UTA AGACNP clinical courses: NURS 5354, 5355 and 5640
UTA's Adult-Gerontology Acute Care NP track has three clinical courses in its 2026-27 degree plan: NURS 5354, NURS 5355 and the NURS 5640 practicum, all set in specialty and high-acuity care. UTA gives 720 clinical hours for the track but no split by course, and a newer set of course numbers in the catalog may signal a change you should confirm.
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NURS 5640 practicum online
The three AGACNP clinical courses at a glance
Each catalog entry points to acute and specialty care, not a primary care office. NURS 5354 sends you to "high acuity health care settings" and specialty practice, caring for adolescents, adults and elders whose needs the catalog calls "common secondary and tertiary."
| Course | Catalog title | Credits | Online length | What the catalog says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
NURS 5354 | Adult Gerontology Acute Care Clinical Practice 1 | 3 | 11 weeks | Clinical experience in specialty practice and high-acuity settings |
NURS 5355 | Adult Gerontology Acute Care Clinical Practice 2 | 3 | 11 weeks | Continued clinical experience in the same kinds of settings |
NURS 5640 | Adult Gerontology Acute Care NP Advanced Practicum | 6 | 13 weeks | Clinical preceptorships in selected health practice sites; credit-to-clinical ratio "1:4" |
Prerequisites in the catalog: NURS 5354 requires NURS 5463 Adult Gerontology Acute Care, taken earlier or alongside it, and NURS 5640 requires both NURS 5354 and NURS 5355. Primary care students share your other adult-gerontology didactic course, NURS 5461, titled Adult Gerontology Management Across the Continuum of Care. Hours per course are not listed, which the next section explains.
Clinical hours: what UTA publishes and what it doesn't
The only UTA figure for AGACNP hours is a track total. UTA's AGACNP course list, dated to the 2020-21 academic year and still linked from UTA's program page, reads "41 Semester Credit Hours, 720 Clinical Hours." No current UTA page restates that total or gives hours for NURS 5354, NURS 5355 or NURS 5640 on their own.
The three courses share the 3, 3 and 6 credit pattern of other UTA NP tracks, but UTA has not published matching hours for them, and the catalog's 1:4 ratio for the practicum comes with no explanation of clock hours. The 2020-21 list also names MSN core courses UTA has since replaced, so treat its total as a starting point and take the working number from each course syllabus in Canvas.
The rules on what counts are current. Direct patient care satisfies the national minimum of 500 hours, simulation and observation count only above it, and UTA does not waive hours in any NP track. The clinical hours overview lists every UTA track.
UTA publishes no per-course AGACNP hours. Get the figure for each course from its syllabus before you agree a schedule with a preceptor.
Newer AGACNP course numbers in the 2026-27 catalog
UTA's 2026-27 course inventory lists five adult-gerontology courses that do not appear in the 2026-27 AGACNP degree plan. No UTA source says when, or whether, they replace the current sequence, so treat them as a possible curriculum change to confirm.
| Course | Catalog title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
NURS 5460 | Foundations of Acute and Chronic Care in Adult-Gerontology Practice | 4 |
NURS 5464 | Advanced Concepts in Adult-Gerontology Acute and Critical Care | 4 |
NURS 5454 | Adult Gerontology Acute Care Clinical Practice 1 (NURSC and NURSG versions titled "Foundations of Clinical Practice") | 4 |
NURS 5455 | Adult-Gerontology Acute Care: Advanced Clinical Practice | 4 |
NURS 5560 | Adult-Gerontology Acute Care: Clinical Residency | 5 |
Two details stand out. NURS 5454 carries the same title as today's NURS 5354, and the catalog calls NURS 5560 the "final preceptorship course" and "an immersive clinical experience." The credits differ too: 4, 4 and 5 rather than 3, 3 and 6. The catalog gives no clock hours for any of them.
Check which numbers your own degree plan shows in the MyMav Student Center and which course requests appear in Exxat, and raise any mismatch with MSNadvising@uta.edu, the address UTA gives for degree plan problems. A preceptor you line up should hear the course number and dates you will actually be enrolled in.
The settings and preceptors these courses call for
Every AGACNP clinical course points to acute or specialty care for adolescents through older adults, so your preceptor needs to work where those patients are managed. Publicly, UTA asks every preceptor for a provider license that is active and unencumbered, plus one year or more in the specialty role. The per-course lists of acceptable preceptor types that UTA's FAQ mentions are not published, and no current UTA page says whether physicians or PAs qualify for these courses. UTA preceptor requirements has the detail.
Earlier UTA syllabi said more. A Fall 2018 AGACNP practicum syllabus listed physicians, AGACNPs, ACNPs and master's-prepared PAs as preceptors, wanted at least one rotation with an NP, and considered clinical nurse specialists with prescriptive authority, FNPs and AGNPs only case by case. It also had faculty working with each student to confirm the site was appropriate, and it barred clinical time at any agency without the right affiliation agreement.
The program page on finding an AGACNP preceptor at UTA covers the acute care RN experience rule and the search itself.
Hospital sites add their own steps
Many high-acuity settings sit inside hospital systems, and several publish student rules that run alongside UTA's.
- UT Southwestern: its Office of Advanced Practice Providers places APRN students through an online "APP Student Precept Placement Request." Requests sent by email are denied, and for a fall (August to December) rotation the window is January 1 to March 31.
- Parkland Health: Parkland does not place students directly and sends placement inquiries back to your school.
- Houston Methodist: it offers "select clinical placements for advance practice nursing students" through an emailed request form, due by April 30 for a summer rotation, July 15 for fall and November 13 for spring, and says it is not currently pursuing new affiliations.
UT Southwestern also wants a school attestation letter 30 days before the start and allows up to 30 days to build a student profile. The DFW hospital onboarding guide covers more systems.
Before your first AGACNP clinical day
Hospital onboarding runs alongside UTA's own requirements, not instead of them. Before your first shift in NURS 5354, or in whichever clinical course comes first on your plan, confirm each of these.
- Clearance finished in Exxat, with the background check and drug test done inside the 30-day window before your first clinical course opens.
- A self-placement request in Exxat MyRequest for the course number you are enrolled in.
- Preceptor and site approved by the Clinical Coordinator and/or course faculty.
- An affiliation agreement between UTA and the hospital or agency, plus any contract the site itself asks for.
- The Preceptor Agreement, signed, in the Clinical Coordinator's hands before your first shift.
- If the hospital is also your employer, a plan to stay off your employee login for patient records unless the facility explicitly allows it, as UTA's handbook requires.
Why AGACNP students choose us
For AGACNP courses, the placement desk searches for acute and specialty care preceptors near you whose setting fits the catalog description, and checks their license and experience against UTA's minimums before you submit. For the Clinical Coordinator's review, we help you prepare the preceptor's CV, license verification, agreement forms and a description of the unit or service, and we remain on call if a preceptor withdraws. If a hospital routes students through its own office, as UT Southwestern does, we tell you early so you can plan around its application window.
UTA approves every preceptor, site and agreement, and hospital systems run their own student onboarding; we keep both timelines in front of you from the first week of the search. How it works sets out our part, or send your course number and start date through the form below.
Questions UTA students ask
How many clinical hours is NURS 5354 at UTA?
There is no UTA-published hour figure for NURS 5354, or for NURS 5355 and NURS 5640 separately. The only published number is the 720-hour total on UTA's 2020-21 AGACNP course list. Your course syllabus in Canvas and your course faculty are the sources for the hours you must log in each course.
Can I do AGACNP clinical hours at the hospital where I work?
Yes, with limits. UTA's FAQ allows hours at your employer if they meet the course's clinical focus guidelines, but the hours cannot be in the department where you work, and the person who supervises you now cannot be your preceptor. Earlier AGACNP syllabi went further: no hours on your own unit, and one rotation elsewhere was recommended. You also cannot be paid for clinical hours. More on employer sites.
Do I need acute care RN experience before these courses?
For unconditional admission, UTA's catalog asks for two years of clinical RN experience. The online AGACNP page is more specific: two years of clinical RN experience within the previous five years, in an acute care setting and in the area of concentration. If you are unsure your experience qualifies, ask before you plan clinical courses.
Can I add the AGPCNP certificate after the AGACNP MSN?
UTA's online AGACNP page says an AGPCNP post-master's certificate can be added, that you may then be eligible to sit for two certification exams, and that you can "Save up to 16 credits." The primary care clinical courses are NURS 5352, NURS 5353 and NURS 5645. See post-master's NP certificates for the gap analysis.
Does the AG dual track use the same acute care clinical courses?
Yes. The 2026-27 catalog degree plan for the AG dual track lists NURS 5354, NURS 5355 and NURS 5640 alongside two primary care courses, NURS 5353 and NURS 5645; NURS 5352 is left out. UTA's 2020-21 course list gives the dual track 1,260 clinical hours, and UTA lists it as campus-based. More on the dual NP tracks.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-23
We check these pages against UTA's own sources. UTA's current handbook and your course faculty have the final word.
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