Behind on clinical hours partway through a Post term
If your Typhon log trails the pace a Post University preceptorship needs, about 17 hours a week for a 135-hour course, act this week. Measure the gap, ask your preceptor for specific added clinic time, and tell the Clinical Coordinator while weeks remain, since any clinical-hour extension runs through that office. When one preceptor cannot give more, an added approved preceptor is the fix to start on, and that is where we come in.
Get back on pace
Tell us your course, hours logged and weeks left.
Measure the gap before you call anyone
Start with three numbers: the hours the course requires, the hours logged so far, and the weeks left in the term. Divide what remains by the weeks remaining and you have the pace you now need. The table runs that math for a 135-hour course at the end of Week 4, the halfway point.
| Logged after Week 4 | Still needed | Needed in each of Weeks 5-8 |
|---|---|---|
| 68 (on pace) | 67 | About 17 |
| 50 | 85 | About 21 |
| 40 | 95 | About 24 |
| 30 | 105 | About 26 |
Once the pace you need passes three clinic days a week, closing the gap with one preceptor gets hard next to a nursing job, and that is the signal to widen the plan now rather than in Week 7. For the 90-hour N 567, run the same math against a pace line of about 11 hours a week.
Find out why you fell behind
The cause decides the fix, so name it before you ask anyone for help.
- The preceptor's calendar shrank: fewer clinic days, a new commitment, or leave that was not on the NP Clinical Schedule.
- The start slipped: the Week 1 packet cleared late, or a CastleBranch item lapsed and logging stopped until it was fixed.
- Your own work schedule changed and absorbed days you had planned for clinic.
- Holidays, closures or illness took days that were never made up.
A conflict on your side is solved with your employer. A shrinking preceptor calendar usually calls for more time from the same practice or a second preceptor. A preceptor who has left altogether is a different emergency, covered in preceptor dropped out.
Ask your preceptor for time, in numbers
A general request gets a general answer. Bring the figures: the hours still needed and the weeks left. Then ask for something concrete, such as one added clinic day each week or longer days on the days you already share.
If your preceptor also works at another location, ask whether you could join on those days, but check with the Clinical Coordinator first, because each site needs approval and an affiliation agreement before its hours count.
When you agree on new days, update your own copy of the schedule and ask the Coordinator whether the NP Clinical Schedule on file should be revised. The guidelines behind that form are not public, so the Coordinator's answer is the one to follow.
Bring the Clinical Coordinator in early
The Clinical Coordinator decides what happens to clinical hours a term cannot hold. Post routes every extension involving clinical hours through that office, and the ASC two-week extension carries its own conditions: at least half the coursework done and a request made before the term ends. An incomplete asks for 60% done, a compelling reason and participation after week 4.
Early contact keeps more doors open. Raised in Week 4 or 5, a shortfall may still be closed inside the term with added days or an added preceptor. Raised in Week 8, it becomes an extension request, and an NP student with an open extension cannot start the next course. Extensions and incompletes sets out both routes in full.
What running out of term costs
Hours still undone when an extension closes mean taking the course again, coursework and clinicals alike. Each NP course has one repeat available, and once you are past the 3P exam the allowance is one repeated NP-specific course in total, so a single bad term can use up most of your margin.
The calendar compounds it. Post's 2024 schedule offered NP specialty courses in odd-month terms only, so a repeated or delayed course can cost two months, and the catalog's limits stand at 36 months for the FNP and AGPCNP and 42 for the PMHNP. Delayed graduation shows how the months add up.
A repeat also reopens the preceptor question. The course will need a preceptor again, ideally the same one if the practice is willing to have you back, and the Week 1 packet has to be rebuilt for the new term.
Adding a preceptor partway through
When your preceptor has no more time to give, a second approved preceptor is how a large gap gets closed. Post's public sources do not describe a mid-term addition step by step, so confirm the route with the Clinical Coordinator. Whoever you add must clear the same checks as your first preceptor.
- The Clinical Coordinator's approval of the preceptor and the site.
- The preceptor's license report, national certification and CV.
- A signed preceptor agreement letter.
- A fully executed affiliation agreement with the site, requested through Post's tracker, where Academic Affairs makes first contact within seven business days.
Ask first whether another qualified clinician at your current practice can take some days: the site agreement is already in place, so only the new preceptor needs clearing. For a new location, the affiliation agreement guide explains the request.
How we get your hours back on track
We start as soon as you reach us. We find an added preceptor near home who can take extra clinic days, check that preceptor against Post's rules, collect the license report, certification and CV, and get the preceptor agreement letter signed. If the site is new, the affiliation agreement request is prepared and ready to file at once.
Then we rebuild the remaining weeks with you, so new clinic days land where you can actually work them, and we look ahead so your next term opens with margin. If the gap cannot close inside the term, the added preceptor stays lined up for any extension weeks the Coordinator approves. Send your course, hours logged and weeks left through the form below or the contact page; pacing clinical hours covers planning the next term.
Questions Post students ask
Can I get an extension on clinical hours at Post?
Post routes clinical-hour extensions through the Clinical Coordinator. The ASC two-week extension needs at least half the coursework done and a request before the term ends, and it closes exactly two weeks after the course end date. While it stays open, an NP student cannot move on to the next course, so it costs time even as it buys some.
What happens if my hours are still short when the term ends?
If the hours remain incomplete when an extension ends, Post's catalog requires you to repeat the course, including all coursework and clinicals. Graduate nursing courses also need a B (83%) or better. Ask the Clinical Coordinator early how a shortfall will be handled, because the answer shapes whether to add days, add a preceptor or request an extension.
Is it too late to add a preceptor in Week 6?
It can still work, but the clock is tight. A preceptor at a site that already has an affiliation agreement with Post needs approval and documents; a new site needs the agreement as well, and Academic Affairs can take up to seven business days just to make first contact. Ask the Clinical Coordinator right away what can still count this term.
Can I start my next course while I finish clinical hours?
Not while an extension is open. Post's catalog says NP and DNP students who currently have an extension for a course may not proceed to the next one. That is why a shortfall caught in Week 4 costs so much less than one caught in Week 8: inside the term, you can still add days without moving your next start.
Should I withdraw from the course if I am far behind?
Speak with your Student Success Advisor and the Clinical Coordinator before deciding. Last year's calendar set the withdrawal deadline with a W at the Sunday six weeks after the term's start, and any withdrawn course must still be completed before the courses that build on it. Ask whether a withdrawal counts toward Post's NP repeat limit.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-27
We check these pages against Post University's own catalog, program pages and published nursing documents. Your course faculty and the Clinical Coordinator have the final word.
Post asks you to select your own preceptor. We make the search the easy part.
Tell us your Post track, your city and your next preceptorship course. We line up preceptors who fit the course, collect the license report, certification and CV the Clinical Coordinator reviews, and start the affiliation agreement early so your Week 1 packet is complete before the term opens.
- Preceptors matched to the course: primary care for FNP and AGPCNP, mental and behavioral health for PMHNP, doctoral nurse leaders for DNP hours
- Preceptor agreement letter, license report, certification and CV ready for Post's approval
- Every preceptorship planned together, close to home in a state where you hold your license and Post's disclosure says yes
Start your placement plan
Track, city and next preceptorship course is all we need to begin.