NRS 830 Advanced Physical Assessment at Clarkson College
NRS 830 Advanced Physical Assessment opens the clinical sequence in all three Clarkson College nurse practitioner tracks: 100 direct-care hours for MSN and certificate students, 125 in the BSN to DNP. It carries the Graduate Weekend in Omaha, and its clinical hours wait until you clear the skills sign-off there, so your preceptor has to fit the whole course into the weeks that follow that weekend.
Line up your NRS 830 preceptor
Tell us your track, city and term. Your placement advisor finds a primary care preceptor who can take you after Graduate Weekend.
The course in the 2026-27 catalog
The prerequisite list reads as if written for MSN students. Clarkson's BSN to DNP degree plans leave out NRS 803, and the post-graduate certificate plans include neither NRS 803 nor NRS 805, so certificate and DNP students should have their advisor confirm what stands in for those courses before registration.
Older Clarkson documents, and the MSN web page to this day, call the course NS 830. It is the same course.
| Item | What Clarkson lists |
|---|---|
| Credits | 3 |
| Clinical hours | 100 (MSN and certificate); 125 (BSN to DNP, effective Spring 2024) |
| Focus | Primary care of individuals and families across the lifespan |
| Campus requirement | "A Graduate Weekend is associated with this course." |
| Prerequisites | NRS 803, NRS 805, NRS 836, NRS 838, with NRS 836 also listed as a co-requisite |
| Tracks | FNP, AGACNP and PMHNP |
| Registration | Preceptor and clinical site approval before you register |
A primary care preceptor, whatever your track
NRS 830 is primary care for every track, which catches acute care and psychiatric students off guard. Clarkson's November 2023 clinical sheets named a different preceptor pool for each track, and all three point to generalist outpatient practice rather than a hospital unit or a psychiatric clinic.
| Track | Preceptor | Setting | Track-specific note |
|---|---|---|---|
| FNP | MD, DO, PA or NP | Outpatient primary care or rural health clinic seeing all ages | No specialty hours listed for this course |
| AGACNP | MD, DO, NP or PA | Family practice or internal medicine | Acute care certification applies from NRS 861 on |
| PMHNP | MD, DO or NP; a PA for this course only | Family practice only | No telehealth in NS 830 |
Across all three tracks the preceptor needs two years or more in practice and a current license in your clinical state. PAs, where a track allows them, are out entirely in Florida, Oklahoma, Arizona and Maryland. Optional observation hours appeared only in courses after NS 830, so plan the full count with your approved preceptor.
The switch comes right after. PMHNP students move to a psychiatrist or PMHNP from NRS 856 on, and AGACNP students move to acute-care-certified preceptors in NRS 861.
Graduate Weekend comes before any hours
Clarkson's 2021-22 graduate handbook tied NRS 830 hours to the physical assessment sign-off at the Graduate Weekend: nothing you log counts until you pass it. It also treated the weekend as all-or-nothing, with a course failure for skipping any portion or for a second unsuccessful check-off. The November 2023 sheets kept the order: finish the weekend, then start hours.
The Graduate Weekend guide covers the dates and the check-off itself. For placement, what matters is timing. The weekend falls about a month into each term, so your preceptor's calendar needs room after it, not from the first day of classes.
Plan the trip to Omaha as part of the clinical plan, too. A preceptor who has set aside the first weeks of the term for you needs to know, before you file the agreement, that your countable hours start only after you return from Omaha.
The real window for your hours
Count from the Monday after each 2026-27 Graduate Weekend through the term's final day and the clinical window runs about 11 weeks in fall and spring and a little over 8 in summer (our arithmetic from Clarkson's calendar).
| Term | Graduate Weekend | Hours can start | Term ends | Weeks left | Per week at 100 h | Per week at 125 h |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fall 2026 | Sept. 19-20 | Sept. 21 | Dec. 9 | About 11.4 | About 9 | About 11 |
| Spring 2027 | Feb. 6-7 | Feb. 8 | Apr. 28 | About 11.4, spring break Mar. 1-5 included | About 9 | About 11 |
| Summer 2027 | Jun. 5-6 | Jun. 7 | Aug. 4 | About 8.4 | About 12 | About 15 |
Midterm is the tighter squeeze. Under the 2021-22 handbook, half of each course's hours were due by midterm. Measured to the midpoint of each term, that leaves about three and a half weeks after the fall or spring weekend, and about two and a half in summer, to log 50 hours, or about 63 in the DNP version. The handbook does not say whether NRS 830 measures midterm differently, so raise it with course faculty in week one.
Summer is the hardest term for this course, above all at 125 hours. If your degree plan leaves a choice of term, your advisor can show how each option fits the rest of your sequence.
What to line up before registration
- Match the preceptor to your trackAll-ages primary care for FNP, family practice or internal medicine for AGACNP, family practice for PMHNP.
- Check the basicsTwo or more years of experience, licensed in the state of the clinical, not a relative, and outside the department where you work.
- Confirm the post-weekend scheduleAsk for enough shifts in the weeks after the Graduate Weekend to reach half the hours by midterm.
- File the agreement earlyThe Clinical/Practicum Site & Preceptor Agreement goes in by the paperwork deadline for your term; the clinical deadlines page has the dates.
- Clear complianceKeep your Qualified First/Verified requirements current, since students out of compliance cannot attend clinical.
- Look one course aheadStart the search for
NRS 832,NRS 856orNRS 861now: only one clinical runs at a time, and each needs approval before you register.
Why Clarkson NP students start with us here
The first clinical sets the pace for the whole track, and NRS 830 leaves the least room for error. We find a primary care preceptor who fits your track's rules, including family practice clinicians for AGACNP and PMHNP students whose own contacts sit in hospitals or psychiatric settings, and we confirm the clinic can take you for a concentrated block after the weekend.
We gather the license, experience and site details the agreement asks for, tell you early if the clinic still needs an affiliation agreement with Clarkson, and begin the search for your next course while this one runs. That way the preceptor for your second clinical is known before the first one ends. Send your track and term through the form below.
Questions Clarkson students ask
Can a PA precept me for NRS 830 in Clarkson's PMHNP track?
Yes, for this course only. Clarkson's November 2023 PMHNP sheet allowed PAs for NS 830 and ruled them out for the psychiatric courses that follow. The PA still needs two years in practice and licensure where you train, and a PA cannot serve in a clinic located in Florida, Oklahoma, Arizona or Maryland.
Can NRS 830 hours be done by telehealth?
Not in the PMHNP track: Clarkson's November 2023 PMHNP sheet said no telehealth in NS 830, even though the later psychiatric courses allow some. The archived FNP and AGACNP sheets are silent on telehealth for this course, so ask course faculty before you plan any of your hours that way.
Can I start NRS 830 clinical hours before the Graduate Weekend?
No. Both the 2021-22 handbook and the 2023 clinical sheets hold NRS 830 hours until the Graduate Weekend check-off is passed. Hours logged before then do not count, which is why the preceptor's availability after the weekend matters so much.
Do BSN to DNP students take a different NRS 830?
Same course, more hours. The catalog sets 100 hours at the MSN level and 125 at the DNP level, the latter effective Spring 2024. The Graduate Weekend, the sign-off and the preceptor rules for your track stay the same.
Why does an acute care student need a primary care preceptor for NRS 830?
Because the course is advanced physical assessment in primary care across the lifespan. Clarkson's November 2023 AGACNP sheet named MD, DO, NP or PA preceptors in family practice or internal medicine for NS 830. Acute-care-certified preceptors come in with NRS 861.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-27
We check these pages against Clarkson College's own catalog, program pages and published nursing documents. Your course faculty and Graduate Nursing advisor have the final word.
Clarkson asks you to find your preceptor. We make the search the easy part.
Tell us your Clarkson track, your city and your next clinical course. We line up preceptors who fit the NRS course and Clarkson's rules, gather the details the site and preceptor agreement asks for, and flag early whether the site needs a new affiliation agreement.
- Preceptors matched to the course: all-ages primary care for FNP, acute care units for AGACNP, psychiatric providers for PMHNP
- License, experience and site details checked against Clarkson's rules before the agreement is filed
- Every clinical course planned in sequence, close to home in a state where Clarkson's graduate nursing meets requirements
Start your placement plan
Track, city and next clinical course is all we need to begin.