Rivier nursing clinical hours, program by program
Rivier University's Nursing Student Handbook sets 750 practicum hours for each nurse practitioner track, 250 inside each practicum semester, and the DNP ends at 1,000 supervised hours. The FNP is where the paperwork splits: the per-course hours in Rivier's 2025-26 catalog total only 610. Use the planner for your course order, then the table below for every published figure and each conflict to settle with your faculty.
Get your placement plan
Tell us your Rivier program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with the preceptor and site options that fit your Rivier course.
Pick your Rivier program
Your practicum courses and hours, who can precept you, where, and when to start looking. From Rivier's own Nursing Student Handbook, program sheets and catalog.
- Who precepts
- An MD, DO or FNP in outpatient family practice with at least two years in practice; a PA may fill in but cannot be the primary preceptor
- Where
- Outpatient primary care in your own area (internal medicine for Practicum I and pediatric or women's health for Practicum II if family practice is not available)
- Start looking
- Right after NURS 516 Advanced Health Assessment; secure the placement four months ahead, and no later than August 1 for fall or December 1 for spring
- Who precepts
- A psychiatrist or a nurse certified in psychiatric mental health, with at least two years in practice
- Where
- Any age group, inpatient or outpatient, near you; no more than 300 of the 750 hours with a telehealth prescriber
- Start looking
- After the core APRN courses and NURS 520; the same August 1 and December 1 deadlines apply
- Who precepts
- An MD or certified AG-ACNP hospitalist for Practicum I; an MD or intensivist or AG-ACNP in critical care for Practicums II and III
- Where
- Acute care and critical care units near you; no telehealth hours
- Start looking
- A fall semester after the theory and skills lab year (NURS 630, 631, 635, 636)
- Who precepts
- A committee-approved external expert in your project topic, chosen with your faculty guide; a nurse leader for NURS 715
- Where
- The organization where your scholarly project is implemented, with an RN (and for Professional Practice, APRN) license in that state
- Start looking
- NURS 895 runs at least four semesters; NURS 715 applies only if you enter with fewer than 500 supervised master's hours
Every Rivier program's practicum hours in one table
The planner above follows one track at a time. This table lines up all of Rivier's programs so you can compare them, and it keeps both numbers wherever two Rivier documents print different ones. The figures come from the 2026-2027 Nursing Student Handbook, Rivier's 2026 program sheets, and its 2025-26 catalog.
| Program | Practicum courses | Hours Rivier publishes | What to check |
|---|---|---|---|
| MSN Family Nurse Practitioner and FNP certificate | NURS 511, NURS 513, NURS 515 | 750 in the Handbook (250 per course); 610 in the 2025-26 catalog (120, 250, 240) | Conflict: confirm the total with your Program Director |
| MSN Psychiatric-Mental Health NP and certificate | NURS 521, NURS 523, NURS 525 | 750 (250 per course) | Handbook p. 74 prints NURS 512 in place of 521 once |
| MSN Adult-Gerontology Acute Care NP and certificate | NURS 638P, NURS 639P, NURS 640P with seminars; skills labs NURS 635, NURS 636 | 750 directly supervised (250 per practicum) | Catalog and Handbook agree |
| MSN Nursing Education and certificate | NURS 559P with NURS 559S | No clock hours printed | Ask your course faculty |
| MSN Leadership in Health Systems Management | NURS 571P (2026 sheet) or NURS 562 and NURS 564 (2025-26 catalog) | No clock hours printed | Course numbers conflict; check your Program of Studies |
| Doctor of Nursing Practice | NURS 895 for at least four semesters; NURS 715 if you enter with under 500 master's hours | 1,000 supervised hours in total, counting up to 500 from your master's | Bridge students earn all 1,000 inside the DNP |
| MSN APRN Degree Completion | None listed | None | 20 credits of coursework |
| BSN, ABSN, ASN and LPN-ASN | Clinical courses from NURS 101 onward | Clinical credits, not clock hours | Rivier assigns these sites |
| RN-BSN | None listed | None | No practicum course on the 2026 sheet |
Each track has its own guide with more depth: the MSN FNP, the PMHNP practicums, the AG-ACNP practicums and the DNP practicum and external expert.
Where Rivier's hour figures disagree
Rivier's documents do not line up on every hour-related detail, and a few of the gaps change how you plan. Treat each one as open until your course faculty or Program Director answers it in writing, and make sure the Clinical Practicum Coordinator sees the same answer when your placement paperwork goes in.
- FNP total. The Handbook's 750 against the catalog's 610 is the largest gap, and 130 of the 140 hours sit in
NURS 511. The 750 versus 610 guide takes it course by course. NURS 511credits. The catalog lists the course at 5 credits while describing only two practicum credits and one seminar credit.- PMHNP numbering. Page 74 of the Handbook names the psychiatric practicums NURS 512, 523 and 525, while page 76 of the same Handbook, plus the program sheet and catalog, use 521, 523 and 525. On the FNP sheet, NURS 512 is FNP Theory II.
- Leadership practicum. The 2026 program sheet pairs
NURS 570withNURS 571P, while the 2025-26 catalog lists two 2-credit practicums,NURS 562in fall andNURS 564in spring.
Limits written inside the NP totals
Reaching the total is only half of the rule. Each nurse practitioner track also limits how many hours can come from certain settings, and the limits differ from track to track.
| Track | Setting | Handbook limit |
|---|---|---|
| FNP | Approved alternatives: urgent care, telehealth, outpatient cardiology, endocrinology, pulmonology | Up to 120 hours across the program |
| FNP | Dermatology, orthopedics, surgical, sports medicine, ENT, GI, oncology, hospice and palliative care | Not approved |
| PMHNP | A prescriber working by telehealth | No more than 300 of 750 hours |
| AG-ACNP | Listed acute care specialties in Practicums II and III | Up to 90 hours in each |
| AG-ACNP | Telehealth | Not allowed |
To use FNP alternative hours, you work with the Program Director and the Clinical Practicum Coordinator to get them approved through Rivier's standard process, and the request names the facility, gives its address and attaches the supervising clinician's resume. Which FNP course each setting belongs to is set out in the alternative hours guide.
Timing rules every NP practicum semester follows
Hours count only inside the semester. Under the Handbook, no practicum hour may be logged ahead of the semester's opening day as Rivier's academic calendar shows it, and FNP and PMHNP students finish 250 hours within each practicum semester without carrying extra hours into the next. The 250 hours per semester guide explains the no-banking rule in full.
Two more rules close the loop. No hour is credited until the Clinical Practicum Coordinator has signed off on your documents and the site contract, so clinic time ahead of that sign-off adds nothing to your total. And your final course grade waits until all required clinical hours are done.
For 2026-27, Rivier's calendar runs Fall from September 8 to December 18, 2026, Spring from January 18 to May 7, 2027 (14-week classes open January 19), and Summer from May 10 through August 26, 2027.
What 250 hours a semester looks like on a calendar
Divide 250 by the fourteen weeks of a typical Rivier graduate course and you get about eighteen clinic hours every week, or thirty-one-plus eight-hour days by the end of the semester. Spread over a 14-week semester, 250 hours comes to roughly 18 a week, which is the first thing to raise with a prospective preceptor.
FNP students also carry a caseload target that climbs from course to course, from four to six patients per eight-hour day in NSG511 to six to eight in NSG513 and eight to ten in NSG515. Choose a clinic whose daily schedule can support that pace on the days you attend.
Hours lost early are hard to win back late, because nothing carries forward. If you are already short with weeks left, the behind on clinical hours page sets out what you can do.
Clinical time that sits outside the practicum count
Some clinical time at Rivier adds nothing to your total. An FNP student repeating NURS 510 or NURS 512 after a grade below B may keep up 80 clinical hours for proficiency during the repeat, yet those 80 are excluded from any later practicum total.
DNP hours are built differently. Professional Practice students arrive with 500 supervised master's hours and complete another 500 at Rivier. Systems Leadership students short of 500 master's hours first take NURS 715, which runs in blocks of two to four credits and stops at eight credits or 500 hours, whichever comes first, before NURS 895 carries them to 1,000.
Rivier's DNP page also mentions faculty-run community health screenings and grant-funded clinics at St. Joseph Hospital. Ask your Program Director whether any of that time can count toward practicum hours before you plan around it.
Why Rivier students plan their hours with us
We start from the number your course requires and work backward. Your placement advisor looks for a preceptor whose clinic can carry 250 hours inside your semester, in a setting that counts for your course, and checks any alternative-setting hours against the Handbook's limits before they go to Rivier for approval.
Your file reaches the Clinical Practicum Coordinator complete and well before the August 1 (fall) and December 1 (spring) cutoffs, so your first hour can count on the first day of the semester. Should a preceptor withdraw partway through, your advisor sources a new one fast so your total keeps climbing. The same care goes into PMHNP and AG-ACNP searches, where the telehealth and specialty limits shape which sites we put forward. The form below takes your track, semester and city.
Questions Rivier students ask
How many clinical hours is Rivier's PMHNP program?
750. The Handbook sets 250 hours in each of the three psychiatric practicums, NURS 521, NURS 523 and NURS 525, with no banking between them. Your preceptor can work with any age group, inpatient or outpatient, and telehealth prescribers can account for 300 of the 750 hours at most.
Does Rivier publish practicum hours for Nursing Education or Leadership?
Neither the 2026 program sheets nor the 2025-26 catalog print clock hours for NURS 559P or the Leadership practicum courses, so ask your course faculty what the course expects. Education students are precepted by a master's-prepared RN who teaches as a nurse educator, and Leadership students by a master's-prepared RN (a business master's is acceptable) in a nurse leadership post.
Can I start my Rivier practicum hours before the semester begins?
No. Rivier's rule ties your earliest practicum hour to the semester's official start date, and your paperwork and contract need the coordinator's confirmation before that. For Fall 2026 the first day is September 8; the Spring 2027 semester opens January 18, with 14-week classes on January 19.
How many supervised hours does the Rivier DNP require?
1,000 in total. Professional Practice students count 500 supervised hours from their master's program and earn a further 500 inside the DNP. Systems Leadership students with fewer than 500 master's hours make up the difference in NURS 715. Bridge students, who enter with a BSN and a non-nursing master's, earn all 1,000 inside the program.
Do AG-ACNP students at Rivier get telehealth hours?
No. The Handbook allows no telehealth in the acute care track. Practicum I is with a hospitalist, and Practicums II and III are in critical care with an intensivist or AG-ACNP, with up to 90 hours in each of those two courses allowed in listed acute care specialties.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-26
We check these pages against Rivier's own Nursing Student Handbook, program sheets, catalog, academic calendar and State Guide. Your program of study, your course faculty, your Program Director and the Clinical Practicum Coordinator have the final word.
Rivier asks you to identify a qualified preceptor. We make that the easy part.
Tell us your Rivier track, where you live and which semester your next practicum starts. We find preceptors who meet your track's rules, check early whether the site can contract with Rivier, and prepare everything the Preceptor Request Form asks for, well ahead of August 1 and December 1.
- Preceptors matched to the track: an MD, DO or FNP in outpatient family practice for
NURS 511, a psychiatrist or PMH-certified NP forNURS 521, a hospitalist or intensivist forNURS 638P - Preceptor license, credentials and CV ready for the Preceptor Request Form, with the site's contact details for the contract
- In your own area, in New Hampshire or any state Rivier's State Guide accepts
Start your placement plan
Track, city and semester is all we need to begin.