Post's practice experiences: four kinds, and only one needs a preceptor
Outside the nurse practitioner tracks, Post counts practice experiences rather than clinical rotations, and its catalog names four kinds: practice learning experiences, precepted practice experiences, simulation and DNP project hours. Only the precepted kind needs a preceptor, a nurse who works at the site hosting your hours. In the non-NP MSN the biggest of these is the capstone, N 555PE, at 130 hours in its 2021-22 description.
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The four kinds side by side
Post's catalog uses one umbrella term, practice experiences, and abbreviates the kinds beneath it. It also says they "are not like the clinical experiences" of pre-licensure RN education, and the kind printed against a course decides what you have to arrange for it.
| Kind | Post's label | Preceptor | Affiliation agreement |
|---|---|---|---|
| Practice learning experience | PLE | Not needed | Not needed |
| Precepted practice experience | PPE | Needed: chosen by you, employed at the site | When the site requires one; always for the DNP |
| Simulation | S | Not part of the catalog's preceptor rule | Not part of the catalog's agreement rule |
| DNP project hours | DH | Set by the DNP course | Covered in the DNP guide |
Simulation at the American Sentinel College of Nursing & Health Sciences at Post University uses Sentinel U tools; one catalog example is an activity titled "EXPLORE 'Sentinel City'". Project hours belong to the doctorate and are explained in our DNP practice hours guide. For everything else, the question to ask of each course is simple: is any of this time precepted?
How practice hours sit inside a course
Post builds a 3-credit course with practice experience from two parts, online classroom time and practice hours. The catalog's model has three settings: 45 practice hours with at least 30 online hours, 30 practice hours with at least 35, or 15 practice hours with at least 40, and the remainder is work outside the classroom.
The 2021-22 course descriptions show all three settings in use. N 508PE Clinical and Administrative Systems and N 570PE Infection Prevention and Control carried 45 hours, BSN 421PE in the RN to BSN carried 30, and N 537PE Organizational Dynamics of Higher Education carried 15. The capstone breaks the pattern at 130.
Added up across a specialization, the hours reach 400 for each non-NP MSN track in the 2025-26 catalog. The RN to BSN totals 90 to 100 and the RN to BSN/MSN 490 to 500; the programs hub lists every total.
Courses on Post's preceptor list
The catalog keeps a table titled "Nursing Programs Requiring Preceptors". For the non-NP MSN, the 2025-26 version names 18 courses, and N 531PE and N 555PE joined it in the 2024-25 edition. Grouped by specialization, using Post's program course lists, they look like this.
| Specialization | Courses |
|---|---|
| Nursing Education | N 531PE, N 532PE, N 533PE, N 534PE, N 537PE, N 555PE |
| Case Management | N 508PE, N 543PE, N 544PE, N 555PE |
| Nursing Informatics | N 508PE, N 527PE, N 535PE, N 555PE |
| Infection Prevention and Control | N 570PE, N 571PE, N 572PE, N 555PE |
| Management and Organizational Leadership | N 508PE, N 525PE, N 530PE, N 540PE, N 545PE, N 555PE |
One wrinkle: several 2024-25 program pages print N 532, N 537, N 525 and N 540 without the PE suffix, while the preceptor table keeps it. Ask the Practicum Coordinator which of your courses carry precepted hours in the current catalog. Each specialization's guide goes course by course: Nursing Education, Leadership and Case Management, and Informatics and Infection Prevention.
Who can precept a practice experience
For a master's student, Post asks for a preceptor whose degree is at or above your program, so a master's or higher, and who holds a current RN license in the state where they practice. The DNP raises the degree to a doctorate held by a nurse. Either way, the preceptor must be employed at the site, which is what separates a precepted practice experience from time with a mentor somewhere else.
The same exclusions cover every program: your direct supervisor, a relative and a fellow student in your program cannot precept you. When a strong candidate misses one requirement, such as an infection preventionist without an RN license, the Exception to Preceptor Requirements form lets you petition for that person. Our guide to who cannot precept you covers the exclusions in detail.
The preceptor and the site travel together: a nurse who meets every requirement but is employed somewhere else cannot precept your hours at your site.
The MSN capstone and its 130 hours
Every non-NP MSN specialization closes with N 555PE, the MSN Capstone, which requires the MSN core and your specialization courses first. The 2021-22 description of its competency-based version set it at 130 practice hours, the most of any non-NP MSN course we could verify, and Post added it to the preceptor list in 2024-25.
Across an 8-week term, 130 hours comes to a little over 16 a week; if the course runs across a full 16-week SIMPath semester, closer to 8, by our arithmetic. The capstone preceptor has to suit your project as well as your specialization, so the search runs longer than for a 45-hour course. Begin it while you are still in the specialization courses, and find out early whether the site will want an affiliation agreement.
Paperwork and systems around a practice experience
What surrounds a precepted practice experience
- CastleBranch: required of RN to BSN/MSN, MSN and DNP students, and not of RN to BSN students. See the CastleBranch guide.
- An affiliation agreement whenever the site requires one, requested through Post's Affiliation Agreement Tracker; DNP students need one for every precepted experience.
- The student tracking system, where preceptor approval forms are uploaded; non-NP MSN and DNP students have their own tier of it, as the Typhon guide explains.
- The Practicum Workroom (
PW501for the MSN), which makes up practice hours missing from courses you transferred in. Post grants no extensions on workrooms. - Post's coordinators, who approve each preceptor and site and evaluate practice experiences; the catalog names a Practicum Coordinator alongside the Clinical Coordinator.
The end-of-Week-1 packet in Post's catalog is written for the nurse practitioner clinical courses. For a practice experience, ask the Practicum Coordinator when your preceptor's approval must be complete, and aim to finish well ahead of that point.
Why MSN and DNP students choose us for practice experiences
A practice-experience preceptor looks easy to find until Post's rules are applied: the right degree, an RN license in the right state, employment at the right site, and not your boss. Our placement desk searches with those rules built in, for your upcoming course and every precepted course after it.
We find master's-prepared nurses, or doctorally prepared ones for the DNP, at sites that fit each course; confirm degree and license; gather what Post's approval needs; and open the affiliation agreement request as soon as a site agrees. We plan your capstone early, keep the next course's preceptor in view while you finish the current one, and stay on call if a preceptor steps away. Read how it works or use the form below.
Questions Post students ask
Do I need a preceptor for every practice experience at Post?
No. Practice learning experiences need neither a preceptor nor an affiliation agreement, and simulation uses Sentinel U tools. Only precepted practice experiences call for a preceptor, and Post's catalog lists the courses that include them. The RN to BSN's practice hours are all of the unprecepted kinds.
Can a nurse with only a BSN precept my MSN practice experience?
Not under Post's standard rule, which asks for a preceptor with a degree at or above your program: a master's or higher for an MSN student. If a BSN-prepared nurse is the best person at your site, the Exception to Preceptor Requirements form is how you ask Post to approve them anyway.
Does a Post practice experience need an affiliation agreement?
For an MSN precepted practice experience, only when the site requires one. The DNP is stricter: every precepted experience needs one. Practice learning experiences need none. When an agreement is needed, you request it through Post's Affiliation Agreement Tracker, and the best day to start is the day a site says yes.
Does simulation count toward my practice hours at Post?
Yes. Post's catalog lists simulation as one of the kinds of practice experience, alongside practice learning, precepted practice and DNP project hours. American Sentinel College courses use Sentinel U simulations for it. Your syllabus shows which kinds a given course uses.
What does PE mean in a Post course number?
PE marks a course that includes practice experience hours, as in N 508PE or N 555PE. That time may be practice learning, precepted practice, simulation or DNP project hours. Post's documents are not fully consistent: some 2024-25 program pages drop the suffix from courses the preceptor table still lists with it.
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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