NURS G833: Family Primary Care Management IV Practicum

Updated September 25, 2026 · Reviewed by the Loyola Preceptor placement team

NURS G833 is the fourth and final 200-hour FPCM practicum at Loyola University New Orleans, the course that brings FNP students to 800 hours. It is also the course in which the FNP Director can approve a specialty site, and the one whose last hour stands between you and graduation.

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Plan your final FNP practicum

Primary care or a specialty, near you.

200hours in FPCM IV, the last FNP practicum

800FPCM hours complete when FPCM IV ends

The last practicum in every FNP plan

Every posted Loyola New Orleans FNP plan ends with NURS G833, a 3-credit, 200-hour practicum in the final spring term. In the MSN FNP's 3-year plan it is Spring III, the eighth and last term. The post-graduate FNP certificate plan also places it in Spring III. BSN-DNP FNP students take it in Spring IV, after the three scholarly project practicums are already done, so it is the last practicum of the whole 1,340-hour route.

That position shapes everything about the course. There is no later term in the plan to absorb unfinished hours, and the search for it runs during FPCM III in the fall, when you may already be managing pediatric and obstetric sites.

It also gives you a choice the earlier courses do not: stay in outpatient primary care, or ask for a specialty site. The FNP hours page shows how the four courses add up to 800.

Specialty sites and the two directors who approve settings

The 2025 FNP Orientation and Practicum Guide puts FPCM IV specialty placements in the FNP Director's hands. A separate request for specialty practicum hours is made on a Loyola form, found on the Nursing Resource Site.

A second rule covers all four FNP practicums: before you log time in a specialty clinic, an emergency room, urgent care, a nursing home or on a hospital ward, the Graduate Program Director has to approve it.

So a specialty plan for FPCM IV can touch two directors and a form. Ask your course faculty which approvals your particular site needs, submit the specialty hours request well before the lead time closes, and keep every approval in writing with your Exxat records. The specialty and setting approvals page explains the request step by step.

Collect every specialty approval, in writing, before you enter the site in Exxat, not after your hours have started.

Primary care or a specialty for your last 200 hours

A specialty site can be tempting in the final term, especially if it matches the job you want after graduation. Weigh it against what the program is preparing you for. The FNP certification Loyola's MSN page names, through ANCC or the AANP certification exam, is a family practice credential, and the FNP guide's default for every FPCM course is outpatient primary care with enough patient volume and, ideally, a diverse mix of patients.

The specialty route also carries more process: director approval, the specialty hours form and often a new site with its own affiliation agreement. A primary care practice you already know, or one already under a Loyola agreement, is usually the quicker placement.

Neither choice is wrong. The right one is the setting you can get approved, contracted and started on time, since FPCM IV is the course that cannot slip into another term without affecting your graduation. If your site is new to Loyola, check Explore Clinical Locations first.

Finishing on time for a spring graduation

Loyola's Spring 2027 full-semester calendar starts January 19, ends classes on May 7, holds exams May 10-13 and commencement on May 15. Your syllabus sets your practicum dates, so compare them with these as soon as you have them.

If hours run short, the tools come with conditions. Your faculty of record can sign off on a new start or end date through the Early Start/Extension Practicum approval form. An Incomplete requires roughly three quarters of the course finished at a passing level, with the outstanding work due by the sixth week of the following term; the 2026-27 calendars list June 28, 2027 as the date a Spring 2027 Incomplete turns to F (one summer calendar says June 25). Until an Incomplete is cleared, Loyola does not certify the student for graduation.

The simplest protection is an early start on the placement itself. The early start and extension page covers the form, and delayed graduation explains what happens when a missing preceptor pushes the finish line.

Closing out the 800: logs, evaluations and what comes next

The final weeks of FPCM IV are also the final weeks of your FNP hour record. Under the Preceptor Agreement, your preceptor signs the practicum log regularly, speaks with Loyola faculty when the course opens and again as it closes, and submits the Practicum Evaluation Form at the end. Exxat documents and verifies the hours themselves.

Check your syllabus for the exact dates the final log and the preceptor evaluation are due, and ask your preceptor to plan for them before the last clinical day. Missing signatures at the end of a final term are harder to chase than at any other time.

Keep your own copy of the verified hours. After graduation you sit for FNP certification, and Louisiana's prescriptive authority rule may accept graduate clinical hours toward its practice-hour requirement, as the Louisiana APRN practice page explains.

Why students choose us for their final practicum

Your last practicum has the least room for delay, so we treat it as the priority it is. Whether you want outpatient primary care or a specialty, we find preceptors near you with space for 200 spring hours, tell you early whether the site holds a Loyola affiliation agreement, and help you line up the approvals a specialty site needs before your Wishlist goes in.

Your preceptor's CV, license, Nursys PDF and signed Preceptor Agreement come to you from us ready to upload, so the final Wishlist of your program goes in complete. Loyola's placement office and faculty own the approval decision; our focus is a request that satisfies Loyola's rules at first review. If a preceptor withdraws in your final term, we move to a replacement the same day you tell us. Begin with how it works, or send us the form below.

Questions Loyola students ask

Can I do FPCM IV in dermatology, cardiology or another specialty?

Possibly. Loyola's FNP guide requires the FNP Director's approval for FPCM IV sites, and a Loyola form on the Nursing Resource Site is used to request specialty practicum hours. Specialty clinics also appear on the list of settings that need the Graduate Program Director's approval, so confirm both before you commit to a specialty preceptor.

Who approves an FPCM IV specialty site at Loyola?

The FNP guide names the FNP Director for FPCM IV sites and the Graduate Program Director for time in non-primary-care settings such as specialty clinics, emergency rooms, urgent care, nursing homes and hospital wards. Your course faculty can tell you which approvals your site needs; keep each one in writing.

Can I graduate in May if my FPCM IV hours are not finished?

Loyola does not certify a student for graduation while an Incomplete stands, and the unfinished work must be done within six weeks of the next term's start. Ask your faculty of record and program director early how an unfinished final practicum affects your graduation term.

Can I start FPCM IV hours before the spring term begins?

Only with approval. Loyola moves a practicum's dates only through the Early Start/Extension Practicum approval form, which your faculty of record signs. Early hours also need the usual groundwork: an Exxat request showing Placement Approved and an agreement every party has signed.

Is FPCM IV the last practicum in the BSN-DNP FNP?

Yes, in the posted 4-year plan. The three scholarly project practicums finish by Summer III, FPCM III follows in Fall IV, and FPCM IV in Spring IV completes both the 800 FNP hours and the 1,340-hour total. If your own plan of study shows a different order, your plan is the one to follow.

FNPFNP clinical hours (800)Loyola New Orleans FNP students complete 800 hours in four 200-hour FPCM practicums. The older 180-hour courses, the BSN-DNP total and the certificate.FPCM IIINURS G829: FPCM III PracticumLoyola New Orleans NURS G829, the FPCM III practicum: 150 pediatric plus 50 obstetric hours, which preceptors fit, and planning one site or two.ApprovalsSpecialty and setting approvalsUrgent care, hospital, ER, nursing home or a specialty clinic in a Loyola University New Orleans practicum: which director approves it and how to ask for it.FormsEarly start and extensionThe Loyola University New Orleans Early Start/Extension Practicum form, Incompletes for unfinished hours, AGACNP midterm action plans and the I-to-F dates.PolicyIncompletes, leave and time limitsLoyola New Orleans rules for unfinished practicum hours: Incomplete and IP grades, leaves of absence, withdrawal and the five-year graduate nursing limit.Urgent helpDelayed graduationWhen a missing preceptor threatens your Loyola New Orleans graduation: Incompletes, IP grades, leave, withdrawal, revised plans and the five-year limit.

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 for NURS G829, acute care for NURS G902, psychiatric care for NURS 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

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