NURS 6730: the first 45 clinical hours of your UCCS NP program
NURS 6730 Advanced Health Assessment is where UCCS graduate students first work beside a preceptor: 45 hours in a primary care setting, the same figure whether you started before Fall 2026 or after. Those hours sit outside the 630 or 770 practicum total, and our placement desk finds a qualifying primary care preceptor where you live so they start on time.
Find my NURS 6730 preceptor
Tell us your state, your start term and the semester you take NURS 6730.
Where NURS 6730 falls in your degree plan
The catalog lists a single prerequisite for NURS 6730: graduate nursing status. It belongs to the advanced practice core alongside NURS 6740 Advanced Pathophysiology and NURS 6280 Clinical Pharmacotherapeutics, and every FNP and AGNP primary care course after it names that core as a prerequisite. In practice, the health assessment hours always come before your first population rotation.
UCCS publishes no semester-by-semester sequence. The degree plan UCCS issues to you at admission sets the term. Ahead of the course, the college sends badge and Medatrax instructions; Medatrax is also where your compliance documents live.
The course reaches past the MSN. RN to MSN students take it once the NURS 4460 bridge is behind them, BSN to DNP students take it within the advanced practice core, and the PMHNP handbooks list its 45 hours "if on your degree plan." For Post-Graduate Certificate students, a GAP analysis of earlier master's work decides whether it is required; those who skip it get the badge and Medatrax steps before their first rotation instead.
45 hours for both cohorts
The Fall 2026 change raised the practicum total from 630 to 770 hours, yet it left NURS 6730 untouched. The FNP/AGNP handbook says the health assessment hours are "not included in 630/770," so they sit on top of whichever total your start term sets.
| Your start term | NURS 6730 hours | Practicum hours in later courses | Hours per practicum credit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Before Fall 2026 | 45 | 630 | 45 |
| Fall 2026 or later | 45 | 770 | 55 |
Across a 16-week fall or spring semester, 45 hours works out to roughly three a week; squeezed into the 8-week summer it would be closer to six (our arithmetic, not UCCS guidance). Whether any graduate clinical course is offered in summer is not public, so compare the schedule with your degree plan. Both cohorts also follow the same setting rules in this course, covered below. The 630 vs 770 guide shows which total applies to you.
Settings that count here, and four that do not
The catalog's course entry calls for primary care hours and lists the exclusions word for word: "No ED, Urgent Care, SNF, Specialty Clinics." The FNP/AGNP handbook adds that inpatient hours never count, and neither does rounding on hospital patients.
A quick test for a NURS 6730 site
- Counts: an outpatient primary care practice, such as a family medicine office, an internal medicine office or a community health clinic.
- Does not count: an emergency department or an ED fast-track area.
- Does not count: urgent care, even though later rotations allow some.
- Does not count: a skilled nursing facility, even though AGNP students may log facility hours later.
- Does not count: a specialty clinic such as dermatology or cardiology.
- Does not count: hospital units, or hospital rounds made with a primary care provider.
Urgent care opens up later in the FNP and AGNP programs, but the catalog rules it out for NURS 6730, so a health assessment site has to be true primary care.
Who can precept your health assessment hours
FNP and AGNP students may train with an NP, MD, DO or PA who holds a license in the state where the hours happen and has two years of experience. Any NP must hold national certification and full prescriptive authority. UCCS suggests logging 200 or more hours with NPs over the program, and a certified NP in NURS 6730 gets that count moving early.
The relationship limits apply from the first hour. A relative or close friend cannot serve as your preceptor, and a workplace of yours or of a relative is out; your own employer qualifies only at a separate location or unit that the Graduate Clinical Practicum Coordinator approves. The workplace and family rules cover the edge cases.
A preceptor who supervises more than 24 of your hours fills out an evaluation in Medatrax that feeds your grade, and UCCS gives preceptors documentation of the hours they precepted. The full credential list is on the preceptor requirements page.
Before the first hour: the UCCS paperwork
No hour counts until UCCS has signed off. A 45-hour course runs through the same approval chain as a 440-hour one, so the lead time is the same too.
- Line up the preceptorThe handbooks say to begin 3 to 6 months before the course. UCCS cannot hand out lists of contracted sites, though the Clinical Practicum Coordinator can be asked for help.
- Send the Clinical Site SheetOne typed sheet per site and preceptor, with an exact hour count such as 45, or two exact figures that total 45 if you split the course. See the site sheet guide.
- Let the agreement finishUCCS writes the Affiliation Agreement and preceptor letter; if legal questions come up, a new agreement may need 6 to 8 weeks or more.
- Clear complianceBackground check, drug screen, immunizations, BLS and health insurance go into Medatrax; a missing item keeps you from starting hours.
- Start after "good to go"Hours begin only once the email confirms the contract and letter are signed, and only during a term in which you are registered.
Past 16 hours, work with a preceptor absent from a processed site sheet no longer counts, so update the sheet if anything changes.
How we set up NURS 6730 for UCCS students
Your first clinical course is where a strong start pays off. The placement desk searches primary care practices where you live, confirms the setting is outpatient primary care and clear of the catalog's exclusions, and checks your preceptor's license, national certification and experience before you commit.
Next we collect every item UCCS needs: who the preceptor is and which credentials, license and certification they hold, the practice's details, the name of whoever can legally sign for the site, and the exact hours. Your Clinical Site Sheet then reaches the college complete, early and in the form it expects. Approval stays with UCCS, and our part is a file that fits its rules on the first pass.
Where it helps, we favor a practice that could host you again for a later primary care rotation, and your placement advisor stays on call all semester. Read how it works, or start with the form at the bottom of this page.
Questions UCCS students ask
Do NURS 6730 hours count toward the 630 or 770 total?
No. The FNP/AGNP handbook adds the 45 health assessment hours on top of the total your start term sets. Counting NURS 6730, a student who started before Fall 2026 completes 675 supervised hours in all, and a Fall 2026 or later starter completes 815 (our arithmetic from the handbook figures).
Can a physician assistant precept NURS 6730?
Yes. The FNP/AGNP handbook accepts PAs, along with NPs, MDs and DOs, provided the preceptor holds a license in your rotation state and has two years in practice. UCCS advises that NPs supervise 200 or more of your program hours, and later rotations can cover that.
Is NURS 6730 taught on campus?
The MSN is delivered online with no required campus visits, and your 45 hours happen with a preceptor where you live. The handbook does let up to 20 hours of on-campus simulation or skills lab count, but only in NURS 6980 Synthesis, not in the health assessment course.
Do post-master's certificate students have to take NURS 6730?
Only if the GAP analysis calls for it. UCCS reviews each certificate student's earlier master's coursework, and the resulting plan may or may not include Advanced Health Assessment. When it is left out, badge and Medatrax setup instructions arrive ahead of your first rotation. The certificate guide explains the GAP analysis.
What if my NURS 6730 preceptor cancels partway through?
Let your lead faculty know right away, along with the Graduate Clinical Practicum Coordinator. A replacement needs its own site sheet and possibly a new agreement, and hours with them count only after that paperwork clears. As long as your didactic grade is passing, an incomplete gives you the next semester to finish. Our dropped preceptor page walks through the options.
Related pages
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 forNURS 6915andNURS 6925, psychiatric prescribers forNURS 6801toNURS 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
Start your placement plan
Your program, city and next clinical semester is all we need to begin.