Lewis University MSN Adult-Gerontology Acute Care NP: courses, hours and practicums
Lewis's MSN Adult-Gerontology Acute Care NP track is 46 credits with a minimum of 540 clinical hours spread over three 16-week practicums, NURS 61800 and the acute care pair NURS 62500 and NURS 62700. Two of the three call for an acute care preceptor, and hospitals run their own student approval steps on top of Lewis's. This page gives the complete course list, the practicum order, a conflict in Lewis's hour figures and a timeline for each search.
Find your acute care preceptors
Tell us which hospitals you can reach and when your next AGACNP practicum starts.
The AGACNP track at a glance
Adult-Gerontology Acute Care is the hospital-facing concentration of Lewis's MSN, coded NPAC in the catalog. The 2026-27 catalog sets it at 46 credits and at least 540 clinical hours, and Lewis offers it at Oak Brook or online. According to Lewis's FAQ, the Oak Brook acute care labs are designed to simulate emergency room and critical care settings.
The course rhythm matches the other NP tracks: 8-week sessions for the MSN core, 16-week semesters for specialty courses, and a 5-year limit on the whole degree. Admission uses the standard MSN criteria: an accredited BSN (CCNE or ACEN), an RN license with no encumbrances, at least a 3.0 GPA with a provisional route below that, and one letter from a master's- or doctoral-prepared nurse in the specialty. Lewis's published rules set no minimum years of RN experience.
Lewis reports a 2023 AGACNP certification pass rate of 100% on the AACN exam, 3 of 3 graduates. Nurses who already hold an MSN can take the same practicums through a 28-credit Certificate of Advanced Study, covered on our post-master's certificates page.
Complete AGACNP course list
Every AGACNP course in the 2026-27 catalog, with the clock hours each course description prints.
| Course | Title | Credits | Clinical hours Lewis prints | When it runs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
NURS 51700 | Health in All Policy (HiAP) | 3 | None | MSN core, 8 weeks; first |
NURS 55900 | Applied Biostatistics and Epidemiology | 3 | None | MSN core, 8 weeks; first |
NURS 53300 | Scholarly Inquiry | 3 | None | MSN core, 8 weeks; after the two above |
NURS 53400 | Dynamics of Population Health | 3 | None | MSN core, 8 weeks |
NURS 53600 | Healthcare Informatics | 3 | None | MSN core, 8 weeks |
NURS 73500 | Transformational Leadership for Healthcare | 3 | None | MSN core, 8 weeks |
NURS 58800 | Role Transition and Development for the Advanced Practice Nurse | 1 | None | NP foundation |
NURS 60500 | Applied Physiology/Pathophysiology for Advanced Practice Nursing | 3 | None | NP foundation |
NURS 60400 | Pharmacotherapeutics for Advanced Practice Nursing | 3 | None | NP foundation; with or after NURS 60500 |
NURS 60700 | Health Assessment for Advanced Practice Nursing | 3 | Lab only | NP foundation; with or after NURS 60500 |
NURS 61200 | APN Management: Adult/Gerontology and Adolescents | 3 | None | 16 weeks, with NURS 61800 |
NURS 61800 | NP Practicum: Adult/Gerontology and Adolescents | 3 | 180 | 16 weeks, with NURS 61200 |
NURS 62400 | APN Management: Acute Care for Adult/Gerontology | 3 | None | 16 weeks, with NURS 62500 |
NURS 62500 | NP Practicum: Acute Care for Adult/Gerontology | 3 | Description says 360 total (see below) | 16 weeks, with NURS 62400 |
NURS 62600 | APN Management: Acute Care for Adult/Gerontology 2 | 3 | None | 16 weeks, after NURS 62400 and NURS 62500 |
NURS 62700 | NP Practicum: Acute Care for Adult/Gerontology 2 | 3 | Not printed | 16 weeks, after NURS 62500; with NURS 62600 |
| Total | 46 | 540 minimum |
According to their descriptions, NURS 62600 and NURS 62700 carry the first acute care pair further, into subspecialty care and the devices and technology of acute care.
Three practicums and one hour conflict
Every AGACNP practicum is taken in the same semester as its management course, and each is approved on its own, preceptor and site together. The two acute care practicums run in sequence, since NURS 62700 requires NURS 62500. Lewis publishes no term-by-term plan showing where NURS 61800 falls for this track, so your advisor sets that.
| Practicum | Runs with | Hours Lewis prints | Focus |
|---|---|---|---|
NURS 61800 | NURS 61200 | 180 | Adult/gerontology and adolescents |
NURS 62500 | NURS 62400 | "360 total clock hours" in its description | Acute care for adult/gerontology |
NURS 62700 | NURS 62600, after NURS 62500 | None printed | Subspecialty care, acute care devices and technology |
Here is the conflict. The catalog sets a 540-hour minimum for the track, and NURS 61800 carries 180. Yet the NURS 62500 description puts that one course at 360 clock hours in total, at a rate of 180 for every two credits, even though the program lists it at 3 credits. Add the two together and you are at 540 before NURS 62700 begins, simple arithmetic that leaves the second acute care practicum with nothing, and NURS 62700 prints no hours of its own. One likely reading is that the 360-hour text predates the split into two acute care practicums, but Lewis has not said so.
Plan to the 540-hour program minimum and ask your track coordinator how the hours divide between the two acute care courses. A second quirk: the prerequisite list for NURS 61800 names NURS 61000 and NURS 61100, neither of which this track includes, so confirm registration with your advisor. Our acute care practicum guide and NURS 61800 guide cover each course in depth.
Why acute care searches need the longest runway
An acute care preceptor usually works in a hospital, and hospitals keep their own gatekeeping alongside Lewis's. Three Chicago-area systems show the range:
- Advocate Health Care says it does not locate preceptors for nurse practitioner students in Illinois and routes requests and onboarding through myClinicalExchange, according to its NP student page.
- Northwestern Medicine accepts only students whose schools hold a current affiliation agreement with it, puts its own employees ahead of outside applicants and tells students to allow at least 4 to 8 weeks, according to its practicum request page.
- Endeavor Health routes requests through myClinicalExchange; its clinical rotations page lists March 1 as the cutoff for fall/winter rotations and August 1 for spring/summer.
Lewis's own steps run in parallel: the contract request, a review of at least two weeks, and a new affiliation agreement whenever your hospital lacks one. Lewis's list of clinical agencies does include hospitals such as Advocate Christ Medical Center, Silver Cross Hospital and Northwestern Medicine Central DuPage Hospital. That list is a general roster for Lewis nursing students rather than a register of NP placements, and Lewis says an advisor has the most current version.
An AGACNP preceptor timeline
- At acceptanceList the hospitals you can reach and anyone you know in acute care who might precept, whether an acute care nurse practitioner or a physician; Lewis's track faculty approve every choice.
- Well before the first acute care semesterCheck each target hospital's student request window. A fall rotation at an Endeavor Health hospital, for example, has a March 1 deadline on its page, which sets the pace for everything else.
- The term before each practicumSubmit a complete contract request. Where the hospital lacks a current Lewis agreement, expect the request to sit in review until a signed one comes back.
- During
NURS 62500Settle theNURS 62700placement. Lewis's approval names a site, a preceptor and a semester, so ask the Clinical Placement Office whether staying with the same preceptor needs a fresh request. - All alongKeep CastleBranch current and send hospital onboarding documents to the hospital and to the Clinical Placement Office together.
The one AGACNP students get wrong: assuming the hospital where they work will take them as a student. Hospitals set their own student rules, and Lewis publishes nothing specific on clinicals at your own employer, so treat an employer placement as a request like any other.
Rules that apply across the AGACNP
- Lewis treats the preceptor contract request as mandatory for anyone entering a clinical practicum, so all three AGACNP practicums pass through the contract portal.
- A CastleBranch compliance gap is one of the grounds Lewis lists for denying a contract. Background check and documentation fees are the student's; student clinical insurance is paid by the university.
- An IDFPR disciplinary record, or conduct Lewis judges unsafe at the preceptor or agency level, can also end a contract, even one already approved.
- Online students outside Illinois can enroll only from Lewis's 18 authorized jurisdictions, and the AGACNP MSN disclosure answers No under Meets Licensure Requirements for Hawaii, Indiana, Massachusetts and Mississippi.
- Since Lewis grades include no In Progress option, hours still owed at semester's end mean an Incomplete, which becomes an IF with zero credit if it is not cleared by the next deadline.
How we help Lewis AGACNP students
We search hospital units and acute care services near you for preceptors whose caseload fits NURS 62500 and NURS 62700, plus a suitable adult/gerontology setting for NURS 61800. For each match you receive the preceptor, license and site details the contract request asks for, along with the hospital's own student steps in order, so Lewis's process and the hospital's move at the same time.
We keep CastleBranch and hospital onboarding on track, and when a preceptor's schedule changes midway, a replacement search starts right away. Approval stays with Lewis's clinical coordinators and track faculty; what they receive from you is complete and matched to the acute care course. Start with the form below.
Questions Lewis students ask
Does Lewis require ICU experience for the AGACNP track?
Lewis's published MSN admission rules list no minimum years or type of RN experience for any NP track, and there is no GRE or interview. What the track does ask for is an accredited BSN, an unencumbered RN license and two recommendations, one from your current supervisor and one from a master's- or doctoral-prepared nurse in the specialty. A hospital that hosts you may have its own student expectations, so ask it directly.
What pass rate does Lewis report for AGACNP graduates?
Lewis reports 100% for 2023 on the AACN exam, which was 3 of 3 graduates. With a group that small, one different result would move the rate by about a third, by simple arithmetic. Lewis's 2023 viewbook also prints 2021 figures under FNP and AGACNP labels without showing which belongs to which track. Our certification exams page sets them side by side.
Is the AGACNP certificate at Lewis online only?
The AGACNP Certificate of Advanced Study carries an online-only label in Lewis's 2023 graduate viewbook, but today's website attaches that label to the PMHNP certificate alone, so the two sources disagree. The certificate runs 28 credits with the identical three practicums the MSN uses. Ask graduate admissions which format applies to your start term.
Who finds the hospital preceptor for a Lewis AGACNP practicum?
The MSN FAQ applies the same expectation to acute care students as to every NP track: you help identify the preceptor. Lewis's part is facilitation through the Clinical Placement Office, approval by Clinical Coordinators and/or track lead faculty, and drafting any affiliation agreement the hospital lacks. The hospital search itself is the piece we handle; see identifying preceptors.
How many hours a week is an AGACNP practicum?
Lewis publishes no weekly expectation. If a 180-hour practicum were spread evenly across a 16-week semester, it would come to a little over 11 hours a week, but that is arithmetic, not a Lewis figure, and hospital shifts rarely divide so neatly. Your preceptor's schedule sets the real pattern, so ask your course faculty how they expect hours to be distributed.
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.
Lewis asks you to identify your preceptor. We do the searching.
Tell us your Lewis program, where you live and when your next practicum starts. We find preceptors near you who fit the course and prepare every detail the contract portal asks for, so your request goes in complete.
- Preceptors matched to the practicum: primary care for
NURS 61100andNURS 61800, acute care forNURS 62500, psychiatric care forNURS 63300 - Preceptor, license and site details ready for your preceptor contract request
- In your own community, anywhere Lewis enrolls you and your RN license is valid
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Program, city and start date is all we need to begin.