NURS 5746 Integrated Clinical Practice: preceptors for the 270-hour FNP capstone
NURS 5746, Integrated Clinical Practice: FNP (Late Clinical), is the last and largest of TAMUCC's four FNP clinical courses: 270 precepted hours, and credit only with a grade of B or higher. Here you practice as a family nurse practitioner across every age group, and any shortfall in the pediatric, women's health or geriatric minimums has to close.
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NURS 5746, the largest block of the FNP's 630
The capstone and what rides on it
NURS 5746 requires NURS 5645 and closes the FNP clinical sequence. TAMUCC's guides treat it as the late clinical experience, and the catalog makes it the capstone, with credit only for a B or better. At 270 hours it carries three-quarters as many clinical hours as the other three courses combined.
The clinical portion can decide the grade by itself. At TAMUCC an unsatisfactory result in clinical overrides the didactic grade and fails the entire course, and two failed courses lead to dismissal under the MSN handbook, while another passage in the same handbook words the C-grade rule differently. Grades and progression sets out both versions.
Sources also split on credits. The 2026-27 catalog lists seven, whereas the syllabi for Spring 2025 and Spring 2026 show six (3:3), and the catalog and handbook both still total the MSN FNP at 49 credits. Your graduate advisor can confirm which figure your program plan uses; the 270 clinical hours are identical either way.
The practice and preceptor that suit an integrated rotation
Integrated practice means a full family panel: children, adults, women's health and older adults, acute visits alongside chronic disease management, often in a single week. A Texas clinic doing outpatient family medicine or primary care is the natural setting. A preceptor board-certified in family practice is the cleanest fit, because the certification matches the scope you are finishing.
TAMUCC's preceptor criteria carry over unchanged from your earlier courses: license type, board certification, two years of independent practice and an FNP-appropriate setting. Capacity is the new question. Ask whether the clinic can give you enough patient days for 270 hours, since a preceptor who can host you one day a week will fall well short over a single term.
You may use more than one preceptor, provided every site holds a current agreement and every preceptor files a packet. Returning to a qualified preceptor from NURS 5644 or NURS 5645 makes sense, but they sign a new packet this semester like anyone else; the packet guide covers what goes in it.
Closing the specialty minimums in the capstone
By the time NURS 5746 begins, your Typhon record should show where you stand on TAMUCC's three population minimums. Each can be met with 75 clinical hours or 150 documented encounters, and encounters from earlier courses count toward it.
| Population | Hours path | Encounter path | Course the FNP guides link it to |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pediatrics | 75 hours | 150 encounters in Typhon | NURS 5644 |
| Women's health | 75 hours | 150 encounters in Typhon | NURS 5645 |
| Geriatrics | 75 hours | 150 encounters in Typhon | None named: build it across your courses |
Geriatrics is the one to watch, because no course in the guides carries its label. A family practice with a large older-adult panel lets the capstone close it while you log integrated hours. If a pediatric or women's health gap remains, tell your clinical faculty member at the start of the term so your site plan can cover it. The 630-hour page has the full breakdown.
Finding a preceptor with room for 270 hours
- Ask your earlier preceptors firstA preceptor who already knows your work and TAMUCC's paperwork is the quickest yes. If their schedule cannot carry 270 hours alone, ask whether a qualified colleague in the same practice could share them.
- Search Typhon's Clinical Site DirectoryLook for family and primary care sites past TAMUCC students used, and check that the contract dates run past the end of your term. If an agreement will expire mid-semester, the Affiliation Agreement Liaison needs to know.
- Pitch in person with the capstone objectivesBring your CV, the
NURS 5746objectives and a proposed weekly schedule. A written plan shows the clinician exactly what 270 hours will ask of their clinic. - Start the agreement early if the site is newA site without an active agreement needs an "Initiate Affiliation Agreement" request. TAMUCC's guidance is to budget as much as three months for signatures, and more at large systems, so that clock can start while you are still in
NURS 5645. - Complete the packet and get clearedEach preceptor signs a new Preceptor Agreement Packet through DocuSign with a CV and a license copy from the last 30 days. Your clinical faculty member then clears you before your first hour; clinical faculty and clearance covers that step.
Fitting 270 hours into one semester
Across a 16-week term, 270 hours averages about 17 hours of patient care a week, roughly two full clinic days every week. TAMUCC's clinical time generally falls between 8 am and 5 pm on weekdays and has to fit your clinical faculty member's schedule, so working students need to plan around their own shifts well ahead.
The hours have to be complete before the final class day, and none of them can roll into the next semester. A preceptor falling through is not grounds for an extension, which TAMUCC reserves for extreme circumstances such as hospitalization. Schedule extra days and a backup preceptor from the first week; backup preceptors explains how.
Public syllabi show NURS 5746 in the spring of 2025 and 2026, and breaks and holidays fall inside the term. The academic calendar page has current dates.
Losing a preceptor late in a 270-hour course leaves little room to recover, so the backup belongs in place before the term starts.
What counts and how the semester closes
The 270 include only time actively engaged in patient care: seeing the patient, the case discussion with your preceptor and your EHR documentation. Meal breaks and time off site are excluded, and hours from before your agreement and packet were complete are discarded. Every encounter goes into Typhon, and logging hours that did not happen breaks the conduct rules in TAMUCC's graduate handbooks.
Four DocuSign forms close the course. The Clinical Hours Log carries three signatures, yours, your preceptor's and the FNP Clinical Coordinator's, and also produces your preceptor's hours certificate. The other three are evaluations: your preceptor rates you, and you rate both the preceptor and the site. Your ratings help faculty decide whether to recommend that preceptor and site to future students.
Why TAMUCC students choose us for the capstone
The capstone needs a preceptor with both the right certification and the capacity for 270 hours, and our search starts there. We look for a Texas family or primary care practice near where you live, with a panel wide enough to close any remaining population minimum, and we confirm the preceptor meets TAMUCC's criteria before you ask.
Our preparation covers both halves of TAMUCC's paperwork. On the preceptor side we collect the CV, board certification and a license copy that satisfies the 30-day rule. On the site side we pull the contract dates from Typhon and identify who signs if an "Initiate Affiliation Agreement" request is needed. Your clinical faculty member clears the placement, working from a file with nothing missing.
When a preceptor leaves in the middle of the term, the placement desk stays on call and moves straight to a replacement search, from Dallas-Fort Worth to the Rio Grande Valley. Start with the contact form.
Questions TAMUCC students ask
Can I split NURS 5746 hours between two preceptors?
Yes. Splitting works as long as the paperwork doubles up: a signed Preceptor Agreement Packet from each preceptor and a current affiliation agreement at each site, all finished before your first hour there. Your clinical faculty member clears each preceptor, and a second site can also act as your backup if the first one falls through.
When should I start looking for a NURS 5746 preceptor?
TAMUCC publishes no preceptor deadline, but a new site can need up to three months for its agreement. Asking during NURS 5645 gives the agreement, the packet and clearance time to finish. A returning preceptor at a site with a current agreement shortens the timeline to the packet and your clearance.
Can I do my capstone hours at the clinic where I work?
Possibly, under TAMUCC's workplace conditions: a preceptor who has no hand in your job evaluation, and clinical time on a unit that is not your own. Supervisors and family members never qualify. With 270 hours riding on it, have your clinical faculty member approve the setup before the first shift.
Will my NURS 5746 hours count toward a TAMUCC DNP later?
They can. The DNP at TAMUCC calls for 1,000 post-baccalaureate practice hours, and appropriate MSN clinical hours can supply up to 500 of them through the Practice Hours Verification Form. Keep your Typhon records and signed hours logs from all four FNP courses in case you continue.
What does my NURS 5746 preceptor receive from TAMUCC?
Preceptors volunteer. TAMUCC offers them an hours certificate generated from the signed Clinical Hours Log, continuing education credit where their certifying body allows it, letters thanking them or verifying their service, and university awards that recognize outstanding preceptors. Mentioning these when you ask shows the clinician what TAMUCC gives back.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-26
We check these pages against TAMUCC's catalog, FNP clinical guides, MSN and DNP handbooks and college pages. Your course, your clinical faculty member and the handbook for your cohort have the final word.
TAMUCC makes the preceptor search yours. Let us run it for you in Texas.
Tell us your TAMUCC program, your next clinical course and where in Texas you can drive. We find preceptors who fit the course and gather what the affiliation agreement and the Preceptor Agreement Packet need, early enough for both to clear.
- Preceptors matched to the course: pediatrics for
NURS 5644, women's health forNURS 5645, broad primary care forNURS 5746 - CV, license, board certification and the site's agreement status ready for TAMUCC's paperwork
- In Corpus Christi, the Valley, San Antonio, Houston, Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth and across Texas
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