Behind on clinical hours in a Ball State course: your options

Updated September 26, 2026 · Reviewed by the Ball State Preceptor placement team

Talk to your course faculty this week, before the gap grows. At Ball State an Incomplete in NUR 634 or NUR 681 to NUR 684 keeps you out of the next NP clinical course, hours worked while you are noncompliant in American Data Bank must be repeated, and a second preceptor needs faculty approval before any of its hours count. Here is how to size the gap and close it.

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Table. Ball State FNP clinical hours and the pace Ball State describes: NUR 634 Advanced Health Assessment, 60; NUR 681 Primary Care of the Adult 1, 120, with 8 on campus in Muncie; NUR 682 Primary Care of Children, 120; NUR 683 Primary Care of the Adult 2, 120. — Ball State FNP clinical hours and the pace Ball State describes: NUR 634 Advanced Health Assessment, 60; NUR 681 Primary Care of the Adult 1, 120, with 8 on campus in Muncie; NUR 682 Primary Care of Children, 120; NUR 683 Primary Care of the Adult 2, 120.

Size the gap first

Start with the numbers, because faculty will ask for them. Take the course's required hours, subtract what is signed on your clinical time sheet, and divide by the weeks left. Since Fall 2026 Ball State runs 15-week semesters, and its MS page expects 8 to 12 hours a week for a clinical course.

Ball State FNP clinical hours and the pace Ball State describes
Course	Clinical hours	Ball State's stated average
`NUR 634` Advanced Health Assessment	60	About 1 day a week
`NUR 681` Primary Care of the Adult 1	120, with 8 on campus in Muncie	About 1 day a week
`NUR 682` Primary Care of Children	120	About 1 day a week
`NUR 683` Primary Care of the Adult 2	120	About 1 day a week
`NUR 684` Primary Care of Women	90	Not stated
`NUR 673` Practicum-Family Nurse Practitioner	180	About 1.5 to 2 days a week

A student 40 hours short with five weeks left needs about 8 extra hours a week on top of the usual pace, which in practice means a second clinical day. That sum is our own example; your course's requirements set the real target.

The Ball State rules that make it urgent

Four rules turn a shortfall this term into a problem for next term too.

Incompletes are narrow. The graduate handbook reserves an I for extenuating circumstances, judged by your instructor in consultation with the School Director, under a written agreement you both sign.
An Incomplete blocks the sequence. With an I in NUR 634, NUR 681, NUR 682, NUR 683 or NUR 684, you cannot start another NP clinical course until you finish it with a passing grade.
An unfinished I turns into an F. The catalog allows up to a year, which the Graduate School dean may extend once, and the nursing handbook permits only one failed course before dismissal.
Clinical performance is graded satisfactory or unsatisfactory, and an unsatisfactory clinical evaluation means an F for the course.

The full detail is on the grades and time limits page. The practical point: an Incomplete can rescue a term, and it can also push your next clinical course back.

Hours that do not count: ADB compliance

Before you add a single make-up shift, open your American Data Bank dashboard. Ball State's handbook bars noncompliant students from accumulating clinical hours and makes them repeat any hours completed while noncompliant, so a lapsed TB test or CPR card can quietly erase the very hours you are adding.

The penalties stack. Each clinical course starts you with 20 Clinical Expectation Points, and four come off for each noncompliant week; being out of compliance during more than four weeks of one semester brings an automatic clinical failure. ADB's review of an upload can take 3 to 5 business days and the School will not speed it up. The ADB and CORE page has the full rules.

Hours worked while ADB shows you as noncompliant do not count, and you will have to work them again. Check compliance before any catch-up plan, not after it.

Talk to course faculty before adding time

Ball State's handbook gives clinical-hour questions to course faculty, and they grade the course, so bring them your numbers and a plan rather than only the problem. Good questions to ask:

How many hours remain, based on what you have on record?
Can the extra hours run at my current site if my preceptor adds a day?
Would a second preceptor or site be acceptable for this course, and what has to be in place first?
If the gap cannot close this term, is an Incomplete possible, and what would the written agreement require?
How would a delay affect my next clinical course and my plan of study?

Concerns that stay unresolved after talking with course faculty go to the Graduate Programs Director, and the Graduate Clinical Placement Coordinator can point you to the right person whenever you are unsure.

Adding a second preceptor, with approval

A second preceptor is often the quickest fix when your first has cut days or the practice sees too few of the patients the course needs. It is also a new clinical placement, so it carries every requirement the first one did: a fit with the course's focus, a site in an authorized state and outside your own unit or clinic, an agency that signs Ball State's affiliation agreement in original form, and packet paperwork for the new preceptor.

Log nothing there until course faculty have approved it. Ball State normally suggests arranging an agency about a semester ahead, so mid-term the realistic targets are practices that can sign quickly, and one already familiar with Ball State's agreement may move faster. Keep each preceptor's hours clearly separate on your time sheet.

How we help you catch up

When a Ball State student falls behind, our placement desk looks for a second preceptor who fits the same course, close enough for an extra weekly day, at an agency ready for the standard agreement. You get the preceptor's details to take to course faculty, so approval can come before the first added shift.

We also look ahead. If the shortfall came from a preceptor who left, we check that the site for your next course is steady, send you the ADB dates that fall inside the term, and keep a backup ready. How it works shows the full process, and if you have no preceptor at all, start with what to do this week.

Questions Ball State students ask

Can I get an Incomplete in a Ball State clinical course?

Possibly, but it is not automatic. The graduate handbook limits an Incomplete to extenuating circumstances, with your instructor and the School Director deciding whether the reason qualifies and a written agreement signed by you both. In an NP clinical course it also holds up the next one, so weigh it with course faculty and your advisor.

Do hours from a second site count toward the same Ball State course?

They can, once course faculty approve the site before you work there and the agency, agreement and packet forms are in place. Hours logged at a site nobody approved may not count at all. Keep a separate record for each preceptor on your time sheet so faculty can see exactly where your total came from.

Do hours I worked while my ADB record was expired count?

No. Ball State's graduate handbook says noncompliant students cannot accumulate clinical hours and must repeat any completed during that stretch. Each item has to be approved, not just uploaded, by its expiration date, and ADB's review can take 3 to 5 business days, so renew well before anything lapses.

Who do I tell if my preceptor cuts my clinical days?

Your course faculty first, since the handbook sends preceptor and clinical-hour concerns to them. If you are unsure who else needs to know, the Graduate Clinical Placement Coordinator can direct you. Report it early, with your hours so far and the weeks left, and bring a plan for extra days or a second site.

Can I start my next clinical course while finishing hours from this one?

Not in the FNP sequence if the unfinished course carries an Incomplete. Ball State's handbook says an I in NUR 634 or NUR 681 to NUR 684 must be finished with a passing grade before you take another NP clinical course, which can shift your plan of study by a term or more.

Ball State systemGrades and time limitsHow Ball State grades graduate nursing clinicals, why an Incomplete blocks the next NP clinical course, the six-year limit, inactivity and transfer credit.ComplianceAmerican Data Bank and COREHow Ball State nursing students clear health requirements in American Data Bank, link CORE in their first clinical semester and keep clinical hours counting.Placement helpNo preceptor yetBall State clinical course close and no preceptor? This week: tell faculty early, know the faculty-site rule, widen the search and get the agreement moving.Ball State systemFNP 690 hoursHow Ball State's MS FNP reaches 690 clinical hours: six NUR courses from 60 to 180 hours, NUR 610's extra 45, the 682 family practice hours and days per week.Ball State systemWho does whatEvery Ball State role in a graduate clinical course, from the placement and compliance coordinators to the DNP Project Committee, and what to ask each one.Placement helpHow it worksHow our placement desk finds a Ball State nursing student a preceptor who fits the NUR course, the state rules and the affiliation agreement, step by step.

Last checked 2026-09-26

We check these pages against Ball State's own catalog, graduate handbook, program pages and State Authorization Map, and Indiana rules. Your course faculty, your advisor and the Graduate Clinical Placement Coordinator have the final word.

Ball State asks you to find your preceptor. We find one near you.

Tell us your Ball State track, where you live and when your next clinical course starts. We find preceptors near you who fit the course, confirm the practice will sign Ball State's affiliation agreement, and line up a backup, so the School of Nursing can clear the site before the semester.

Preceptors matched to the course: pediatrics for NUR 682, women's health for NUR 684, adult primary care for NUR 681 and NUR 683
Outside your own unit or clinic, in a state where Ball State's program is authorized
Across Indiana, from Muncie to Evansville, and in the other states Ball State accepts

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