What counts toward your UL Lafayette clinical hours

Updated September 27, 2026 · Reviewed by the Lafayette Preceptor placement team

An hour counts when it is precepted, planned and recorded the way UL Lafayette and the ICMSN expect: patient care where the course asks for it, mostly beside an APRN certified in your population focus, kept apart from paid work, and on a schedule posted in the clinical tracking system. DNP hours follow their own definition, and supervised MSN hours carry into the DNP's 1,000.

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What counts toward your UL Lafayette clinical hours. An hour counts when it is precepted, planned and recorded the way UL Lafayette and the ICMSN expect: patient care where the course asks for it, mostly beside an — What a UL Lafayette clinical hour is: direct patient care versus observation, the same-population APRN majority, workplace hours and DNP practice hours.

Direct patient care and observational hours

UL Lafayette's pages use two kinds of hour. The PMHNP concentration's 750 are described as precepted, direct patient care hours, and the PMHNP certificate's 510 are direct patient care hours spread over NURS 591, NURS 592 and NURS 597. The certificate's psychotherapy course, NURS 590, carries 60 hours labeled observational, and they are listed outside the 510.

The FNP's 750 appear in the catalog simply as precepted clinical hours. Read together, the pages point one way: an NP practicum hour is hands-on care of patients under a preceptor's supervision, and observation belongs where a course names it, as NURS 590 does. Louisiana's rules leave the selection and guidance of your learning experiences with nurse faculty, so check with course faculty ahead of logging anything borderline, such as a day spent only charting or shadowing. The totals themselves are explained on NP clinical hours.

Most hours beside a same-population APRN

Louisiana's Board of Nursing shapes who you log hours with. Under LAC 46:XLVII.3543 G.3, the majority of an APRN student's clinical experiences must be with a preceptor who holds an active, unencumbered APRN license and certification in the student's population focus: family practice for an FNP, psychiatric mental health for a PMHNP. The same rule allows a mix of clinicians to give direct clinical teaching, and the Board's definition of a graduate preceptor covers APRNs, physicians and dentists.

In practice, a day with a family physician or a specialty clinic can add useful hours, as long as the APRN share of your total stays above half. Whatever their role, each preceptor must hold a Louisiana RN and/or APRN license that is active and unencumbered, and the Board caps each preceptor at two graduate APRN students during a clinical experience. The license and certification checks for each preceptor are on preceptor requirements.

Hours at the place you work

The ICMSN handbook permits a preceptor from the organization that employs you, on one firm condition: the clinical hours have to be distinct from your job duties and from time you are paid for. A shift where you are the unit's staff RN is work, even with an NP down the hall. A scheduled block in the NP's clinic, off the clock and in the student role, is a clinical hour.

Keep the two visibly separate on your schedule, in your log and in how your manager sees your week. A preceptor who is also your supervisor needs to evaluate you as a student, not as an employee, which is easier when the clinical days sit outside your normal shifts. Workplace clinicals covers how to set that arrangement up so it holds up at evaluation time.

A logged hour should match a posted day

Every consortium student holds a subscription to whichever clinical tracking system the home school specifies, and keeps it running through the NP practicum courses. The approved clinical schedule is posted there and updated as it changes, and the same system is where you check whether the university holds a contract with a facility. UL Lafayette's public pages leave the product unnamed; course faculty tell you which one to use. More on the system itself is on the clinical tracking system.

The practical rule follows from that: every hour in your log should sit on a day your posted schedule shows. Hours on dates that never appeared invite questions when faculty review your log. No clinical day happens until the consortium's file is complete, from the agency contract through your own health, OSHA and HIPAA records, so plan your first logged day for after the paperwork clears.

DNP practice hours and the 1,000-hour total

The DNP defines its hours more tightly than the MSN. The catalog counts "supervised academic program practice hours" toward a total of 1,000 post-baccalaureate hours, and the 420 hours in NURS 821, NURS 822 and NURS 823 are included in that 1,000. Residency hours take place in your specialty area of practice, in Louisiana or your home state, with an approved mentor from the agency where your project runs.

Supervised hours from your MSN carry forward. UL Lafayette's Verification of Post-Baccalaureate Practicum Hours form has your MSN program director certify the practicum hours you completed in a supervised advanced practice role, and an institution-specific form may stand in for it. The wording points to program hours rather than years of employment, so ask the DNP Coordinator before counting anything else. If you are still short, NURS 809, NURS 810, NURS 811 or NURS 812 supply more with DNP Coordinator permission; DNP residency covers the three residency courses.

Nursing Education hours include teaching

The Nursing Education concentration counts clinical/clock hours in two practicums: at least 60 in NURS 544, the Advanced Clinical Practicum, and at least 180 in NURS 557, the Nursing Education Practicum. The catalog describes NURS 557 as carrying out nurse educator roles in precepted class, lab and clinical settings.

So in NURS 557, a lecture you deliver under your preceptor's eye, a skills lab you run or a clinical group you help supervise is exactly the kind of time the course describes, even though none of it is direct patient care. NURS 544 sits closer to the bedside, as its title says: an advanced clinical practicum in nursing practice. Ask course faculty how each course wants teaching preparation time handled before you log it, since the catalog describes settings, not preparation.

Honest logs, and a placement built for them

A clinical log is academic work. The ICMSN handbook counts fabrication in clinical or practicum experiences as academic dishonesty, and UL Lafayette's Graduate School penalties for cheating and plagiarism run from a zero on the assignment up to dismissal from the University. Rounding a short day up, logging a cancelled shift or copying hours onto a second site all fall inside that definition.

The simplest route to a clean log is a preceptor whose practice fits the course from the first day. Whether UL Lafayette takes part in arranging your placement or leaves it with you, we look for Louisiana APRNs certified in your population focus, check that the clinic can host the weekly hours your course needs, and prepare the preceptor and site details before the term, so every hour you work is one you can record. Start with the form below.

Log only the hours you actually worked, on dates posted in the clinical tracking system. A padded log is treated as fabrication, not as a paperwork slip.

Questions UL Lafayette students ask

Do observation hours count toward UL Lafayette NP clinical hours?

Only where a course names them. The PMHNP certificate lists 60 observational hours in NURS 590 separately from its 510 direct patient care hours, and the PMHNP concentration describes its 750 as direct patient care. When an activity seems borderline, raise it with course faculty first and log it only once they agree.

Can a physician precept some of my UL Lafayette hours?

Under Louisiana's definitions, a graduate preceptor may be an APRN, a physician or a dentist, and the rules allow a mix of clinicians to provide direct clinical teaching. The majority of your clinical experiences must still be with an APRN licensed and certified in your population focus, and each one needs a current Louisiana license. Course faculty approve every preceptor.

Do hours at my job count as clinical hours?

They can when they are separate from your job duties and unpaid, which is the ICMSN handbook's condition for a preceptor at your workplace. Time spent doing your regular job does not count, even with an NP nearby. Keep your clinical blocks separate on your schedule and in the clinical tracking system.

Does APRN work experience count toward the DNP's 1,000 hours?

The DNP counts supervised academic program practice hours, which UL Lafayette verifies through your MSN program director on its Verification of Post-Baccalaureate Practicum Hours form. That wording centers on hours earned inside an academic program. If you need more, NURS 809 to NURS 812 add supervised hours with DNP Coordinator permission, and the DNP Coordinator settles edge cases.

What happens if clinical hours are falsified?

The ICMSN handbook treats fabrication in clinical or practicum experiences as academic dishonesty, and UL Lafayette's Graduate School penalties for cheating reach dismissal from the University. Log only the time you worked, on days your posted schedule shows. See grades and progression for the grade rules that sit alongside the integrity rules.

NP hoursNP clinical hours: 750, 600, 510How to read UL Lafayette's nurse practitioner hour figures: 750 in the 2026-27 catalog, 600 on older pages, and 510 plus 60 in the PMHNP certificate.PreceptorsWho can preceptWho can precept a UL Lafayette MSN or certificate student: Louisiana's Board rule, the ICMSN minimums, the two-student cap, and how we match to each one.WorkplaceClinicals where you workUL Lafayette clinicals at your own employer: the ICMSN rule on separate, unpaid hours, the Louisiana preceptor rules, and when another site fits better.TrackingClinical tracking systemThe ICMSN requires UL Lafayette NP students to keep the home school's clinical tracking system for schedules and contract checks. Here is where to confirm it.ResidencyDNP residency: NURS 821 to 823UL Lafayette's DNP residency: NURS 821, 822 and 823 with 420 hours, the 1,000-hour total, NURS 809-812 for extra hours, the agency mentor and screenings.HoursClinical hours by programClinical hours in each UL Lafayette nursing program: FNP and PMHNP 750, the PMHNP certificate 510 plus 60, Nursing Education 240 and DNP 420 of 1,000.

Last checked 2026-09-27

We check these pages against UL Lafayette's 2026-27 catalog, its online program and state authorization pages, the ICMSN student handbook and Louisiana's nursing rules. Your course faculty and your plan of study have the final word.

Whether UL Lafayette helps or you start alone, we find the preceptor.

Tell us your UL Lafayette program, the practicum coming up and the Louisiana town you train near. We look for preceptors and sites that fit the course and gather the license, CV and agency details that must be on file before your first clinical day.

Preceptors who meet Louisiana's rules: an active Louisiana license, most hours with an APRN in your population focus
The preceptor's CV, the agency details and your letter of agreement items gathered early
Across Acadiana and the rest of Louisiana, plus DNP residencies in your home state

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