NURS 61500: the AGPCNP special populations practicum
NURS 61500 Adult Gerontology Primary Care Nurse Practitioner Practicum: Special Populations is the one Lewis practicum only AGPCNP students take. Taken in the same 16-week term as NURS 61400, it adds 180 clock hours, completes the track's 540-hour minimum with NURS 61100 and NURS 61800, and needs a preceptor whose adult and older adult patients fit the course's population focus.
Find my NURS 61500 preceptor
Tell us where you live and when NURS 61500 starts. We look for adult-gerontology primary care preceptors who fit the course.
NURS 61500
The course at a glance
Lewis's catalog covers the essentials of NURS 61500 in a few lines. The table gathers them in one place.
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Full title | Adult Gerontology Primary Care Nurse Practitioner Practicum: Special Populations |
| Clock hours | 180 clock hours of practicum |
| Credits | 3 in the program tables; 2 to 3 in the course list |
| Paired course | NURS 61400 APN Management: Adult-Gerontology and Other Special Populations, 3 credits, same semester |
| Order | After or alongside NURS 61000 and NURS 61100 |
| Format | 16-week semester course |
| Required in | MSN AGPCNP, AGPCNP Certificate of Advanced Study, BSN to DNP AGPCNP |
No other Lewis track requires it. FNP students take women's health and pediatric practicums instead, AGACNP students take two acute care practicums, and PMHNP students take three psychiatric ones. Because the course belongs to one track, its population focus comes from the AGPCNP faculty and their syllabus.
Where NURS 61500 sits in the AGPCNP's 540 hours
The AGPCNP has three practicums, each printed at 180 clock hours: NURS 61100 Adults in Community/Primary Care, NURS 61800 Adult/Gerontology and Adolescents, and NURS 61500. Three times 180 is 540, exactly the minimum the catalog sets for the track, so AGPCNP students avoid the unprinted hours that complicate the FNP and AGACNP routes. The MSN totals 46 credits, the certificate 28 and the BSN to DNP track 73.
Order is looser here than on other tracks. The catalog lets NURS 61400 and NURS 61500 run after or alongside the adult primary care pair, NURS 61000 and NURS 61100. Taking them alongside means two practicums, and two approved preceptors, in the same 16-week semester; taking them after spreads the clinical load across terms. Your advisor can tell you which pattern your cohort follows.
What special populations means for your placement
The course titles pair adult-gerontology care with other special populations. Which populations your section emphasizes, and which settings count toward the 180 hours, is for your syllabus and faculty to define, so read the course materials before you approach a preceptor. The preceptor has to fit the course as your faculty describe it, not as the words special populations might suggest on their own.
Within adult and older adult primary care, the settings we explore for this course include geriatric and senior-focused primary care practices, home-based and long-term care primary care programs, community health centers serving adults with complex needs, and clinics organized around particular chronic conditions. Each is a proposal for faculty to weigh. Approval stays with Lewis's Clinical Coordinators and/or track lead faculty, who judge the preceptor and site against the designated course.
A corequisite that points to acute care
One catalog entry needs checking. The NURS 61400 description lists NURS 62500, the first AGACNP acute care practicum, among its corequisites, although NURS 61400 is a primary care management course and AGPCNP students do not take NURS 62500. The program tables settle what the AGPCNP requires: NURS 61400 together with NURS 61500.
Treat it as a catalog inconsistency to raise with your advisor or the primary care track coordinator before registration, not as a signal to find an acute care preceptor. Lewis's sources disagree in several places, and the track's program page is the plainer statement of what you owe. If registration blocks you over the listed corequisite, that same conversation is where it gets resolved.
Preceptor fit and approval
Lewis publishes no preceptor credential list for NURS 61500. What it does publish is the approval rule, faculty sign-off on the preceptor and site for the specific course, and a set of denial reasons in the contract legend that include preceptor discipline from IDFPR and unsafe or questionable conduct by a preceptor or agency. A clean license record and a patient mix that clearly matches the course title are the two things to confirm first.
Illinois gives APRN preceptors a concrete benefit: 10 continuing education hours per student per academic semester, up to 30 per renewal period, documented by the school. The Illinois CE credit page explains it, and the preceptor requirements page lists what to verify before you file.
Timing the request
Lewis advises NP students to start practicum planning at acceptance. For NURS 61500 that matters most if you take it alongside NURS 61100, since two preceptors then need approval before the same semester. Each practicum is its own contract request in the portal, reviewed for a minimum of two weeks once complete, with a longer wait if an agency needs a new affiliation agreement.
Any agency can ask for additional documents before clearing you, and those go to the agency and to the Clinical Placement Office. Your CastleBranch file must stay current throughout, since a compliance lapse is one of the listed grounds for denial. Settings such as long-term care or home-based programs may bring their own onboarding steps, so ask early what the agency needs. The contract portal guide explains each status you may see.
How we find your NURS 61500 preceptor
Our placement desk reads the course as your faculty frame it, then searches your community for adult-gerontology primary care preceptors whose patients fit that focus. We check license standing and site details, assemble everything the portal request needs, and time the search around whether you take NURS 61500 after or alongside NURS 61100. When a practice's population focus is unusual, we describe it plainly so your faculty can judge the fit quickly.
AGPCNP students can hand us all three practicums at once, and we plan the searches so each preceptor is approved before its semester begins. If a preceptor withdraws mid-term, we move straight to a backup search in the same kind of setting. The AGPCNP track guide covers the whole program; send your details through the contact form.
Questions Lewis students ask
Is NURS 61500 only for AGPCNP students?
Yes. The MSN AGPCNP, the AGPCNP Certificate of Advanced Study and the BSN to DNP AGPCNP track list it, and no other track's program table includes it. The corequisite line in NURS 61400 that mentions an acute care practicum does not change that; AGACNP students follow their own route through NURS 62500 and NURS 62700.
Can I take NURS 61500 in the same semester as NURS 61100?
Yes, if your plan of study pairs them. Lewis's catalog lets the special populations courses share a term with the adult primary care pair or follow it. Sharing a term means two practicums of 180 hours each and two approved preceptors in one 16-week semester, so start both searches well ahead and confirm the pattern with your advisor.
Does NURS 61500 need a geriatric preceptor?
Lewis's public pages do not require one. The course sits in an adult-gerontology track and pairs with a management course on adult-gerontology and other special populations, so a practice with many older adult patients is a natural fit, but it is not the only kind that may qualify. Your syllabus and faculty decide which populations and settings count.
Does Lewis publish an AGPCNP certification pass rate?
No. Lewis reports 2023 pass rates for its FNP graduates on the ANCC exam and its AGACNP graduates on the AACN exam, but publishes none for the AGPCNP, and its public pages name no certification board for that track. Your track coordinator can speak to board choices. The certification exams page covers the boards track by track.
How many credits is the AGPCNP certificate?
28 credits. The certificate keeps the NP specialty core and all three AGPCNP practicums with their management courses, NURS 61400 and NURS 61500 included, and drops the MSN core. The FAQ's 540 to 630 hour range for certificate NP tracks applies, and the AGPCNP's courses add up to 540.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-25
We check these pages against Lewis's own catalog, program pages and FAQ, its contract portal and Illinois law. Your course, your track coordinator and the Clinical Placement Office have the final word.
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