NURS 6950: geriatric primary care for UCCS AGNP students
NURS 6950 Primary Care of Geriatric Patients and Families is the AGNP course that takes the place of the Family NP pediatric rotation. It runs 90 hours for the pre-Fall 2026 cohort and 110 for anyone who began in Fall 2026 or after, and it is one of only two AGNP courses where assisted living and skilled nursing hours can count.
Find my geriatric preceptor
Tell us your state, start term and whether you want facility hours in NURS 6950.
NURS 6950 in the AGNP track
NURS 6950 is the course that sets the Adult-Gerontology track apart. AGNP students take it where FNP students take pediatrics, and the remaining clinical courses are shared: NURS 6730, NURS 6915, NURS 6925, NURS 6982 if your plan includes it, and NURS 6980. UCCS names the track slightly differently across documents; the MSN AGNP guide sorts out the labels.
It is a 5-credit course, and you reach it only after the whole 6000-level MSN core plus Advanced Health Assessment, Pathophysiology and Pharmacotherapeutics. The catalog does not fix its place among the primary care courses, so your degree plan decides whether geriatrics opens your rotations or comes later. Synthesis lists it as a prerequisite, and you cannot enter NURS 6980 while NURS 6950 is incomplete.
BSN to DNP and RN to MSN students on the AGNP track take it as well, and Adult-Gerontology certificate students take it when their GAP analysis calls for the track's clinical courses.
Hours for each start term
Geriatrics carries 90 or 110 hours depending on when you began the program, not when you take the course. The pre-Fall 2026 cohort earns one practicum credit per 45 hours; everyone after that earns one per 55.
| Start term | NURS 6950 hours | Hours per practicum credit | Site visit due after (our arithmetic) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Before Fall 2026 | 90 | 45 | about 45 hours |
| Fall 2026 or later | 110 | 55 | about 55 hours |
The handbook's patient-log minimum rises with each clinical course, 75, then 90, then 125, so a geriatric rotation late in your sequence needs a practice with steady volume. Record each patient in Medatrax, coding the diagnosis (ICD-10), the procedure (CPT) and the visit level (E/M). The clinical hours hub shows how this course fits the full AGNP total.
Once a preceptor has spent over 24 hours with you, they complete a Medatrax evaluation, and the site visitor's review, due once you pass the halfway point, counts toward the grade as well.
Assisted living, skilled nursing and hospice hours
This is where settings beyond the clinic open up for AGNP students. The handbook allows up to 110 hours in assisted living or a skilled nursing facility, counted in NURS 6950 or NURS 6980, and it names 55 hours of outpatient hospice for AGNP students; ask lead faculty which course those belong in. The catalog barred skilled nursing from NURS 6730, so this is the earliest course where facility hours can count.
What counts in NURS 6950
- Geriatric or adult primary care in an outpatient office or clinic.
- Visits in assisted living or a skilled nursing facility with your preceptor, within the 110-hour AGNP facility allowance.
- Outpatient hospice, which the handbook singles out for AGNP students.
- Women's health, which may sit in any rotation except pediatrics, toward the required 30 to 45 hours.
- Not counted: hospital admissions, hospital rounds or any inpatient unit, even when your preceptor covers them.
- Not counted here: specialty clinics, including the adult pulmonology UCCS allows AGNP students, which wait for Synthesis.
The 110-hour assisted living and skilled nursing allowance can be used in NURS 6950 or NURS 6980, so decide early where you want those hours to land.
Choosing a geriatric preceptor
Any AGNP preceptor type works: an NP holding national certification and full prescriptive authority, a physician (MD or DO) or a physician assistant, each with two years of experience and a license from the state where the rotation happens. A geriatrician, an internist with an older panel, a family physician, or an adult-gerontology or family NP in a practice that sees many older adults are all natural fits.
Facility work adds a wrinkle. Clinicians who follow patients across several assisted living communities or nursing facilities may practice at more than one site, and UCCS expects a separate Clinical Site Sheet for each site and preceptor pairing. Each new site can also mean a new Affiliation Agreement, and outside Synthesis only three new agreements may be submitted per semester. Settle which facilities you will actually attend before the sheet goes in.
The relationship limits carry over too: family members and close friends cannot precept you, and a facility where you or a relative works is off the table unless it is another location or unit of your employer and the coordinator signs off. See preceptor requirements.
Getting the site approved in time
Begin 3 to 6 months before the semester, as the handbook advises, and aim to send the site sheet earlier than the semester before the course. The college keeps its roster of contracted sites private, although its Clinical Practicum Coordinator is available for questions. The handbook steers students toward classmates further along, local advanced practice groups, nursing faculty in their state and community health clinics. From your sheet, the college prepares the Affiliation Agreement and preceptor letter, and new agreements can stretch to 6 to 8 weeks or more when legal issues surface.
Sites may add requirements of their own, such as immunizations beyond UCCS's list, and some require a myClinicalExchange account that the college flags when it processes your sheet. Hours start only after the "good to go" email and never between semesters. The lead time guide lays out a working timeline.
How we place AGNP students in NURS 6950
Geriatric primary care is a specialty search, and we run it as one. The placement desk looks for practices where you live whose panels lean toward older adults and, where it serves your plan, preceptors who also see patients in assisted living or skilled nursing, so you can use part of the AGNP facility allowance.
We confirm every credential UCCS checks, then assemble the site sheet details: the preceptor's name, credentials, license and certification, each site's information, the person with authority to sign agreements, and an exact 90 or 110 hours. UCCS makes the approval decision; we make sure the file it reviews is complete and correct from the start.
We keep Synthesis in view too, so your facility hours and single-preceptor totals leave room for the final rotation. If a preceptor withdraws, your placement advisor begins lining up a replacement at once. The form below starts your search, or read how it works first.
Questions UCCS students ask
Do FNP students take NURS 6950?
No. Family NP students take NURS 6900 pediatrics instead. FNP students still gain older-adult experience later: the handbook encourages 55 hours of long-term care and 55 of hospice or palliative care in NURS 6980 Synthesis. The Synthesis guide explains how those hours fit.
Can I do all of NURS 6950 in a skilled nursing facility?
On paper the 110-hour facility allowance matches the largest version of this course, but NURS 6950 is still a primary care course and the same allowance is also available in Synthesis. Check the idea with your course's lead faculty, and with the Graduate Clinical Practicum Coordinator, before building a whole rotation around one facility.
Can a geriatrician precept NURS 6950?
Yes. Physicians, MD or DO, qualify as AGNP preceptors provided they hold a license in your rotation state and bring two years of practice. Because UCCS advises spending 200 or more program hours with NPs, pair a physician-led geriatric rotation with NP preceptors in your other courses.
Do post-graduate certificate students take NURS 6950?
Adult-Gerontology certificate students use the same NP clinical courses as the MSN track, and NURS 6950 is one of them. The GAP analysis of your earlier master's work sets your final course list, so check it before you start the search. The certificate guide covers how that review works.
Are telehealth visits allowed in NURS 6950?
Some, within a firm limit. Across the entire FNP or AGNP program, no more than 45 telehealth hours count, and only after a tutorial. If your geriatric preceptor runs video follow-ups, track those hours so you keep room for later courses. The FNP and AGNP counting rules list every cap.
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
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