TTUHSC's AGACNP clinical courses and the acute care search
TTUHSC's Adult-Gerontology Acute Care NP plan carries four precepted courses: NURS 5460, NURS 5561, NURS 6652 and the NURS 6400 Immersion. The MSN and certificate pages share those numbers but print different weekly clinical figures for them, so this guide works from credits, order and what each rotation needs from an acute care preceptor.
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Four clinical courses, in the order TTUHSC lists them
The catalog's MSN AGACNP plan places all four clinical courses in its population-focus block, each paired with a concurrent clinical section. TTUHSC does not publish the semester each one falls in, so the order below follows the printed plan.
| Course | Title as printed | Credits | On-campus note |
|---|---|---|---|
NURS 5460 | Adult-Gerontology Acute Care I | 4 | On-campus skills lab |
NURS 5561 | Adult-Gerontology Acute Care II | 5 | On-campus skills lab |
NURS 6652 | Adult-Gerontology Acute Care Practicum | 6 | On-campus skills lab |
NURS 6400 | Adult Gerontology Acute Care Immersion | 4 | On-campus skills lab |
NURS 5410 Essentials of Acute Care, a 4-credit course with no clinical section, sits in the same block ahead of the clinical courses in the printed list. The full 47-credit plan, admission rules and track details are in the MSN AGACNP guide.
What comes before NURS 5460
The first acute care rotation sits on a stack of prerequisites. The catalog plan lists NURS 5220 Critical Care Pharmacology, NURS 5329, NURS 5343 and NURS 5345, plus NURS 5430, the health assessment and diagnostic reasoning course with its required campus intensive. The core block adds NURS 5324, NURS 5351 and NURS 5353.
Two gates shape the preceptor calendar. TTUHSC wants ACLS in hand ahead of any population-focus clinical course, so the card must be valid the day NURS 5460 begins. And because TTUHSC prints no semester for that first rotation, confirm it with your program director early; the first clinical course guide shows how timing works across TTUHSC programs. If the intensive and the first rotation land close together, build the campus travel days into what you ask of a preceptor.
The weekly-hours conflict between two TTUHSC pages
TTUHSC prints the AGACNP clinical courses on two web pages, the MSN track and the post-graduate certificate, and their weekly clinical figures differ for three of the four courses. Only the Immersion reads the same on both. Neither page states a total for the track.
TTUHSC does not explain the difference. The catalog does say NP clinical courses shift to 4.25 clock hours per clinical credit starting in Summer or Fall 2026, with the timing set track by track, and that shift may account for part of it, although the figures do not line up neatly with any single ratio. The 1-to-4.25 guide explains the ratio itself.
For the hours you owe a preceptor each week, go to the syllabus and course faculty for the section you are enrolled in. The catalog is TTUHSC's official plan, and faculty settle what a given section requires.
Two TTUHSC pages list different weekly clinical hours for the same AGACNP courses: take your figure from the course syllabus, not from either web table.
Acute care settings and what hospitals ask of students
The admission rule sets the tone: applicants must bring a year or more of RN work from the last five years in an ICU, an emergency department or flight nursing. The course titles point to acute care practice, and TTUHSC's graduate FAQ ties every preceptor to the requirements of each clinical course, so course faculty decide which units and services qualify for which course.
Hospitals layer their own steps on top of TTUHSC's. Covenant Health in Lubbock is a clear example: no student rotation starts there until the school holds an affiliation agreement with Covenant, the student is the one who finds the preceptor, and the rotation application, a supervising professional agreement signed with that preceptor and an online orientation certificate are due no later than two weeks before day one. An example like this describes one hospital's process, not an open seat.
Since TTUHSC and the facility both need an agreement on file, hospital rotations reward an early start. The affiliation agreements guide covers the facility side.
Planning four rotations: approvals, agreements and campus days
Every AGACNP clinical course runs its own approval cycle. The School of Nursing has to clear the acute care clinician and the hospital or service alike, and a new electronic agreement goes in for each preceptor every term, even one who stays with you from the semester before. The electronic preceptor agreement guide lists what to gather.
Treat the search as a sequence rather than four separate scrambles. Ask course faculty early whether a preceptor from Acute Care I can continue into Acute Care II, and what the Practicum and the Immersion will expect, so each request to a hospital covers the right dates. Each clinical course also carries a campus skills lab; across the whole program, MSN NP tracks add up to 7 to 8 days on campus, and OSCEs take place in Lubbock. The intensives and OSCEs guide covers the travel.
Certificate students take the same four courses
The post-graduate AGACNP certificate uses the same population-focus courses, NURS 5460, NURS 5561, NURS 6652 and NURS 6400, inside a plan of up to 38 credits. TTUHSC individualizes each post-graduate plan, so earlier coursework can shorten the path to the first rotation. Certificate applicants also need a recent year of acute care, ICU or ER nursing, plus ACLS before clinical work starts. Ask for your individualized plan in writing before you contact hospitals, since its semester order sets the dates in every preceptor request.
TTUHSC has no AGACNP track in its BSN to DNP, which offers Family NP and Psychiatric Mental Health NP only. Certificate admission and planning are in the post-graduate certificates guide.
Why AGACNP students choose us for acute care rotations
Acute care placements take the most legwork of any NP track, and that legwork is exactly what we take on. Your placement advisor maps all four courses against your plan of study, then searches hospitals and acute care services near home for preceptors who fit each course, checking at the outset whether the facility already has an agreement with TTUHSC or will need one.
Ahead of every term we put the approval packet together: the acute care clinician's license, certification and practice setting, the hospital's details and where its TTUHSC agreement stands, the fields the electronic agreement requires, and the hospital's own onboarding checklist. Approval itself rests with TTUHSC's staff and faculty, and we see to it that the packet in front of them is whole and matches TTUHSC's rules on the first pass. When a unit or preceptor withdraws, a fresh search is underway that day. Send your track and target term through the form below.
Questions TTUHSC students ask
What weekly hours does NURS 5460 require at TTUHSC?
TTUHSC's MSN and certificate pages print different weekly figures for NURS 5460, and likewise for NURS 5561 and NURS 6652, so neither table settles it. Your syllabus and course faculty give the number for your section and semester. No total clinical-hour figure for the AGACNP track appears anywhere TTUHSC publishes.
What is NURS 6400 in the TTUHSC AGACNP plan?
NURS 6400 is the Adult Gerontology Acute Care Immersion, a 4-credit course that pairs a clinical section with a campus skills lab. Both the MSN track and the certificate include it. TTUHSC has not published which semester it occupies, so confirm where it sits in your plan of study with your program director.
Do I need ACLS before my first AGACNP clinical at TTUHSC?
Yes. ACLS must be current before NURS 5460 Adult-Gerontology Acute Care I, the first population-focus course with a clinical section, and BLS applies to all TTUHSC students. Renew both on schedule through the Immersion, because an expired card partway through the sequence can hold up a later rotation.
Is there an AGACNP path through TTUHSC's BSN to DNP?
Not in the 2026-27 catalog. TTUHSC's BSN to DNP runs Family NP and Psychiatric Mental Health NP tracks only. Adult-gerontology acute care students enter through the MSN track or the post-graduate certificate, and both rest on the same four clinical courses, from NURS 5460 to the NURS 6400 Immersion.
Could my own ICU host one of my AGACNP rotations?
TTUHSC's handbook sets a workplace rule only for undergraduates, who need Program Director permission to count hours on their home unit. No published rule covers graduate students, so raise it with course faculty before you plan a rotation at your employer. The workplace clinicals guide covers what to ask and when.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-26
We check these pages against TTUHSC's catalog, Student Handbook, program pages and licensure disclosures. Your course faculty, your program director and the plan of study for your cohort have the final word.
- TTUHSC 2026-27 Catalog: Adult-Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner Track, MSN
- TTUHSC MSN Adult-Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner
- TTUHSC Post-Graduate Adult-Gerontology Acute Care NP Certificate
- TTUHSC 2026-27 Catalog: Nursing, MSN (credit-to-clock ratios)
- Covenant Health: Clinical Rotation Students
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