NURS 7075: a high-acuity setting where your preceptor trusts you enough to supervise from a step back, often someone you have trained with before.
Urgent care appears in YSU's settings grid too. Because the catalog pushes toward intensive care and critically ill patients as the terms go on, we place any urgent care time early and keep it short.
Who can precept an AGACNP practicum
The 2026-27 graduate handbook, revised in August 2026, approves APRNs with master's or doctoral preparation and national certification that matches your specialty population, and physicians (MD or DO) licensed to practice medicine. For AGACNP students specifically, it adds master's-prepared physician assistants licensed in the state where the practicum takes place.
The older online FAQ disagrees. It lists MD, NP or DO, says a physician assistant may not precept, and asks AGACNP preceptors for two years of experience before stating in the same answer that one year applies to both NP tracks. The handbook is the newer document and usually governs, but confirm with clinical faculty before you build a practicum around a PA. Ohio's student statute also refers to an APRN supervisor, a point the Ohio Board of Nursing guide covers, and the full criteria sit in the preceptor requirements guide.
Hospital onboarding on top of YSU's deadline
YSU wants each preceptor's information two months before the practicum begins. Many acute care employers run their own student process with earlier cutoffs, and you have to clear both. Cleveland Clinic, which lists YSU among the schools whose students it will consider, accepts applications for its January to mid-May rotations only from July through September, allows no exceptions to those windows, and asks students not to contact its sites or caregivers directly.
University Hospitals wants a confirmed preceptor and the required electronic record access before you even start its application, with one application per preceptor. Aultman requires an affiliation agreement with the school before any student experience, and Summa Health lists YSU among its graduate nursing program partners. Several large Ohio hospitals also ask for an active Ohio RN license. Count back from the earliest of these dates rather than from YSU's two months, and read the affiliation agreements guide before choosing a hospital with no agreement in place.
How we set up five practicums in a row
Your placement advisor plans the whole run at once: one acute care preceptor per stage, or a smaller group who together cover it, each with a schedule that fits a 7-week term. We check each candidate against the handbook's credential list and the acute care rule, confirm the unit is not your own, and gather what the Student Preceptor Agreement and Clinical Site Request ask for, so clinical faculty receive a complete file.
Then we stay a practicum ahead. While NURS 7072 runs, we are confirming the ICU or specialty preceptor for NURS 7073, and if a preceptor steps away mid-term we move straight to a replacement. Start with the request form.
Questions YSU students ask
Can I take two AGACNP practicums in one 7-week term to finish sooner?
No. YSU's FAQ says clinical practicums are taken one at a time and in succession, and the handbook treats a single specialty course as a full load for the term. Each practicum also needs a B in the previous one, so the order cannot be compressed, and five practicums take at least five 7-week terms.
Can a nurse practitioner certified as an FNP precept my AGACNP practicum?
Possibly not. The handbook asks APRN preceptors for national certification appropriate to your specialty population, which for an AGACNP student points toward acute care certification. If an FNP-certified NP working in a hospital is your best option, put the question to clinical faculty before you submit the preceptor, not after.
Do I submit a new preceptor packet for every AGACNP practicum?
Plan on it. YSU asks for preceptor information two months before each clinical rotation, not once for the program, and every preceptor must be approved before clinicals start. Ask clinical faculty whether a returning preceptor needs a full new packet or only updated dates and documents.
Can I do an AGACNP practicum at the hospital where I work?
Yes, within YSU's workplace rules. The practicum has to be outside your own unit or patient care area, your immediate supervisor cannot be your preceptor, and practicum hours never overlap time you are paid as an employee. A different unit in the same hospital, such as a specialty ICU you do not staff, can work once clinical faculty approve it.
Is NURS 7005 Capstone taken alongside an AGACNP practicum?
It can be. The catalog lists NURS 7075 as a prerequisite or corequisite for NURS 7005 Capstone Practicum, so the capstone may run with your final practicum or after it. It is a project course rather than precepted clinical time, and the capstone guide covers timing.
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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