Loyola New Orleans AGACNP certificate: 500 hours and two open questions
The Post-Graduate Certificate in Adult-Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner at Loyola University New Orleans requires at least 500 practicum hours across three acute care courses of 180, 180 and 140 hours. Loyola's sources disagree on two basics, how the certificate is delivered and how many credits it carries, and both affect how you plan your practicums. Here is what each source says and how to settle it for your own plan.
Get your placement plan
Tell us your Loyola program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with the preceptor and site options that fit your Loyola course.
The certificate in brief
The certificate is Loyola's post-graduate route to AGACNP national certification, and AACN has verified its curriculum for the ACNPC-AG exam. Fall, Spring or Summer can be your first term, and the bulletin wants at least 9 credits earned at Loyola.
The practicums use the same course numbers as the BSN-DNP AGACNP with smaller hour targets. The first comes in term 3 of the posted plan, so the certificate moves quickly: two terms before any clinical work, then three acute care practicums in a row.
| Term | Course | Minimum hours |
|---|---|---|
| Summer I (term 3) | NURS G902 Adult-Gerontology Acute Care Practicum I | 180 |
| Fall II | NURS G904 Adult-Gerontology Acute Care Practicum II | 180 |
| Spring II | NURS G907 Adult-Gerontology Acute Care Practicum III | 140 |
| Total | Three acute care practicums | 500 |
What each course expects on shifts, Prism logs and evaluations is on the AGACNP practicums page.
Around those three courses, the process matches Loyola's other NP tracks: compliance items approved in Exxat, the site checked for an affiliation agreement, a Wishlist request with the preceptor's documents, and Placement Approved before any hour counts. Loyola gives graduate nursing students five years from their first course to complete, and that includes this certificate.
Open question one: hybrid or online
Read the 2026-27 bulletin and the certificate is hybrid, meeting on campus for an intensive every semester. Loyola's certificate program page calls it online and asynchronous. Both are current Loyola sources, and from a student's point of view they describe two different experiences.
The difference reaches past travel. If intensives apply, you are in New Orleans once each semester, including terms when you are logging acute care shifts back home, and your preceptor's schedule has to leave room for those days. If your cohort is fully online, your only in-person obligations are the practicum hours themselves.
Ask the AGAC Program Director which description applies to your start term, and keep the answer by email before you plan your first practicum. The campus intensives page explains how intensives work in Loyola's hybrid tracks.
Open question two: 18 credits or up to 27
The bulletin and the program page list 18 credits, built from 2-credit theory courses and 1-credit practicum courses. The posted plan of study instead lists 18 to 27 credits, with 3-credit theory and 3-credit practicum courses.
Credit counts shape what you register for each term and what you pay, so the gap is worth resolving early. The hours stay the same in both versions: 180, 180 and 140, for 500. Your own plan of study, confirmed with the program director, is the version to schedule and budget around.
This is one of several places where Loyola's nursing documents differ on figures. The clinical hours page brings the conflicting hour figures together across programs, so you can see which ones touch your track.
Where the practicums happen, and which states allow them
Loyola places the certificate's hours near home. The bulletin's AGACNP certificate entry uses the same home-area wording as its other certificate entries, the certificate page says the 500 hours are done with qualified preceptors in your local area, and the AGACNP Practicum Guide has you obtain your preceptor's schedule and set your own shifts.
Location raises a state question as well. The School of Nursing State Approvals Map restricts California to the FNP program, while Loyola's advanced practice licensure table lists California as meeting requirements with no note. The table notes that Arizona practicums are approved for FNP only for now, yet the map shows Arizona open to all programs. Students outside Louisiana should read the licensure disclosures and confirm their state with the School of Nursing before they search.
Licensing follows the usual graduate rule: an active RN license wherever your practicum hours happen, and a Louisiana or multistate license throughout enrollment. If you are already an APRN, keep that certification current.
Planning three back-to-back practicums
With practicums in Summer I, Fall II and Spring II, there is no gap between them, and each search overlaps the practicum before it. Acute care sites are mostly hospitals, which often run their own student processes alongside Loyola's, so check the affiliation agreement first: sites already under a Loyola agreement move quickly, while a hospital that insists on its own contract can hold things up for months (the affiliation agreements page explains that review).
- Term 1Settle delivery and credits with the AGAC Program Director and clear your Exxat compliance items.
- Term 2, by mid-FebruarySummer sessions open in mid-May, so the
NURS G902request should be in motion three months earlier. - Start of Summer I, by mid-MayFall classes begin in mid-August, so the
NURS G904request starts moving just as your first practicum does. - Fall II, by mid-October
NURS G907carries only 140 hours, but it still needs a full, approved placement before its first shift in January.
Why AGACNP certificate students choose us
If you are moving into acute care from another specialty, your contacts may sit in the wrong setting. We find acute care preceptors in your area who can supervise under Loyola's rules, check whether each hospital already has a Loyola agreement or its own student process, and sequence all three searches so every site is approved before its term.
If your cohort does come to campus, we put those intensive dates on the same calendar as your shift plan, so each preceptor schedules around the days you will be in New Orleans instead of discovering the conflict mid-term.
Each placement reaches you with the Wishlist fields ready and the three preceptor uploads attached (CV, Nursys license PDF, Preceptor Agreement with signature), which gives the Clinical Practicum Coordinator and faculty one clean file to review. If a preceptor pulls out mid-term, the replacement search starts immediately. Share your start term and city in the form below.
Questions Loyola students ask
How many clinical hours is Loyola's AGACNP certificate?
At least 500: NURS G902 and NURS G904 at 180 hours each and NURS G907 at 140. The BSN-DNP AGACNP uses the same three courses at a minimum of 250 hours each, so check that your plan of study shows the certificate figures before you tell a preceptor how many hours you need from them.
Can I start the AGACNP certificate in summer?
Yes. Loyola lists Fall, Spring and Summer starts for the certificate. In the posted plan the first practicum, NURS G902, falls in term 3; a different start term shifts which calendar term that is, so map your practicum terms with the program director and begin each search at least three months before its term.
Can I complete the AGACNP certificate from California?
Loyola's two state sources disagree. The School of Nursing State Approvals Map restricts California to the FNP program, while the advanced practice licensure table lists California as meeting requirements with no note. Until the School of Nursing confirms your situation in writing, treat an AGACNP practicum in California as unconfirmed and ask before you apply or search.
Who approves my AGACNP preceptor?
Loyola's placement process runs through Exxat. You submit the Wishlist with your preceptor's details, upload the CV, license and Preceptor Agreement, and no shift counts until the full request shows Placement Approved. Procedures that are invasive stay with your preceptor of record, the one whose agreement sits in Prism, so name the right person.
What happens if I fall behind on hours in an AGACNP practicum?
If midterm arrives and you have logged less than half your hours, the AGACNP Practicum Guide calls for an action plan, and hours left over at term's end mean an Incomplete. Loyola's Incomplete rules then set when the remaining work is due, so talk to your course faculty as soon as a preceptor's schedule slips.
Does Loyola's malpractice coverage apply to AGACNP certificate practicums?
Loyola's School of Nursing carries malpractice coverage for the hours you log in a practicum and tells students a separate policy is unnecessary. That protection stops at the practicum, so outside work is not included. For hospitals that want proof, the graduate resources page posts certificates of liability insurance you can point their student office to before day one.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-25
We check these pages against Loyola's own bulletin, program pages, practicum guides, forms and licensure disclosures. Your plan of study, your practicum guide, your program director and the Clinical Practicum Coordinator have the final word.
Loyola asks you to select your own preceptor and site. We make that the easy part.
Tell us your Loyola program, where you live and which term your next practicum starts. We find preceptors whose patients fit the course, check whether the site already has a Loyola affiliation agreement, and prepare everything your Exxat Wishlist needs.
- Preceptors matched to the course: outpatient primary care for
NURS G823, pediatrics and obstetrics forNURS G829, acute care forNURS G902, psychiatric care forNURS G856 - Preceptor CV, license and Nursys PDF, the Preceptor Agreement and the site's signer details ready for the Wishlist
- In your own community, in Louisiana or any state where Loyola approves your practicum
Start your placement plan
Program, city and term is all we need to begin.