Fitting a 135-hour preceptorship into one 8-week Post term

Updated September 27, 2026, reviewed by the Post Preceptor placement team

A 135-hour Post University preceptorship spread over one 8-week term comes to roughly 17 clinical hours a week. Post does not print that figure; it is our arithmetic, 135 divided by eight. It is still the number to plan around, together with your preceptor's clinic days, your own work shifts and the NP Clinical Schedule due in Week 1.

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About 17clinical hours a week for a 135-hour course over 8 weeks (computed)

About 11hours a week for the 90-hour N 567 (computed)

Numbered steps. Building the NP Clinical Schedule: 1 Get the preceptor's calendar for all eight weeks; 2 Mark what cannot move; 3 Lay in the clinical days; 4 Confirm with the preceptor; 5 File it with the packet. — Building the NP Clinical Schedule: 1 Get the preceptor's calendar for all eight weeks; 2 Mark what cannot move; 3 Lay in the clinical days; 4 Confirm with the preceptor; 5 File it with the packet.

The weekly math, course by course

Post publishes clinical hours per program and, in older course descriptions, per course. It publishes no weekly pace. The table does the division, with a second column for the case where Week 1 goes to paperwork and clinical days begin in Week 2.

Weekly pace by course (hours from 2021-22 descriptions or implied by track totals; weekly figures are our arithmetic)
Course	Hours	Over 8 weeks	Over 7 weeks
`N 581`, `N 589`, `N 565`	135, published in 2021-22	About 17 a week	About 19 a week
`N 583`, `N 585`, `N 599`	Not published; the FNP and AGPCNP total implies 135	About 17 a week	About 19 a week
`N 561`, `N 563`, `N 569`	Not published; the PMHNP total implies 135	About 17 a week	About 19 a week
`N 567`	90, published in 2021-22	About 11 a week	About 13 a week

Whether clinical hours may begin before the packet clears, or before the term's first day, is not answered in Post's public sources; the NP Clinical Guidelines that govern it are not published, so ask the Clinical Coordinator. Post's clinical hours page has the program totals, and each course has its own guide, such as the one for N 567.

Shapes a 17-hour week can take

Seventeen hours is roughly two full clinic days. How they fall depends mostly on how your preceptor's practice runs its week, so ask early how the office books its days.

Patterns that add up (all arithmetic)

Two 9-hour days: 18 a week and 144 over the term, a 9-hour cushion.
One 10-hour day and one 8-hour day: the same 18 a week, useful when a preceptor has a single long clinic day.
Three 6-hour sessions: 18 a week, a fit for practices that book in half days or for students who work three 12-hour shifts elsewhere.
Front-loaded: 20 hours a week for six weeks makes 120, leaving just 15 for the last two weeks as a safety margin.

Aim above 135, not at it. A day lost to a sick child, a storm or a clinic closure is easy to absorb when the plan already carries spare hours, and hard to recover when it does not.

Building the NP Clinical Schedule

The NP Clinical Schedule is one of the items Post requires by the end of Week 1 in every NP clinical course. Its template and exact rules sit in Post's NP Clinical Guidelines, which are not public, so get the current form from the Clinical Coordinator. The planning behind it goes fastest in this order.

Get the preceptor's calendar for all eight weeksClinic days, planned time off, and any days spent at another location, which would need its own approval before you could follow.
Mark what cannot moveHolidays and closures inside the term, your synchronous class sessions, and your own work shifts.
Lay in the clinical daysPlace enough days to pass the course total with a margin, weighted toward the early weeks.
Confirm with the preceptorGo through the dates together so the schedule you submit is one the practice has agreed to.
File it with the packetSubmit it alongside the preceptor agreement letter and the rest of the Week 1 items; the Week 1 guide lists them.

Working full time while you precept

Post's NP students are working RNs, so those 17 hours usually sit on top of a job. Three levers help.

First, shape your work schedule around the preceptor's, not the reverse: clustered shifts, or fewer hours for the eight weeks, can open two clinic days a week. Second, look at your own workplace. Post allows clinicals where you work when the preceptor is not your direct supervisor and the setting fits your track, which can cut travel time; clinicals at your workplace covers the conditions.

Third, use the one-course rule to your advantage. Because an NP student carries a single course per term, the preceptorship term has no second class competing for your evenings, and that is what makes 17 clinical hours a week workable alongside a job.

Log as you go

Hours are recorded in Typhon, the tool Post's catalog calls the student tracking system, where preceptors also log in to complete your evaluations. Logging is blocked unless your CastleBranch account is compliant, so keep every item current through the term. The Typhon guide covers the logs and forms.

Log each clinical day in the same week and compare your running total with a simple pace line: 17 hours times the weeks elapsed. If you are more than a clinic day behind by the end of week 3, raise it with your preceptor at once instead of hoping to catch up in week 8. Behind on clinical hours walks through the recovery.

Keep a plain record of your own as well: the date, the hours and the preceptor for each clinical day. If an entry and a memory ever disagree, a note made that same week settles it quickly with your preceptor.

If the eight weeks run out

Post keeps a narrow safety valve. The ASC two-week extension needs half the coursework done and a request before the term ends, extensions that involve clinical hours go through the Clinical Coordinator, and an NP student with an open extension cannot start the next course.

Anything still unfinished when the extension ends means repeating the course, clinical hours and all. Extensions and incompletes has the details.

An incomplete is a separate route with its own conditions: at least 60% of the coursework done, a compelling reason, participation after week 4, and the remaining work finished within four weeks of the term's end. Which route fits an unfinished clinical course is for the Clinical Coordinator to say. The stronger plan is a schedule with enough margin that you need neither.

How we set up a pace that holds

We choose preceptors with the pace in mind. Before a name reaches you, we confirm the preceptor can offer about two clinic days a week across all eight weeks of your term, and we check planned time off against the term dates. If you work rotating hospital shifts, we look for practices whose clinic days line up with your usual days off.

We match the clinic's rhythm to your work pattern, gather the preceptor's credentials, get the preceptor agreement letter signed and start the affiliation agreement request early, so the NP Clinical Schedule can be drafted before Week 1. If a preceptor's availability shrinks mid-term, we find added hours or a replacement. Start with the form below or the contact page.

Questions Post students ask

Is 17 hours a week a Post requirement?

No. Post sets hour totals, 540 or 630 per track, with 135 hours in most preceptorships and 90 in N 567, but it publishes no weekly minimum. Seventeen is 135 divided by eight weeks. What counts as an acceptable week is governed by your NP Clinical Schedule and the Clinical Coordinator, working from guidelines Post does not publish.

Can two preceptors share one Post clinical course?

Post's public sources do not say whether a course may be split, and the NP Clinical Guidelines are not public. Any added preceptor and site would need the Clinical Coordinator's approval, the preceptor's license report, certification and CV, and an affiliation agreement with the site, so ask the Coordinator early if one preceptor cannot supply every hour.

What if my preceptor takes a vacation during the term?

Build it in from the start. Ask about planned time off before anyone signs, place extra clinical days in the weeks around the absence, and check that the total still clears the course hours. If an absence is unplanned and long, talk to the Clinical Coordinator about your options before the term runs short.

Where do Post NP students record clinical hours?

In Typhon, which Post's catalog refers to as the student tracking system. You log hours there, your preceptor logs in to complete evaluations, and preceptor approval forms are uploaded there as well. Logging requires a compliant CastleBranch account, so a lapsed item can block your entries until it is fixed.

How is the 90-hour N 567 paced?

At about 11 hours a week across eight weeks, or about 13 if clinical days start in Week 2, by our arithmetic. N 567 centers on adolescents experiencing substance misuse, so the harder part may be finding a setting with enough adolescent patients rather than fitting in the hours.

Calendar8-week terms and NP course timingHow Post University's 8-week terms work for NP students: Monday starts about monthly, one course per term, odd-month NP courses in 2024, Week 1 deadlines.UrgentBehind on clinical hoursBehind on hours in a Post University preceptorship? Measure the gap, get more clinic time, bring in the Clinical Coordinator early, add an approved preceptor.TrackingTyphon clinical trackingHow Typhon, Post's student tracking system, holds preceptor approval forms, clinical hour logs and evaluations, and how to use its directory in your search.DeadlineWeek 1 clinical deadlineEvery item Post expects by the end of Week 1 of an NP clinical course, who produces each one, and a backward plan that starts two terms before the course.PolicyIncompletes and extensionsPost's incomplete needs 60% of the work done; the two-week ASC extension needs 50%. For NP and DNP students an open extension holds back the next course.HoursClinical hours by programPost's FNP and AGPCNP need 540 precepted clinical hours and the PMHNP 630. See DNP and MSN hours too, and why the catalog prints two larger NP totals.

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.

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