NRS 844 Primary Healthcare II at Clarkson College

Q: What is NRS 852?

NRS 852 is the FNP track's transition-to-practice course: 2 credits with no clinical hours, taken alongside NRS 844. Every Clarkson NP track pairs its final clinical with a course of this kind, so your last term combines the biggest clinical block with a second course.

Q: Does NRS 844 need both NRS 840 and NRS 842 first?

Yes. The 2026-27 catalog lists both as prerequisites for NRS 844, which makes it the last FNP clinical in every plan. Since only one clinical course runs per term, the soonest you can take it is the term after your second middle course ends.

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

NRS 844 Primary Healthcare II closes Clarkson College's FNP clinical sequence and is also its biggest course: 180 hours in the MSN and certificate, 250 in the BSN to DNP. The catalog describes complex patients across the lifespan and increasingly independent practice, and the course opens only after both NRS 840 and NRS 842, so the preceptor you pick here is the last thing between you and graduation.

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Secure your final FNP preceptor

Send your city, term and version (MSN or BSN to DNP). Your placement advisor finds a preceptor with room for the largest block of hours in your track.

180NRS 844 clinical hours for MSN and certificate students

250NRS 844 clinical hours for BSN to DNP students

NRS 844 in the catalog

Clarkson pairs the last clinical of each NP track with a 2-credit transition-to-practice course that carries no clinical hours. For FNP students that course is NRS 852, so your final term holds the largest clinical of the track and that second course together.

Because both middle courses are prerequisites, NRS 844 is always the final FNP clinical. With one clinical course per term, the earliest you can reach it is the term after you finish the second of NRS 840 and NRS 842.

NRS 844 in the 2026-27 catalog
Item	Detail
Credits	3
Clinical hours	180 (MSN and certificate); 250 (BSN to DNP, effective Spring 2024)
Focus	Complex patients across the lifespan in primary care, with "increasingly independent practice"
Prerequisites	`NRS 840` and `NRS 842`
Taken alongside	`NRS 852`, the FNP transition-to-practice course: 2 credits, no clinical hours
Registration	Preceptor and clinical site approval first

The heaviest weekly load in the track

At an even pace the MSN version asks 12 hours a week of a fall or spring semester, and the DNP version nearly 17. Squeeze either into the 12-week summer and the weekly figure climbs to 15 or roughly 21 (division we did from Clarkson's term lengths). Half by midterm, the 2021-22 handbook's expectation, means 90 or 125 hours in the first half of the term.

NRS 844 weekly load (computed)
Version	Hours	Fall or spring, 15 weeks	Summer, 12 weeks	Half by midterm
MSN and certificate	180	12 a week	15 a week	90
BSN to DNP	250	About 17 a week	About 21 a week	125

That load shapes the search. A preceptor who takes a student two full days a week covers the MSN version in fall or spring, while the DNP version in summer means close to three full clinic days every week. Talk with your advisor about the term before you ask a preceptor to commit to it.

A preceptor who lets you lead

The catalog's phrase "increasingly independent practice" signals the shift in this course: more of each visit is yours, with complex patients across the lifespan, and your preceptor's role moves toward supervision. Look for a clinician comfortable handing over the room, and a panel with enough multi-problem patients to stretch you.

Nothing about the setting changes from the earlier primary care courses: a physician, PA or NP preceptor, an outpatient or rural health clinic, every age group, and still no hospitalist time. The sheet capped specialty time in NS 844 at 56 hours, the largest allowance of any FNP course, and its required experiences again included type 2 diabetes and hypertension visits.

Your NRS 832 clinic is an obvious first call, given that the two courses share a lifespan primary care focus. Returning there still means filing fresh paperwork for this course, and the FNP clinical sites guide covers the setting rules in full.

Timing the last course against graduation

In 2026-27, Clarkson's terms end Dec. 9, Apr. 28 and Aug. 4, and commencement for the year's graduates is Aug. 7, 2027. NRS 844 decides which of those dates is yours, so its preceptor should be settled before the term's paperwork deadline rather than in the first week of classes.

If a preceptor leaves partway through, Clarkson's 2021-22 handbook made the replacement your job: notify course faculty, secure someone new quickly, and log nothing with that person until their DocuSign paperwork clears. Where the term ran out first, the handbook's answer was to drop after speaking with faculty and your advisor. An incomplete is the other path, which Policy AA-10 leaves to course faculty and the program director for passing students with hours still owed.

A named backup clinician is worth more in this course than anywhere else in the track. The preceptor dropped out and delayed graduation pages cover both situations step by step.

Before you register for NRS 844

Both NRS 840 and NRS 842 complete
An all-ages primary care preceptor with room for 12 to 21 hours a week, depending on your version and term
The agreement filed by your term's deadline, with any specialty preceptor on a separate agreement inside the 56-hour cap
A backup clinician identified in case your preceptor's plans change
Your Typhon log reviewed against the current required experiences for the course
Your graduation term confirmed with your Graduate Nursing advisor

Planning to practice in Nebraska afterward? Nebraska asks each new NP to practice 2,000 hours under a supervising clinician's transition-to-practice agreement, and that clinician must hold a Nebraska license and work in a matching or related specialty. The Nebraska practice guide explains the rule.

How we carry Clarkson FNP students through the last course

NRS 844 is where a thorough placement matters most, because a gap here moves your graduation date. We search for an all-ages primary care preceptor with the schedule to carry the largest block of hours in your track, confirm the practice sees the complex, multi-problem patients the course expects, and check license and experience against Clarkson's rules before anything is filed.

We prepare the agreement details ahead of the deadline, tell you early if the practice lacks an affiliation agreement with Clarkson, and keep a second clinician in view for the term. If your plans change mid-course, your placement advisor starts the replacement search right away. That is why Clarkson FNP students hand us their final course: we plan it backward from the graduation date. Start with the form below.

Questions Clarkson students ask

Can I take NRS 844 in the summer term?

Your degree plan sets the term. If it lands in summer, the 12-week term pushes the MSN version to about 15 hours a week and the BSN to DNP version to about 21 (our arithmetic). Talk with your Graduate Nursing advisor early and choose a preceptor whose schedule matches that pace.

What is NRS 852?

NRS 852 is the FNP track's transition-to-practice course: 2 credits with no clinical hours, taken alongside NRS 844. Every Clarkson NP track pairs its final clinical with a course of this kind, so your last term combines the biggest clinical block with a second course.

Is there a limit on specialty hours in NRS 844?

Yes. Clarkson's November 2023 FNP sheet capped it at 56 hours for NS 844, more than any other FNP course. Faculty approve specialty blocks in advance, the specialist signs a separate agreement, and cosmetic dermatology did not qualify as a specialty for FNP students.

What happens if my NRS 844 preceptor quits?

Let course faculty know the same day and start on a replacement. The 2021-22 handbook counted time with the replacement only once that person's DocuSign paperwork cleared, and it treated an unavoidable preceptor change as an exception to the registration rule. An incomplete is possible for a passing student at faculty and program director discretion.

Does NRS 844 need both NRS 840 and NRS 842 first?

Yes. The 2026-27 catalog lists both as prerequisites for NRS 844, which makes it the last FNP clinical in every plan. Since only one clinical course runs per term, the soonest you can take it is the term after your second middle course ends.

NRS 840NRS 840 Primary Care of Children and AdolescentClarkson's NRS 840: 160 or 200 FNP clinical hours from birth through adolescence, 110 or more with a pediatric primary care provider, a 50-hour specialty cap.NRS 842NRS 842 Primary Care of WomenClarkson's NRS 842: 160 or 200 FNP clinical hours in ambulatory women's health, 120 or more with a women's health provider, and the exams you need to log.NRS 832NRS 832 Primary Healthcare IClarkson's NRS 832: 150 or 200 FNP clinical hours in all-ages primary care, the clinic it needs, the chronic-disease visits it counts, and what to file first.Placement helpDelayed graduationHow a missing preceptor pushes back a Clarkson College graduation: one clinical course at a time, what a lost term does to your dates, and the seven-year limit.Placement helpPreceptor dropped outClarkson College preceptor quit mid-course? The 2021-22 handbook rule, the unavoidable-change exception, what happens to your hours, and when dropping applies.FNPMSN Family Nurse PractitionerClarkson College's online MSN FNP: 49 credits, five precepted clinical courses worth 750 hours, one Graduate Weekend, and a preceptor plan for each course.

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.