Loyola AGACNP practicums: NURS G902, G904 and G907
Loyola University New Orleans trains adult-gerontology acute care NPs through three practicums: NURS G902, NURS G904 and NURS G907. BSN-DNP students complete at least 250 hours in each, while certificate and dual-track students complete 180, 180 and 140. Here is what each term asks of you and your preceptor, from planning shifts to logging every case in Exxat Prism.
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.
Three practicums and the hours each track owes
The three acute care practicums run in consecutive terms, starting in term 3 (Summer I) on every posted AGACNP plan. What changes between tracks is the hour target, so read the column for your own program before you ask a preceptor for time.
| Course | BSN-DNP AGACNP | Post-Graduate Certificate | Dual AGACNP/Nurse Anesthesia |
|---|---|---|---|
NURS G902 Practicum I | 250 minimum, Summer I | 180 minimum, Summer I | 180, Summer I |
NURS G904 Practicum II | 250 minimum, Fall II | 180 minimum, Fall II | 180, Fall II |
NURS G907 Practicum III | 250 minimum, Spring II | 140 minimum, Spring II | 140, Spring III |
| Acute care total | 750 | 500 | 500 |
BSN-DNP students then add 540 hours in the three DNP Scholarly Project practicums, which brings the program to 1,290. In the dual program, the 500 acute care hours sit inside a 3,440-hour plan that also carries 2,400 anesthesia hours.
Loyola's certificate sources disagree on two points. The bulletin and program page describe an 18-credit certificate with 2-credit theory courses and 1-credit practicums, while the posted certificate plan lists 3-credit practicums and 18 to 27 credits. The bulletin also calls the certificate hybrid with campus intensives, and the program page calls it online and asynchronous. Your gap analysis settles it, with the AGAC Program Director and Loyola's Clinical Practicum Coordinator as the people to ask.
Securing an acute care site and preceptor
For certificate students, the bulletin sets practicum work with preceptors practicing near the student's home, and the certificate page describes the 500 hours as completed with qualified preceptors locally. BSN-DNP students should confirm with the AGAC Program Director how sites are arranged for their cohort.
Either way, the placement runs through Loyola's Exxat process. No hours count until the request shows Placement Approved and the hospital's affiliation agreement is signed. A hospital that rewrites Loyola's standard contract, or insists on its own, can hold up approval for months, so have a fallback site moving at the same time.
Inside the site, the AGACNP guide limits invasive procedures to your preceptor of record, who must have a preceptor agreement on file in Prism. You may also spend time with interventional radiology, radiology and ultrasound providers. At a Louisiana hospital, two state board limits apply as well. The majority of your graduate clinical hours belong with an acute care APRN licensed and certified in that population, and no preceptor can take on more than a pair of graduate APRN students in the same clinical experience (see Louisiana preceptor rules).
Planning shifts around your preceptor's schedule
The AGACNP Practicum Guide puts scheduling in your hands: get your preceptor's schedule, then arrange your own clinical shifts to match it. Shifts can run 4, 6, 8 or 12 hours, and weekend and holiday shifts are allowed, which gives you room when your preceptor's week does not line up with yours.
What the hour targets look like in shifts
- 250 hours: about 21 twelve-hour shifts or 32 eight-hour shifts
- 180 hours: 15 twelve-hour shifts or about 23 eight-hour shifts
- 140 hours: about 12 twelve-hour shifts or 18 eight-hour shifts
Spread those shifts across the whole term rather than packing them into the last weeks, because the midterm evaluation measures how far along you are. Before the first shift, check with the School of Nursing's Academic Advisor that you are registered, since the guide notes some students are registered automatically, and watch the Exxat how-to video posted in the Canvas course for Practicum I. The guide also lists a StatPearls subscription among the costs AGACNP students carry.
Logging time and cases in Exxat Prism
Every AGACNP shift ends with documentation. The guide asks you to log your time and your cases in Exxat Prism before you leave the site, not later that evening from memory. Case entries cover the patient visit, any procedures, and the ICD-10 and CPT codes that go with them.
Before you walk out after each shift
- Enter the hours worked in Prism while your preceptor is still on the unit
- Record each case: the visit, procedures performed, ICD-10 and CPT codes
- Keep your time sheet current and get your preceptor's signature on it
- Note questions for your course faculty, who approve your clinical logs
Your preceptor's signature on each time sheet and your faculty's approval of each clinical log are what turn shifts into counted hours, so a missing signature can leave real work off your total. Our Exxat Prism guide covers the rest of the system, from Required Documents to evaluations.
Midterm checks, final evaluations and site visits
Your preceptor receives two evaluations by email through Exxat Prism: one at midterm and one two weeks before the term ends. The midterm point matters for you as well. A student who has completed less than half of the term's hours by midterm must file an action plan, and hours still missing when the term closes require an Incomplete grade (see Incompletes, leave and time limits).
Faculty visit AGACNP sites yearly. Sites beyond a 90-minute drive of New Orleans get their visit over Zoom, so a practicum elsewhere in Louisiana or in another approved state still gets a faculty check-in. The affiliation agreement itself gives Loyola faculty the right to visit.
Each semester also brings one campus intensive devoted to hands-on clinical skills; our campus intensives page shows how they sit alongside practicum weeks.
Book enough shifts in the first half of the term to pass the 50% mark by midterm; falling short triggers a required action plan.
Why AGACNP students choose us
Acute care preceptors are hard to line up from a distance, and three back-to-back practicums mean the search never really stops. We run it for you: acute care preceptors in hospital settings near where you live, matched to the hours your track requires and a shift pattern you can keep.
Before anything reaches Loyola, we confirm whether the hospital already has a Loyola affiliation agreement or will need one, and we assemble everything the Exxat Wishlist asks for, from the agency's legal signer to your preceptor's Nursys verification, CV and signed agreement. We plan NURS G904 and NURS G907 while you are still in NURS G902, so the next site is moving through Exxat three months ahead. Should your preceptor leave partway through a term, we begin looking for a replacement immediately.
Loyola's placement office and faculty hold the approval; we hand them requests that are complete and built to Loyola's rules from the start. Tell us about your practicum or read how it works.
Questions Loyola students ask
How many clinical hours does Loyola's AGACNP program require?
It depends on the track. The BSN-DNP AGACNP totals 1,290 hours: at least 250 in each of the three acute care practicums plus 540 in the DNP Scholarly Project courses. The Post-Graduate Certificate requires 500 acute care hours split 180, 180 and 140. In the dual AGACNP/Nurse Anesthesia program, the same 500 acute care hours sit inside a 3,440-hour total.
Can I work 12-hour shifts in a Loyola acute care practicum?
Yes. The AGACNP Practicum Guide lists 4-, 6-, 8- and 12-hour shifts as options and allows weekend and holiday shifts. You build the schedule yourself from your preceptor's calendar. Twelve-hour shifts reach a 250-hour target in about 21 shifts, which leaves more days open for work and family, though your preceptor's schedule and your course faculty decide what fits.
Can AGACNP students perform procedures during practicum?
Invasive procedures are allowed only with your preceptor of record, and that preceptor must have a preceptor agreement on file in Exxat Prism. The guide also allows time with interventional radiology, radiology and ultrasound providers, which broadens procedure exposure. If you want hands-on time with another clinician at the site, raise it with your course faculty before the shift.
Is the Loyola AGACNP certificate online or hybrid?
Loyola's sources differ. In the 2026-27 bulletin, the certificate is hybrid, with a campus intensive each semester; its program page instead lists it as online and asynchronous. The bulletin and page also list 18 credits while the posted plan says 18 to 27. Ask the AGAC Program Director which description governs your plan before you set travel or work schedules.
Which certification exam does Loyola's AGACNP curriculum prepare for?
Loyola says its AGACNP programs prepare graduates for adult-gerontology acute care NP certification, and that the curriculum carries AACN verification for the ACNPC-AG exam. BSN-DNP applicants need a recent year of full-time critical care nursing plus BLS, ACLS and CCRN, so students begin the practicums with a critical care background.
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.