FIU's post-graduate AGPCNP certificate: clinicals for MSN-prepared nurses
Florida International University (FIU) offers its post-graduate Adult-Gerontology Primary Care NP (AGPCNP) certificate online to nurses who already hold an MSN, and the certificate page repeats FIU's instruction for online tracks: the site is yours to find, and FIU's clinical department carries it from there to a signed contract. The certificate runs on the same adult-gero practicums as the MSN. We find the preceptors and prepare the request, so your energy goes into the coursework.
Plan your certificate practicums
Your city and start term are enough to begin.
The certificate's clinical rule in one sentence
If you are in the AGPCNP certificate, the site search is yours. FIU's post-graduate certificate page carries the same starred note as the MSN pages for its online tracks: choosing the clinical site falls to the student, and the clinical department then helps put an agreement in place before any rotation. The hybrid certificates (Family, Psychiatric-Mental Health, Adult-Gerontology Acute Care and Pediatric Acute Care) carry no such note.
That puts certificate students in an unusual position. You already hold a master's degree, and you may already practice in another specialty, yet you need preceptors in adult-gero primary care, where your present contacts may not reach. The rules for who may precept you do not relax because you are experienced.
Each site and preceptor you put forward still goes to your faculty and FIU's clinical education office for approval. For how the online and hybrid rules compare across FIU, see online vs hybrid tracks.
Who the AGPCNP certificate is for
FIU built the certificate for MSN-prepared nurses who want certification in another specialty, and it keeps the admission rules short.
| Item | FIU's published detail |
|---|---|
| Admission | An MSN from an ACEN- or CCNE-accredited program, seeking certification in another specialty |
| Delivery | Online |
| Credits | 35 |
| Start | Fall term; application deadline February 1 |
| Practicums | NGR 6201L, NGR 6202L, NGR 6203L |
| Final seminar | NGR 6744 in the sixth semester |
| Plan version | Revised 5-2026, effective Spring 2027 |
FIU's 2021 certificate brochure, still online, gave an application window of December 1 to March 1. The current certificate page says February 1, and that is the date to plan around.
Credit loads vary little across FIU's certificates: 35 for adult and child primary care, 37 for Family, 38 for Psych and 35 for acute care. What changes most between them is the clinical setting, and with it the kind of preceptor you will need.
Six semesters from foundations to practicum III
The primary care certificate plan front-loads the science and saves the three practicums for the second year.
- Semester 1 (Fall)
NGR 5141Pathophysiologic Concepts. - Semester 2 (Spring)
NGR 6172Pharmacological Concepts andNGR 5131. Begin the preceptor search now if your likely site may need a new FIU contract. - Semester 3 (Summer)
NGR 6002CAdvanced Health Assessment. FIU sets up the first practicum site during this semester, the one before the course. - Semester 4 (Fall)
NGR 6201with the first adult-gero practicum,NGR 6201L, for 4 credits. - Semester 5 (Spring)
NGR 6202L, the second practicum, for 4 credits. - Semester 6 (Summer)
NGR 6203L, the third practicum, for 3 credits, alongsideNGR 6744.
The three foundation courses carry a clock of their own. Under the handbook, a clinical course can only start if your grades in NGR 5141, NGR 6172 and NGR 6002C are B or above and under three years old, and the certificate plan schedules all three in your first year, directly ahead of the practicums.
Clinical hours: what the certificate page leaves open
FIU's certificate pages state credits and courses for the primary care certificates but give them no clinical-hour total. The acute care certificate plan lists 280 hours per practicum, but that figure belongs to a different specialty and should not be borrowed.
Since the AGPCNP certificate uses the MSN practicum courses, it is natural to look at the MSN numbers, and those conflict with each other: 770 hours on the MSN Clinical Education page against a 630-hour minimum for adult-gero students in the 2025-2026 graduate handbook. Neither source says it governs the certificate.
Ask your track program leader and the Office of Clinical Education for your certificate's total in writing, and give any preceptor the higher planning figure until you have it. The comparison for every FIU program is on FIU clinical hours.
Preceptors when you already work in health care
Certificate students tend to arrive with a wider professional network than first-time NP students, and FIU's rules decide which of those contacts can help. The unit where you work is off limits for rotations, although a large institution may place you on a separate unit. Family members and close friends cannot precept you, whatever their credentials.
The preceptor needs a minimum of a year's practice in the specialty, plus current licensure and national certification. Nurse practitioners supervise most FIU rotations; physicians are permitted too, although the handbook's master's-in-nursing line sits awkwardly beside that. Primary care rotations are weekday, business-hours commitments, so if you work day shifts, raise the schedule with your employer early.
Read working where you work before you ask a colleague to precept you, and check the patient mix: NGR 6201L calls for adults and older adults in primary care, not the specialty you already practice.
Where adult-gero sites come from, and what big systems ask
Adult-gero primary care happens in internal medicine and family practices, senior-focused clinics and health system outpatient offices, and the site you choose sets the paperwork that follows. An independent practice can often say yes within days but may hold no FIU agreement yet. A large health system tends to answer more slowly and runs its own gatekeeping on top of FIU's.
Baptist Health South Florida is a useful example of that gatekeeping, described on its own student rotation page: it takes rotation requests only from partner schools that have signed both a Master Agreement and a Program Letter of Agreement, expects the student's placement and preceptor to be confirmed first, requires a Complio submission 10 or more business days ahead, and bars its employees from doing clinical hours in their own facility. That last rule matters to certificate students who already hold jobs in a system.
Whichever route you take, confirm the contract question before you promise a preceptor your semester. The regional picture is on Florida NP preceptors.
Why certificate students choose us
You came back for a second specialty, and the preceptor search should be the easy part. We source adult-gero primary care preceptors in your area, confirm each one sees adults and older adults, and check that their availability covers your whole semester rather than a few scattered weeks.
Every detail FIU's Preceptor Request Form needs is gathered and checked before submission: preceptor and facility, specialty, address, email, license, term, days and times. You hear from us at the outset whether the practice is already under an FIU agreement; we keep clearance renewals and Typhon deadlines on the calendar, and remain available to replace a preceptor who drops mid-semester.
Approval of each site and preceptor belongs to your faculty and FIU's Office of Clinical Education, and our role is to give them a file with no gaps and no rule problems. Tell us your start term in the form below, or read what shapes the cost.
Questions FIU students ask
Who can apply to FIU's AGPCNP certificate?
Nurses holding a master's in nursing from a program accredited by ACEN or CCNE who want certification in a new specialty. The certificate starts in the Fall term, and the current application deadline is February 1. Because the first practicum follows a full year of foundation courses, admission is also the right moment to start thinking about where you will train.
Does FIU's licensure disclosure cover the AGPCNP certificate?
Not by its own name. The licensure page lists three nursing programs by name, the BSN, the MSN and the DNP in Nurse Anesthesia, all described as meeting Florida's rules, and the post-graduate NP certificates get no line of their own. If you plan to practice outside Florida, check with that state's board and with FIU before you enroll. See the licensure disclosure.
Can I finish the certificate faster because I already have an MSN?
The plan FIU publishes runs six semesters, with the first practicum in the fourth, and the certificate page describes no shorter route. If earlier coursework might count, raise it with your Graduate Nursing Advisor before you register, and keep the three-year recency rule for the foundation courses in mind.
What happens after I finish the AGPCNP certificate?
Before you sit the national certification exam, FIU's handbook expects post-master's graduates to have completed a certification review course during the preceding year. After you pass, the Florida Board of Nursing's APRN steps follow: the online application, Livescan fingerprints, your certifying body reporting the result directly to the Board, and proof of financial responsibility.
Can my current employer's clinic be my practicum site?
Possibly, if it is not the unit where you work. FIU accepts a rotation on another unit of a big institution, and it rules out preceptors who are family or close friends. The clinic still needs an FIU contract and faculty approval, and it must offer adult and older-adult primary care that fits the course.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-26
We check these pages against FIU's own graduate handbook, preceptor manual, plans of study, catalog and licensure pages. Your plan of study, your course faculty, your clinical faculty and FIU's Office of Clinical Education have the final word.
FIU asks you to identify your clinical site. We make that the easy part.
Tell us your FIU track, where you live and which semester your next practicum starts. We find preceptors whose patients fit the course, check early whether the site already holds an FIU contract, and prepare everything the Preceptor Request Form asks for.
- Preceptors matched to the course: adult and older-adult primary care for
NGR 6201L, pediatric primary care forNGR 6301L, an organizational mentor forNGR 7940C - Preceptor, facility, license and schedule details ready for the Preceptor Request Form, weeks ahead of the contract clock
- Across Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach and Monroe, or beyond them where FIU approves your site
Start your placement plan
Track, city and semester is all we need to begin.