NURS 6840 Family Health III: your last 275 FNP hours

Updated September 27, 2026 · Reviewed by the Southeastern Preceptor placement team

NURS 6840 Advanced Practice Nursing: Family Health III closes Southeastern Louisiana University's FNP clinical sequence with five credits and 275 practicum hours with adults and older adults. Finish it and all 750 hours are done, which puts graduation, national certification and a Louisiana APRN license next in line.

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275practicum hours in NURS 6840 per semester (2026-27 catalog)

750FNP clinical hours complete when Family Health III ends

NURS 6840 in the catalog

The 2026-27 catalog lists NURS 6840 at five credits with a 275-hour practicum each semester, a laboratory fee and NURS 6830 as its prerequisite. Its description reads: "Clinical experiences are designed to focus on the care of individuals and families in the adult and geriatric population." No offered terms are printed.

Family Health II widened the lens to adults; Family Health III keeps adults and adds older adults, completing a sequence that runs from children and child-bearing women to the geriatric years. A preceptor problem here holds up graduation directly, so its planning deserves more margin than the first two. FNP 750 hours shows the whole sequence.

Your final semester, route by route

Where Family Health III sits depends on your route, and so does what comes after it.

MSN FNP: semester 5 of the catalog plan, alongside NURS 6990 only if you chose the thesis.
Post-master's FNP certificate: the third and last semester, together with NURS 6810.
BSN to DNP, FNP concentration: semester 6, a spring term, with NURS 6810 and NURS 8030 Project Planning. The catalog flags this semester as the point where you may graduate with the MSN, and Residency I follows in the summer.

Graduation runs on its own clock. The catalog wants your graduation application filed during the semester that comes before your final one, while the registrar's calendar lists filing deadlines inside the term itself: September 15 without a late fee and November 1 with one for fall 2026, and February 15 and April 1 for spring 2027. Commencement is December 12, 2026 and May 15, 2027, and summer finishers walk in December. Meet the earlier of the two rules and confirm with your advisor. The academic calendar lists every date.

Preceptors for adults and older adults

Family Health III needs a practice where older adults make up a real share of the patients, not an occasional visit. Family practices and internal medicine offices with an aging panel fit well, and so can clinics in rural parishes, where need is widespread: HRSA data show a primary care shortage designation of some kind in 60 of Louisiana's 64 parishes.

The Louisiana rules match the earlier courses: an active Louisiana license for every preceptor, the majority of hours under a population-matched APRN, and no more than two graduate APRN students per preceptor at a time. A geriatric or internal medicine physician can share the teaching, since Louisiana counts physicians as graduate preceptors. Your course faculty approve the match and the graduate coordinator reviews it; preceptor approval covers that step.

No room for a late start

A delay costs the most in the final course. An Incomplete is reserved for work you could not finish for reasons outside your control, and one left unresolved turns into an F after the next semester, with summer counting as a semester, unless your academic dean grants more time. Every course needs at least a B, and an unsatisfactory final evaluation from your preceptor or faculty member is an F in a clinical course.

So treat the 275 hours as a schedule to protect. Line up the preceptor during Family Health II, confirm the facility's contract status early, and agree on a weekly rhythm that leaves slack for illness or clinic closures. If you slip behind anyway, behind on clinical hours sets out the next moves.

No hour counts until the Graduate Nursing Office has the facility contract, a current CV for your preceptor, the three-way letter of agreement and your health documents. In the final course, two weeks of paperwork delay means fitting 275 hours into fewer weeks with graduation waiting at the end.

From the last clinical hour to certification

Southeastern says its FNP graduates are educationally eligible for the Family Nurse Practitioner exams offered by both the American Nurses Credentialing Center and the American Association of Nurse Practitioners. Louisiana requires national certification for an APRN license, and applicants who wait longer than two years after completing their program face added board review.

Your clinical record keeps working after the course. Louisiana's prescriptive authority rule asks for 500 hours of clinical practice in your role and population within two years before you apply, and it says qualifying clinical practice from your graduate program may be accepted toward that figure. Southeastern's MSN page adds that certain certification exams want more clinical experience than a master's provides, so read your exam's current rules. The consortium links a variety of clinical experiences to exam success, one more reason to choose a Family Health III site with a different patient mix from your first two. NP certification exams compares the boards.

How we set up your final placement

Your placement advisor starts the Family Health III search while NURS 6830 is still under way. We search for APRNs and physicians licensed in Louisiana whose panels include many older adults near you, confirm they have room for a student, check the facility's contract with the university and prepare the preceptor profile your course faculty review.

Should a preceptor leave during the closing weeks, we move straight to a replacement so your 750 hours can still finish on schedule. The form below is where your final placement starts.

Questions Southeastern students ask

Can I graduate with an MSN after NURS 6840 in the BSN to DNP?

The catalog lets FNP and PMHNP students in the BSN to DNP stop with the MSN after completing what the MSN requires, and the FNP plan flags the Family Health III semester with a note that you may graduate with the MSN. Ask your advisor what that choice means for the doctoral residency courses that follow.

Can I take NURS 6840 in a summer semester?

The catalog lists no offered terms, and the FNP plans place Family Health III in semester 5 of the MSN, the spring of semester 6 in the BSN to DNP and the third certificate semester. If a summer term ever applies to you, our arithmetic on Southeastern's 2026 summer calendar gives about eight class weeks, or roughly 34 clinical hours a week.

What if my NURS 6840 preceptor leaves mid-semester?

Southeastern publishes no written policy for a lost preceptor, so tell your course faculty right away. Any new preceptor needs faculty approval, a current CV and a letter of agreement, and a new facility needs a contract before hours count. Tell us early too, and your placement advisor looks for a replacement while you talk with faculty.

Do I need long-term care hours for NURS 6840?

The catalog names the population, adults and older adults, not a required setting. A primary care practice with many older patients may meet the course on its own, while a long-term care or geriatric clinic can add range. Your course faculty decide what fits the objectives, so agree on the plan with them early.

FNP courseNURS 6830 Family Health IISoutheastern's NURS 6830 Family Health II: 275 practicum hours with adults, the NURS 6820 prerequisite, preceptors who fit, and planning a crowded semester.FNP hoursFNP 750 hoursSoutheastern's FNP needs 750 clinical hours across NURS 6820, 6830 and 6840: the populations, the weekly load, and why one Southeastern page says 600.Southeastern systemNP certification examsAfter Southeastern's FNP or PMHNP program: the AANPCB and ANCC exams, the Louisiana APRN license, and how the last clinical courses build toward both.Southeastern systemGrades and time limitsHow Southeastern grades graduate nursing: the B rule, clinical failure, Incompletes, the six-year limit, transfer credit and zero-tolerance integrity.Southeastern systemAcademic calendarSoutheastern's 2026-27 semester dates, nursing start terms, Workday registration windows and graduation application dates, matched to your clinical courses.Placement helpBehind on hoursBehind in a 200- or 275-hour Southeastern clinical course? Talk to course faculty early, know the Incomplete rules, add an approved preceptor and catch up.

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 for NURS 6830 and NURS 6840
Psychiatric preceptors for NURS 6910 to NURS 6930, with the child and older-adult focus each course sets
Across Louisiana, from the Northshore to Shreveport

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