CUW's MSN FNP: three primary care clinicals, 750 hours, one preceptor plan

The FNP track in brief

In CUW's 2026-27 academic catalog the FNP shares a page with the other master's-level NP tracks: 41 credits, taught online with required on-campus pieces. You apply through the Future Falcon application with a BSN and an RN license. Applications are due July 1 for a fall start and November 1 for spring.

CUW's progression plans spread the degree over 3, 3.5 or 4 years from a fall start, while the catalog's sample grid runs eight semesters. Whatever pace you pick, every requirement must be done within five years of your first course. For the whole program you keep an unencumbered RN license and current CPR, and you meet CUW's Technical Standards for Registered Nurses.

Two facts shape the clinical side more than any others. First, the catalog hands the preceptor search to you; the Graduate Clinical Coordinator can help, and graduate faculty judge whether each preceptor and site is appropriate. Second, the FNP population is the whole lifespan, so one adult-focused practice rarely serves every course well.

Planning preceptors for a family-lifespan sequence

An FNP preceptor plan works best when it is drawn for all three courses at once. Clinical I leans on adult episodic and chronic care, which a family medicine or internal medicine practice handles well. By Clinical III the catalog wants pediatric, older adult and women's health exposure, and an adult-heavy practice may not supply enough of it.

CUW's FNP page lists the kinds of settings its graduates work in: family and internal medicine, pediatric and women's health clinics, and urgent care. CUW's 2014-15 NP handbook treated pediatrics, urgent care, women's health and geriatrics as secondary sites, each capped at 100 hours across the program, with a traditional primary care practice as the main site. Current pages post no such cap, so ask your course faculty before splitting a course between two practices.

Acute care stays off the list. CUW's 2022 blog on MSN clinicals said hospital, emergency and surgical settings are not clinical sites for the primary care tracks. The site rules, with their dates, are gathered on primary care sites.

Timing: from proposal to first clinical day

In the catalog's sample plan the three clinicals fall in semesters five, seven and eight, after Advanced Health Assessment in semester four. That gives each search a fixed target date.

CUW's current pages publish no proposal deadline. The practicum proposal form in CUW's archives wanted a separate submission for each preceptor-site pairing every semester, due 4 weeks or more ahead of clinicals, and the 2014-15 handbook budgeted 8 to 12 weeks for any contract with a new site, during which patient care could not begin. Working backward from those figures, a practice new to CUW is worth securing a full semester ahead. The clinical deadline calendar lays the dates out.

Weekly pace matters too. CUW's 2022 FAQ pictured 250 hours as about 30 clinic days of 8 to 10 hours, typically inside 13 weeks of the term. A preceptor who can give you two or three clinic days a week keeps you on that rhythm without a crunch at the end.

Why CUW FNP students choose us

CUW's FNP page promises faculty support in choosing sites, and the catalog still assigns you the job of securing the preceptor. Our placement desk takes that search on for all three courses together. We look for family and internal medicine practices near home in a state CUW's disclosure lists, and we plan the pediatric, older adult and women's health hours Clinical III calls for well before you reach it.

For each preceptor we assemble a complete approval packet: active license, national certification, current CV and practice details. We also learn at the first call whether the practice holds a CUW clinical contract or would need one. If a preceptor has to step away mid-course, your placement advisor reopens the search immediately. Share your start term and home city in the form below.