NRSG 623 Advanced Health Assessment for the APRN
NRSG 623 Advanced Health Assessment for the APRN is the last of the University of Southern Indiana's three clinical core courses: three credits, taught in Summer, with no direct clinical hours. Hands-on practice comes through i-Human simulations, which USI counts as indirect hours, and the same summer is when the preceptor for your first Fall clinical course needs to be approved.
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NRSG 623NRSG 622
Where NRSG 623 sits in your plan
USI groups pathophysiology, pharmacology and health assessment into a nine-credit clinical core, the "3Ps" on its program pages. Each is offered once a year in a fixed order, and 623 closes the set. All three NP tracks take it, as do post-master's certificate students unless the course transfers in.
| Course | Title | Credits | Term | Direct hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|
NRSG 621 | Advanced Pathophysiology for the APRN | 3 | Fall | None |
NRSG 622 | Advanced Clinical Pharmacology for the APRN | 3 | Spring, after 621 | None |
NRSG 623 | Advanced Health Assessment for the APRN | 3 | Summer, after 622 | None; i-Human indirect hours |
NRSG 641 | Introduction to Primary Care Across the Lifespan (FNP) | 2 | Summer, after 622 | None listed |
623 is also a gate. NRSG 643, the first family primary care clinical course, lists 623 and NRSG 641 as prerequisites, each with a B or better, and it runs only in Fall. NRSG 653, the first psychiatric clinical course, likewise requires 623 and NRSG 651. The summer of 623 is therefore the last term before your first direct clinical hours.
i-Human: indirect hours, not preceptor time
The Course Requirements page in the Graduate Nursing Handbook is direct about it: no direct clinical hours are required in 623. In their place, students purchase access to i-Human, a patient simulation platform that USI also requires in the first two specialty courses, and USI classifies that simulation work as indirect clinical hours for the program.
The label matters when you add up your hours. Indirect hours stay outside the 750 direct hours of the NP tracks, so nothing you complete in 623 reduces the time you will spend with preceptors in Fall, Spring and Summer.
The i-Human requirement and the Barkley Board Review that comes later are both covered on the i-Human and Barkley page.
Health assessment used to carry patient hours
Older USI students remember this course differently. The 2023 handbook listed its predecessor, N618 Advanced Health Assessment, with a minimum of 45 clinical hours. The 2026-27 rebuild gave the clinical core new NRSG numbers, placed 623 in Summer after pharmacology, and moved every direct hour into the specialty courses. That shift is part of why each NP track now shows 750 direct hours in three clinical courses.
623 also has no 800-level twin. Where the specialty courses come in pairs (NRSG 643 for the MSN, NRSG 843 for the BSN-to-DNP), BSN-to-DNP students in the FNP, AGACNP and PMHNP routes take the same NRSG 623 in their own nine-credit clinical core before moving on to 800-level specialty courses.
Use the 623 summer to lock in your Fall preceptor
This is the timing students tend to miss. USI's Preceptor Packet (Form G) must be submitted 6 weeks before the clinical rotation starts. For a Fall course that begins in mid-August, as Fall 2026 did on August 17, the six-week mark falls in early July, right in the middle of 623. Another handbook page speaks of one month or 4 weeks; plan to the earlier date, as the deadlines page explains.
- Spring, during
NRSG 622Settle what kind of family, acute care or psychiatric site suits your first clinical course and start contacting preceptors in your own community. - Late Spring to early SummerMeet the preceptor, hand over the Preceptor Packet and a one-page CV with a professional photo, and ask the office who signs affiliation agreements.
- Six weeks before FallEmail the completed packet and the Request for USI Clinical Education Agreement, typed and as PDFs, to usi1nursing@usi.edu from your USI address.
- Before your first clinical dayWait for the approval email, clear your compliance items, and send your clinical schedule to faculty.
Post-master's students and transfer credit
Post-master's certificate applicants can ask for 623 to transfer. USI considers graduate advanced health assessment from an accredited institution if you completed it within the last five years or can validate current advanced clinical practice, and the web page caps certificate transfer at 9 graduate credits in total.
Transferring 623 changes your course list, not your clinical requirement. The certificate credits no clinical hours from an earlier program, so you still complete every direct hour in the three specialty courses. If 623 is on your USI course list, it still comes right before your first specialty clinical course, so the early-July packet timing above applies to you too. The details for FNP applicants are on the post-master's FNP certificate page.
Why USI students start their search with us during 623
A Summer course and an early-July packet deadline arrive at the same moment, and a preceptor search means phone calls, office visits and follow-up that a working RN in a graduate course has little time for. That overlap is exactly where our placement desk helps most.
Tell us your track and your city while you are in NRSG 622 or early in 623. Your placement advisor finds preceptors who fit your first specialty course, confirms their license, board certification and years as an advanced provider, and gathers the site details and the agreement contact so your packet reaches USI complete and ahead of the deadline. We plan Spring and Summer in the same pass. Start with the form below.
Questions USI students ask
Does NRSG 623 have clinical hours at USI?
No direct clinical hours. The Graduate Nursing Handbook states that none are required in NRSG 623. You complete i-Human simulations instead, which USI counts as indirect clinical hours for the program, but they do not reduce the 750 direct hours you complete with preceptors in the three specialty courses.
When is NRSG 623 offered?
In Summer. The 2026-27 bulletin lists NRSG 623 as a three-credit Summer course with NRSG 622 Advanced Clinical Pharmacology for the APRN as its prerequisite. FNP students also need NRSG 641, another Summer course, since both are prerequisites for NRSG 643 in the Fall that follows.
Do I need a preceptor for NRSG 623?
Not for 623 itself, since it has no direct hours. You do need an approved preceptor for the Fall clinical course that follows, and USI wants the Preceptor Packet 6 weeks before that rotation begins. The preceptor search therefore belongs in the same summer as 623, or better, in the Spring before it.
Is there a BSN-to-DNP version of NRSG 623?
No separate one. BSN-to-DNP students in the FNP, AGACNP and PMHNP routes take NRSG 623 in their clinical core alongside NRSG 621 and NRSG 622. Their specialty clinical courses carry 800-level numbers, such as NRSG 843, NRSG 833 and NRSG 853, with the same hours as the MSN versions.
What grade do I need in NRSG 623?
A B or better. USI requires a B or better in every graduate nursing course, and NRSG 643 and NRSG 653 list 623 with a B or better as a prerequisite. Because those clinical courses run only in Fall, a lower grade can hold your clinical sequence until the next Fall. See grades and progression.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-25
We check these pages against USI's own bulletin, program pages and Graduate Nursing Handbook. Your handbook, course faculty and the Nursing Clinical Coordinator have the final word.
USI makes the search your job. We make it the easy part.
Tell us your USI track, your city and your next clinical semester. We find preceptors who fit the NRSG course and fill the Preceptor Packet and Clinical Education Agreement request with typed, complete details, well before USI's 6-week window.
- Preceptors matched to the course: family primary care for FNP, acute care teams for AGACNP, PMHNPs and psychiatrists for PMHNP
- Preceptor license, certification, years of practice and the site's agreement signer ready for the packet
- Fall, Spring and Summer planned together, close to home in a state USI enrolls
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