NURS 5455 FNP Primary Care III: adult and geriatric care
NURS 5455 is the adult and geriatric course in UT Tyler's FNP, 4 credits and the last primary care course before the internships. The 2026-27 catalog counts it among the five courses that hold the program's 750 hours but prints no hour figure for it alone, while the Fall 2026 syllabus written for earlier cohorts sets 145. The hour count in your own section's syllabus is the one to plan around.
Find your NURS 5455 preceptor
Tell us the term you take NURS 5455 and where you live in Texas. A placement advisor replies with adult and geriatric practices near you.
What UT Tyler publishes about NURS 5455 hours
Four UT Tyler documents touch NURS 5455, and none of them gives an hour count for the course under the 750-hour plan. Here is exactly what each one says.
| Document | What it says |
|---|---|
| 2026-27 catalog, MSN page | Lists NURS 5455 with NURS 5453, NURS 5454, NURS 5347 and NURS 5349 as the courses that together require 750 direct care hours; no figure for NURS 5455 alone |
| Fall 2026 syllabus, 675-hour plan | 145 clinical hours in a 14-week course, at least 12 hours a week, toward a 675-hour program; lists Exxat as the clinical platform |
| Summer 2026 syllabus | Gives the older program mix as women's health 75 hours and family practice 480 |
| Two Year Course Rotation | Lists NP clinical courses, NURS 5455 among them, as 15-week courses offered every term |
When we checked in September 2026, no syllabus for the 750-hour version of this course had been posted. Until one appears, the syllabus for your section, in Canvas or from your course faculty, is the authority on your hours.
Why 125 is not UT Tyler's number
It is tempting to subtract. The other four FNP clinical courses total 625 hours in the catalog and current syllabi (125, 125, 187.5 and 187.5), and 750 minus 625 is 125. That figure is our arithmetic, not a number UT Tyler has printed for NURS 5455, which is why this site's planner shows the course without an hour count.
The older plan shows why arithmetic can mislead. There, NURS 5455 carried 145 hours while the two primary care courses before it carried 120 each, so UT Tyler did not size the courses equally then, and there is no published sign that it does now. The 750 versus 675 guide sets the two plans side by side.
Plan your NURS 5455 preceptor schedule from the hour count in your own syllabus. If it has not been posted yet, ask your course faculty for the figure in writing before you commit a preceptor to a set number of clinic days.
The adult and geriatric preceptor
NURS 5455 needs a practice where adults and older adults fill the schedule. The settings we look at first are family practices with a mature patient base, internal medicine offices, geriatric clinics and primary care groups that follow many patients with chronic disease. Faculty approve a site on whether it can supply the patients the course requires, and the Fall 2026 syllabus asks you to tell faculty promptly if your site cannot provide the direct experience the course calls for.
The FNP preceptor rules carry over from your earlier courses: a Texas-licensed nurse practitioner, physician or PA, with UT Tyler's 2023 NP guide asking for at least a year of experience and its online program pages asking for two plus board certification. Rotating with a supervisor, someone above you in your reporting line or a family member is not allowed. The full rules are on the preceptor requirements page.
Three objectives before your first clinic day
The Fall 2026 syllabus is specific about a step students often leave late: you need at least three written, measurable clinical objectives for the site, and your preceptor receives them before your hours begin. They tell the preceptor which adult and geriatric experiences you need, and they make a natural agenda for the faculty's virtual meeting with you and your preceptor.
- Draft from the course outcomesTie each objective to an outcome in your
NURS 5455syllabus and make it measurable: a count, a skill or a type of visit. - Share them before hour oneSend them to your preceptor with your proposed schedule, so the first day is planned around them.
- Keep them with your recordsFile them with your signed hour sheets and your Exxat entries, which the Fall 2026 syllabus names as the course's clinical platform.
Weekly minimums, logging windows and the other timing rules are gathered on the clinical scheduling rules page.
Where NURS 5455 falls in the sequence
In the catalog's part-time outline, NURS 5455 is the fifth-semester course, after NURS 5453 and NURS 5454 and before NURS 5347 Internship I. That position matters. With faculty approval, and within any single-preceptor hour limit, an adult practice that works well here can be one you return to for the FNP internships, which also center on outpatient primary care.
Students from earlier cohorts take NURS 5455 under the 675-hour plan, at 145 hours and a 12-hour weekly floor, so two classmates in the same term can be working to different numbers. Compare notes with care, and trust your own syllabus over anyone else's.
How we place you for NURS 5455
Your placement advisor finds Texas practices near you with a steady adult and older adult patient load, confirms the preceptor's license, experience and availability, and checks the conflict-of-interest rules before you apply. We plan the schedule to the hour count in your syllabus, with room to spare, so an unconfirmed number does not leave you short.
- An adult or geriatric preceptor whose practice fits the course focus
- The Self-Placement Request details, collected from the preceptor ahead of the semester
- A clinic schedule sized to your syllabus, with a buffer for OSCE week and cancellations
- A second approved site if your first cannot provide an experience the course requires
Send your term and location through the contact page or the form below.
Questions UT Tyler students ask
How many clinical hours is NURS 5455?
UT Tyler has not printed a figure for NURS 5455 under the 750-hour plan. The Fall 2026 syllabus for earlier cohorts says 145 hours in a 14-week course. The answer that governs you is in your own section's syllabus; ask your course faculty if it has not been posted, and plan with a margin until you know.
Can NURS 5455 hours take place in a hospital?
UT Tyler's published hospital restriction sits in NURS 5349, where acute care hospital hours are not approved. We found no equivalent line for NURS 5455, but it is a primary care course, so an outpatient adult practice is the safer plan. If a hospital-based clinic is your only option, get faculty approval in writing first.
Can an internist or geriatrician precept me for NURS 5455?
Yes, if they are licensed physicians (MD or DO) with at least a year of experience and faculty approve the site. Across the FNP, UT Tyler recommends about a quarter of your hours with an advanced practice nurse, so pairing a physician here with NP preceptors in other courses keeps your program mix balanced.
Is NURS 5455 a 14-week or a 15-week course?
UT Tyler's documents differ. The course rotation lists NP clinical courses as 15-week courses, while the Fall 2026 syllabus for earlier cohorts calls NURS 5455 a 14-week course. Plan to the dates in your section's syllabus and the School of Nursing calendar, and ask faculty when your hours can start.
What if my site cannot give me the patients NURS 5455 needs?
Tell your course faculty as soon as you see the gap; the Fall 2026 syllabus asks for exactly that. Then add a second approved site rather than waiting. Your placement advisor can line up an adult or geriatric practice near you and gather the details faculty need to review it.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-25
We check these pages against UT Tyler's own catalog, syllabi, program pages and clinical policies, and Texas rules. Your course, your program coordinator and the Clinical Coordinator have the final word.
UT Tyler asks you to choose your clinical site. We find it.
Tell us your UT Tyler track, where in Texas you live and when your next clinical course starts. We find preceptors near you who fit the course and gather everything your Self-Placement Request needs, so faculty can approve it before the semester.
- Preceptors matched to the course: pediatrics for
NURS 5453, adult and geriatric care forNURS 5455, psychiatric care forNURS 5367 - Texas-licensed preceptors who clear UT Tyler's supervisor, relative and site rules
- Anywhere in Texas, from the Piney Woods to the Valley
Start your placement plan
Program, city and start date is all we need to begin.