N 585 Complex Concepts of Aging Preceptor Experience
N 585 is the preceptorship that belongs to Post University's AGPCNP alone: clinical time focused on older adults, paired with the didactic course N 584 Complex Concepts of Aging. Since the 2024-25 catalog every AGPCNP hour has to be in primary care, so the task is finding a primary care practice with a strong older-adult panel. Post attaches no hour number to this course alone; dividing the track's 540 hours among its four preceptorships points to 135.
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What Post publishes about N 585
The catalog title is Complex Concepts of Aging Preceptor Experience; Post's 2024 course schedule calls it a Preceptorship Experience instead, and these guides follow the catalog. No copy of its course description was available, so several details come from neighboring courses.
The link to the AGPCNP comes from N 598, the integration course that follows. It admits a student who has finished N 584 and N 585, or one who has finished N 588 and N 589, which marks the aging pair as the AGPCNP's branch and the maternal and child pair as the FNP's. That mapping is inferred, not listed by Post, so check it against your own plan and the AGPCNP program guide. The same 2019 American Sentinel page placed N 585 in the AGPCNP sequence, which supports it.
On hours, the AGPCNP requires 540 precepted clinical hours in four preceptorships. N 581 carries a published 135, and an even split would give N 585 the same, yet no Post source we could read prints a number for this course. The only printed figure is older: American Sentinel University's 2019 AGPCNP page, from before the merger, listed N 585 at 135 hours. Look for the real figure in the syllabus, or ask the Clinical Coordinator.
Older adults, inside primary care
The 2024-25 catalog change matters more for this course than for any other. Earlier catalogs gave AGPCNP students a small, approval-only allowance of time away from primary care, which left some room for aging-focused hours elsewhere. Today the AGPCNP completes all of its clinical hours in a primary care setting, the same rule the FNP has followed since 2022-23.
So the best N 585 site is a primary care practice where older adults make up a large share of the schedule: an adult or internal medicine practice with a heavy Medicare-age panel, a family practice in a community with many retirees, or a practice that focuses on geriatric primary care. Ask prospective preceptors roughly what share of their visits involve patients over 65 and how often they manage several chronic conditions and long medication lists in one visit.
Settings to clear with the Clinical Coordinator
Some settings that feel natural for an aging course sit near the edge of the primary care rule. Post's published catalog does not sort them, and the NP Clinical Guidelines that may do so are not public, so ask the Clinical Coordinator before you commit to any of these:
- Skilled nursing or long-term care facilities, even where a primary care provider rounds on residents
- Assisted living communities served by a visiting practice
- Home-based primary care or house-call practices
- Specialty clinics for older adults, such as memory or geriatric specialty clinics
- Hospital-based services, including transitional care units
A short description of the site's patients and the preceptor's role helps the Coordinator decide. If a setting is ruled out, you still have time to change course as long as you asked during N 584 rather than in Week 1 of N 585. The primary care sites guide covers how to vet a practice.
The preceptor for an aging course
Post's baseline covers licensure without encumbrance, graduate preparation for APRN preceptors, at least a year in practice, and national certification in the population focus. For an AGPCNP student, an adult-gerontology primary care NP is the most direct match. Whether a family-certified NP satisfies the population-focus rule for your course is a fair question for the Clinical Coordinator before you ask anyone to sign.
A physician (MD or DO) is allowed, and internists and geriatricians with a primary care practice are logical candidates. Keep Post's recommendation in view, though: it wants an NP precepting two or more of the four courses and would rather see NPs in all four. If N 581 and N 583 were both with physicians, an NP for N 585 matters more. The preceptor requirements guide has the full rules.
Where N 585 sits in the AGPCNP
Reading the prerequisites, the AGPCNP runs N 580 through N 583 with the FNP, takes N 584 and N 585, then rejoins the FNP for N 598 and N 599. Taking courses singly, you complete N 584 in the term before N 585, and that term is your window to confirm the site and preceptor and complete the Week 1 packet.
N 585 is also the gate to the finish. N 598 cannot start until N 585 is complete, anything under a B (83%) in a graduate nursing course fails it, and Post caps NP students at a single repeated NP course once the 3P exam is passed. Any delay at this point pushes both remaining courses closer to your 36-month limit, so give this placement the same lead time you gave your first.
Why AGPCNP students bring N 585 to us
This placement turns on the patient mix. We look across primary care offices in your area for ones where older adults fill a real share of the day, measure each preceptor against Post's standard, and raise any doubt about the setting with you so the Clinical Coordinator can settle it first.
From there we assemble the preceptor's documents, obtain the signed agreement letter and file for the affiliation agreement well before N 585 opens, so the Week 1 packet is whole on day one. If a preceptor has to leave mid-term, we go straight to a replacement with the same older-adult focus. Use the form below to share your N 585 start, and your N 599 plan can be built at the same time.
Questions Post students ask
Do FNP students take N 585?
No. Judging by the prerequisites for N 598, N 584 and N 585 form the AGPCNP's branch, and FNP students take N 588 and N 589 Maternal and Child Care in that part of the program instead.
How many hours does N 585 require?
Post's readable sources give no per-course figure. With 540 AGPCNP hours spread over four preceptorships and 135 printed for N 581, 135 is the reasonable planning number for N 585. Treat it as an estimate until your syllabus or the Clinical Coordinator confirms it.
Can I complete N 585 in a nursing home?
The catalog places all AGPCNP clinical time in primary care and is silent on whether a long-term care facility qualifies. The Clinical Coordinator approves every site, so describe the setting and the preceptor's role and ask before you commit. A primary care practice with many older patients is the straightforward choice.
Does my N 585 preceptor need adult-gerontology certification?
Post requires national certification in the population focus. An adult-gerontology primary care NP matches directly. A physician is also allowed. For a family-certified NP, ask the Clinical Coordinator how Post applies the population-focus rule to your course before asking the preceptor to sign.
What if my N 585 site falls through during N 584?
You still have most of a term to recover, which is why confirming early in N 584 matters. A new site needs its own affiliation agreement request and a new set of preceptor documents. Contact us and we start on a replacement right away.
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
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