Behind on clinical hours in a Southeastern course: how to catch up
Southeastern Louisiana University's NP clinical courses ask for 200 or 275 practicum hours inside one semester, so a few lost weeks add up fast. Catching up starts with an early, honest conversation with course faculty, a clear count of what is left and, where faculty approve it, a second preceptor to share the load.
Get your placement plan
Tell us your Southeastern program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with preceptor and site options in your community that fit your Southeastern course.
Tell course faculty now, with numbers
Course faculty already follow your progress, since Louisiana's board rule expects them to check in with you and your preceptor every week of a precepted course. Raise the shortfall yourself anyway, early and from your university email account: hours logged, hours remaining, weeks left and the reason you slipped.
Bring a plan along with the problem, such as extra clinic days your preceptor can offer, a second practice that could host you, or a change to your work schedule. Faculty approve any change to your preceptor or letter of agreement, so the sooner they see it, the more options stay open. Who does what shows who else to include.
Count what is left
Southeastern's fall and spring semesters each run about 16 weeks: August 19 to December 11 in fall 2026, and January 20 to May 14 in spring 2027. The table shows the weekly pace a whole course needs when it starts late, by our own arithmetic.
| Weeks remaining | 200-hour course (NURS 6820, NURS 6910) | 275-hour course (NURS 6830, NURS 6840, NURS 6920, NURS 6930) |
|---|---|---|
| 16 | About 13 | About 17 |
| 12 | About 17 | About 23 |
| 8 | 25 | About 34 |
| 6 | About 33 | About 46 |
If you already have hours logged, divide what remains by the weeks left. A pace well above 25 hours a week is hard to hold next to a nursing job, and that is the point to discuss a second approved preceptor, or an Incomplete, with faculty.
Incompletes, progression and the calendar
In Southeastern's graduate catalog, an I is reserved for a course you cannot complete on time for reasons outside your control. You then have until the close of the following semester, and summer counts as one, unless your academic dean grants more time; an unresolved I turns into an F on its own. Southeastern publishes no rule tying an Incomplete to a missing or departed preceptor, so whether one fits your case is a faculty decision.
Nursing's progression rules raise the stakes. A C puts you on probation, and the course must be repeated within two regular semesters with at least a B; a D or F means dismissal. Each later clinical course lists the one before it as a prerequisite, so ask your advisor how an open I affects next semester's registration.
Watch the calendar as well. The last day to withdraw from a full-semester class is October 30 in fall 2026 and April 8 in spring 2027, and sitting out graduate nursing courses for two regular semesters in a row means reapplying. Grades and time limits has the full rules.
Hours that will not count
Before you plan extra days, rule out time that cannot go on the log.
- Time on shift. Paid work time is excluded, even beside a preceptor in the same building; clinicals where you work draws the line.
- Hours before the file is complete. Nothing counts until the preceptor is approved and the Graduate Nursing Office holds the facility contract, the preceptor's CV, the three-way letter and your health paperwork.
- Hours outside Louisiana, for MSN students and PMHNP certificate students.
- Hours with anyone course faculty have not approved, including a colleague who lets you follow along.
- Hours not actually worked. The consortium applies its zero-tolerance dishonesty policy to made-up clinical records.
The tempting shortcut, counting clinical time during a paid shift, is exactly what the consortium handbook forbids. Extra hours have to come from unpaid days.
Adding a second preceptor, the approved way
A second preceptor can rescue a semester, but only through the same gate as the first. Propose the addition to course faculty before any hours with them. The new preceptor needs faculty approval and graduate coordinator review, a current CV or profile on file, a signed letter of agreement and a facility under university contract.
Louisiana's rules shape the choice. Most of your hours must still sit with a population-matched APRN, although a mix of clinicians is allowed, and one preceptor may take no more than two graduate APRN students at a time. The second practice must also fit the course: an adult clinic adds little to NURS 6820, and an adults-only psychiatric practice suits NURS 6920 poorly.
Once faculty approve, update your clinical schedule in the tracking system so your log matches the plan. Preceptor approval covers the sign-off.
Why students fall behind, and the matching fix
- Clinic days collide with your shifts: ask your preceptor about other days, or add an approved preceptor whose schedule fits your days off.
- Your preceptor takes leave or leaves the practice: tell faculty the same day and start a replacement search.
- Too few patients in the course population: a site with few children or few older adults stalls hours and objectives alike, and a second site that fits can fix both.
- A contract stalled at the start: ask faculty whether a site already under contract could host you while the new one clears.
- A compliance lapse: an expired CPR card or missing health record can halt clinicals, since students without the required health evidence cannot stay enrolled in a clinical course.
How we help you catch up
Tell us the course, hours logged, hours left, weeks remaining and your days off. Your placement advisor looks for Louisiana preceptors in your course population with open clinic days that fit, checks license, student load and contract status, and prepares a brief so course faculty can weigh a second or replacement preceptor quickly.
We also look one course ahead. If this semester ran short because the population was hard to reach, the search for your next clinical course starts now, so it opens with a preceptor ready for faculty review and a weekly plan that fits your shifts from the first week.
How it works covers the full process, and the request form starts it.
Questions Southeastern students ask
Will I fail a Southeastern clinical course if I do not finish my hours?
Southeastern publishes no separate rule for an hours shortfall, so talk with course faculty well before the semester ends. An Incomplete requires circumstances you could not control, and an I left open past the following semester converts to an F. An F in a graduate nursing course leads to dismissal, which is why acting early matters.
Can I log clinical hours on weekends or evenings to catch up?
Southeastern's published rules set no days of the week for clinical hours. Your schedule has to be agreed with your preceptor, approved through the letter of agreement and kept current in the clinical tracking system, and the hours must fall outside paid work. If your preceptor sees patients on evenings or Saturdays, those hours can help.
Does an Incomplete in NURS 6820 hold up NURS 6830?
It can. The catalog lists NURS 6820 as the prerequisite for NURS 6830, and the same chain runs on to NURS 6840, and from NURS 6910 through NURS 6930 for PMHNP students. How an open I affects the next registration is not spelled out, so ask your advisor and course faculty before registration opens.
Do DNP residency hours follow the same catch-up rules?
Largely. Southeastern's most recent DNP handbook, from 2018-19, gives a student delayed by extenuating circumstances in project planning or residency an Incomplete, then two paths: finish in the next semester, or earn the hours in Advanced Directed Studies, now numbered NURS 8090 with 135 residency hours per enrollment. See DNP residency hours.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-27
We check these pages against Southeastern's own catalog, program pages and consortium handbook, and Louisiana rules. Your course faculty, the graduate coordinator and your advisor have the final word.
Southeastern asks you to choose your preceptor. We find one near you.
Tell us your Southeastern track, where in Louisiana you live and when your next clinical course starts. We find Louisiana-licensed preceptors who fit the course, confirm whether the facility is already under contract with the university, and hand you what your course faculty need to approve it before the semester.
- Pediatric and women's health preceptors for
NURS 6820, adult and older-adult primary care forNURS 6830andNURS 6840 - Psychiatric preceptors for
NURS 6910toNURS 6930, with the child and older-adult focus each course sets - Across Louisiana, from the Northshore to Shreveport
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