Behind on hours or encounters in a UCCS course

Updated September 25, 2026 · Reviewed by the UCCS Preceptor placement team

Falling behind in a UCCS clinical course usually traces back to three things: hours that started late, hours that do not count, or a site too quiet to meet the encounter minimums. Each has a fix inside UCCS's rules, and each fix takes paperwork time. Here is how to size the gap, the legitimate ways to close it, and how a second preceptor from us fits in.

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55hours FNP and AGNP students may bank, counted only in NURS 6980 Synthesis

20extra NURS 6980 hours possible from on-campus simulation or skills lab

Size the gap before you fix it

Start with two numbers: the hours your course requires for your cohort, and the hours you have that UCCS will actually count. Students who started before Fall 2026 work on 45 hours per credit and later starts on 55, so a primary care course is 90 or 110 hours and Synthesis is 360 or 440. The clinical hours hub and the 630 vs 770 guide list every course.

Then check encounters, which trip up students who have the hours. The FNP and AGNP minimums climb from 75 patients in the first clinical course to 90 in the next and 125 in the third, then settle at about two patients an hour in Synthesis. PMHNP students must log at least 60 patients in each of three groups by graduation: children and adolescents, adults, and geriatric patients. Divide what remains by the weeks left in the term, and you will see whether you face a scheduling problem or a site problem.

Hours that quietly do not count

Plenty of shortfalls come from time that felt like clinical work but falls outside UCCS's rules. The usual culprits:

Anything before the "good to go" email, or while paperwork was still being processed.
Time before the semester started or between semesters.
Anything past 16 hours with a preceptor who never made it onto a processed sheet.
For FNP and AGNP: hospital, inpatient and emergency department time, urgent care before the second rotation, telehealth beyond 45 hours for the whole program, and women's health beyond 45 hours.
Patients missing from Medatrax, or logged without the codes your track requires.

The full rules sit on what counts for FNP and AGNP and what counts for PMHNP. If hours leaked away through one of these, stop the leak first, then add time.

Ways UCCS lets you add hours

Once you know the size of the gap, UCCS's handbooks offer a handful of legitimate levers:

A second preceptor or site this term. It needs its own Clinical Site Sheet with exact hours and, if the site is new, an Affiliation Agreement, which uses one of your three new-agreement slots for the semester (Synthesis is exempt).
More days with your current preceptor, within the caps: FNP and AGNP time with one preceptor or site tops out at 330 hours outside major health systems, and PMHNP at 270 or 440 depending on cohort. Because the site sheet lists exact hours, check with the Academic Services Professional for Graduate Nursing before adding time.
Banked hours for FNP and AGNP: up to 55 across the program, only at your current site, with coordinator approval, and counted only in NURS 6980. PMHNP banking depends on the handbook: none under the 630-hour version, up to 55 under the 770-hour version.
On-campus simulation or skills lab at UCCS, worth as many as 20 additional hours toward NURS 6980, with alternatives through the Option Coordinator for students who cannot travel.
Urgent care from the second rotation onward: up to 110 hours there, plus 110 more in Synthesis.

Banking and simulation help only in Synthesis, so a gap in an earlier course usually calls for more clinic time in that course.

When the site is the problem

If your hours are on pace but your encounters are not, the clinic may see too few patients for the minimums, or too few of the ages your course needs. Watch for this in NURS 6900, where the patients must be children, and in PMHNP rotations that have to reach child, adult and geriatric patients across the program. Adding a second, busier site for part of the term closes that kind of gap faster than extra days at a quiet one.

The same logic applies when a preceptor's schedule shrinks: a preceptor with two clinic days a week may not get you to 110 hours inside the semester. UCCS's rules already allow for more than one preceptor per course, with one site sheet for each, so the three-agreement limit and the paperwork time are the real planning constraints.

If the semester runs out

Sometimes the math cannot close before the term ends. UCCS permits an incomplete if your didactic work is at a passing level and you alert lead faculty along with the Graduate Clinical Practicum Coordinator; the leftover hours then move to the following semester. An incomplete must be cleared within one calendar year or it becomes an F, two incompletes stop progression, and you cannot enter Synthesis with an incomplete in a primary care course.

Keep in mind that a clinical failure sinks the entire course, and a repeat includes redoing the hours, so an incomplete arranged in time is far better than a clinical failure. Read semester rules and incompletes before you ask, and see delayed graduation for how one unfinished course can move the ones after it.

How we help you catch up

Catching up usually means one more preceptor, found quickly, who fits the course and offers real patient volume. We search in the area you can reach, screen against UCCS's rules for your track, and ask about the clinic's patient load and the ages it sees, so the second site closes the encounter gap as well as the hour gap.

You get the details the extra Clinical Site Sheet calls for, hours included, so the paperwork starts right away. UCCS approves the added site as usual, and the sheet you send is filled in correctly from the start. Tell us your course, your cohort and the hours still needed.

Hours logged before UCCS's "good to go" email never count, however badly you need them.

Questions UCCS students ask

Can I make up UCCS clinical hours over winter break?

No. Hours count only during a fall, spring or summer term in which you hold a course registration, and the weeks between terms are off limits. If a course's hours cannot fit, the options are more preceptor time within the term or, if you qualify, an incomplete.

Do banked hours help me in NURS 6915 or NURS 6925?

No. For FNP and AGNP students, banked hours, up to 55 across the program at your current site with coordinator approval, count only in NURS 6980 Synthesis. A shortfall in an earlier primary care course has to be closed with clinic time in that same course.

What happens if I have the hours but miss the encounter minimum?

The handbooks set encounter minimums alongside the hours, so plan to meet both. Tell your lead faculty early and add a busier site if your clinic's volume is low. Accurate logging matters too, since UCCS ties incorrect Medatrax entry to an incomplete grade.

Do telehealth visits count toward my UCCS hours?

For FNP and AGNP, telehealth counts up to 45 hours across the whole program, after a tutorial. PMHNP telehealth counts when you are in the office with the provider, and remote telehealth needs Option Coordinator approval. Neither is a quick way to erase a large shortfall.

Can a second preceptor join partway through the semester?

Yes, once UCCS processes them. Each preceptor needs a Clinical Site Sheet, a new site needs an Affiliation Agreement, and a new agreement counts toward the three allowed per semester outside Synthesis. Start early, because UCCS's legal review may need six to eight weeks, sometimes longer, to clear a first contract with a clinic that raises issues.

HoursClinical hours by programHow many clinical hours each UCCS nursing program requires, 630 or 770 by start term, a course-by-course planner, and the UCCS documents that still say 630.FNP/AGNPWhat counts: FNP and AGNPWhich settings count toward UCCS FNP and AGNP clinical hours: primary care only, women's health, urgent care, specialty clinics, telehealth, caps and banking.SemestersSemester rules and incompletesUCCS clinical hours count only inside a registered fall, spring or summer semester. The between-term gaps, paperwork holds and how incompletes work.Placement helpPreceptor dropped outYour preceptor quit before or during a UCCS clinical course. Protect the hours you have, use UCCS's options and get a replacement preceptor in place.Placement helpDelayed graduationHow a missing preceptor can push back a UCCS nursing graduation: incompletes, Synthesis prerequisites, leave, time limits and getting back on track.

Last checked 2026-09-25

We check these pages against UCCS's catalog, practicum handbooks and college pages. Your degree plan, the handbook for your cohort and the Graduate Clinical Practicum Coordinator have the final word.

UCCS asks you to find your clinical hours where you live. Let us run that search.

Tell us your UCCS track, your next clinical course and where you live. We find preceptors who fit the course and prepare the details your Clinical Site Sheet needs, early enough for the agreement to be signed before the semester.

Preceptors matched to the course: pediatrics for NURS 6900, acute and chronic care for NURS 6915 and NURS 6925, psychiatric prescribers for NURS 6801 to NURS 6803
Credentials, license, certification and the site's signer ready for the Clinical Site Sheet
In Colorado Springs, along the Front Range, or in any of UCCS's approved states

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