NURS 515 FNP Practicum III and Seminar at Rivier

Updated September 26, 2026 · Reviewed by the Rivier Preceptor placement team

NURS 515 closes Rivier University's FNP practicum sequence with community-based primary care of families and the move into the nurse practitioner role. The 2025-26 catalog lists 240 clinical hours and the Nursing Student Handbook asks for 250, the suggested patient pace peaks at 8 to 10 per 8 hours, and this course has the widest list of approved alternative settings.

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8-10patients per 8 hours the Handbook suggests in NSG515

120alternative-setting hours allowed across the whole FNP program

What NURS 515 covers

FNP Practicum III and Seminar, a 5-credit course in the catalog, focuses on community-based primary care of families and on the transition into the family nurse practitioner role. You need both NURS 512 and NURS 513 before you enroll, which makes it the last practicum in your plan. It is also the course where the widest range of settings can count toward your hours, as the table further down shows.

Expectations peak in this course, though the preceptor standard stays where it was: a physician or FNP in outpatient family practice who is two years or more into practice, with a PA covering only as a fill-in. Your course faculty set the seminar work and assignments that run alongside the clinical hours.

240 hours in the catalog, 250 in the Handbook

The catalog gives NURS 515 240 clinical hours; the Handbook gives every FNP practicum 250. Ten hours is the smallest gap in the sequence, but it is still a gap, and because no final grade posts while any required clinical hour is outstanding, it can decide whether your grade posts on time.

Settle the figure with your course faculty before the semester, and ask your preceptor to schedule for 250 in the meantime. Whichever figure applies, the hours still fall between the semester's first day and the end of the course, with nothing carried over from NURS 513. The full picture, including the much larger NURS 511 difference, is on the 750 versus 610 page.

Patient volume at the top of the sequence

The Handbook suggests 8 to 10 patients per 8 hours in NSG515, compared with 4 to 6 in Practicum I and 6 to 8 in Practicum II. At that pace a practice needs a full schedule on the days you attend, so a busy family practice or community-based primary care site suits this course better than a quiet office.

If the preceptor you had in NURS 511 or NURS 513 sees that volume, raise the idea of staying with them with your course faculty early, since graduate faculty decide whether a site fits each course. The Handbook frames its volume numbers as suggestions, so ask your faculty how a site that runs slightly lighter would be viewed. The qualifications that still apply are in the FNP preceptor requirements.

Alternative settings open in NSG515

Practicum III is where the Handbook's alternative-setting options open up. All alternative hours, in any course, come out of a single 120-hour FNP allowance, so any urgent care time you used in NURS 513 reduces what is left here.

Where the Handbook allows FNP alternative-setting hours
Setting	NSG511	NSG513	NSG515
Outpatient cardiology	Not listed	Not listed	Allowed
Outpatient endocrinology	Not listed	Not listed	Allowed
Outpatient pulmonology	Not listed	Not listed	Allowed
Urgent care	Not listed	Allowed	Allowed
Telehealth	Not listed	Not listed	Allowed
Dermatology, orthopedics, surgical, sports medicine, ENT, GI, oncology, hospice, palliative care	Not approved	Not approved	Not approved

Approval follows Rivier's usual route. Build the request with the coordinator and the Program Director, and include the alternative site's name and street address along with a resume from the clinician who will supervise you. The approval steps are in the alternative hours guide.

Finishing the FNP track on time

Because Practicum III is your last practicum, the Handbook's end-of-course rules carry extra weight. Scoring under 84% as your final practicum grade ends your place in the track, and no final grade is given until all required clinical hours are done.

The NSG515 simulation check-off is handled differently from the earlier two. Three misses in Practicum I or II end FNP enrollment outright; in Practicum III the third attempt opens a remediation plan, and only failing that plan leads to dismissal from the track.

Rivier lists three graduation dates a year: September 2, January 2 and a May Commencement set for May 16, 2027 (the academic calendar guide has the rest). FNP graduates can sit for national certification through AANP or ANCC. If a semester is slipping, the delayed graduation page covers your options.

What to confirm with your NURS 515 faculty

Whether the course requires 240 or 250 clinical hours.
How many alternative-setting hours you have left after NURS 513, and which NSG515 setting they would approve.
Whether a telehealth arrangement with your preceptor needs its own approval as alternative hours.
Whether your NURS 513 preceptor can continue into Practicum III.
When the NSG515 simulation check-off happens and how remediation works if you need it.
When hour totals are due so your final grade posts in time for your graduation date.
Whether a community-based site outside a traditional family practice fits the course focus.
Which end-of-course forms your preceptor fills out, and when they are due.

How we set up your final practicum

For Practicum III we look for a high-volume outpatient family practice or community-based primary care site near you that can keep 8 to 10 patients coming in each 8-hour day, with an MD, DO or FNP preceptor who meets Rivier's two-year rule.

If you want part of your hours in cardiology, endocrinology, pulmonology, urgent care or telehealth, your placement advisor finds that site too, keeps it inside your remaining alternative-hour balance and prepares the resume and facility details Rivier's approval needs. Everything reaches Rivier before your deadline, and a backup is ready if a preceptor leaves. We keep your graduation date in view too, so the placement is confirmed early enough for every hour to be done before grades are due. Use the form below to start.

Questions Rivier students ask

Can I do telehealth hours in NURS 515?

Yes, within limits. NSG515 is the single FNP course where the Handbook approves telehealth as an alternative setting. Telehealth time counts against the program's 120-hour alternative limit, and getting it approved means working through the Program Director and the coordinator before any of it counts.

Can NURS 515 hours be in a cardiology office?

Some can. Outpatient cardiology, endocrinology and pulmonology are approved alternative settings for NSG515, inside the 120-hour program-wide limit. The rest of your hours stay in outpatient family practice with a qualifying MD, DO or FNP. Specialties such as dermatology, orthopedics and GI are not approved at all.

What comes after NURS 515 at Rivier?

Graduation and certification. Rivier lists graduation dates of September 2, January 2 and the May Commencement (May 16, 2027), and FNP graduates can sit for national certification through AANP or ANCC. For a New Hampshire APRN license, you then apply to the Office of Professional Licensure and Certification with that certification, an RN license (New Hampshire or multistate) and the other items on its checklist.

What if I can't finish my NURS 515 hours by the end of the semester?

The Handbook holds your final grade until all required clinical hours are done. Under the catalog, you would need to ask for an Incomplete ahead of the final exam, and only for a serious reason outside your control; an Incomplete never resolved becomes an F. Talk to your course faculty early, and see behind on clinical hours for options.

NURS 513NURS 513 FNP Practicum IIRivier's NURS 513 FNP Practicum II and Seminar: childbearing families, infants, children and teens, 250 hours, and when urgent care or pediatric sites count.FNPAlternative practicum hoursHow Rivier's alternative practicum hours work: the 120 FNP hours in urgent care, cardiology or telehealth, the settings not approved, and how approval happens.FNPFNP hours: 750 or 610Rivier's Nursing Student Handbook sets 750 FNP practicum hours; the 2025-26 catalog lists 120, 250 and 240, or 610. Where the gap sits and who settles it.SimulationFNP simulation check-offsHow Rivier's FNP simulation check-offs work in NSG511, NSG513 and NSG515: the 84% bar, three attempts, remediation, re-entry assessments and readmission.FNPMSN Family Nurse PractitionerRivier's online MSN FNP asks you to secure your own preceptor. Credits, the 750 vs 610 hour conflict, campus intensives and deadlines in one guide.

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 for NURS 521, a hospitalist or intensivist for NURS 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

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