Logging your UC clinical hours so they count

When a logged hour actually counts

Four conditions have to line up before UC counts an hour toward a course total. Miss one and the hour can sit in eMedley without moving you any closer to finishing.

• Your preceptor is approved by UC and appears in eMedley. In nurse-midwifery, a clinician who supervises you for 8 hours or longer must file a full application too.
• An Educational Affiliation Agreement with the site is in effect. UC's Preceptor Guide rules out clinical hours at a site without one.
• The hours fall between the semester's start and end dates.
• Your preceptor has verified the time log.

The first two are settled before the term through your Clinical Site Coordinator; our affiliation agreement page explains that side. The last two are yours to manage week by week, and they're what the rest of this page covers.

The 14-day verification cycle

UC's eMedley page for preceptors says they should plan to verify time logs every 14 days, and the October 2025 Clinical Planning Reference Guide lists biweekly validation of time logs among preceptor duties. Verification happens in eClas, the part of eMedley preceptors use for time. The eMedley page explains the rest of the system.

1. Log the dayEnter each clinical day's hours while it's fresh, and keep them consistent with what your preceptor would remember from their own schedule.
2. Flag the windowEvery two weeks, send your preceptor a short note that entries are waiting. Preceptors are busy clinicians, and a nudge keeps two weeks of entries from turning into six.
3. Settle questions fastIf your preceptor queries an entry, correct it while both of you remember the day. A disputed entry at week 14 is far harder to sort out.
4. Close out the termBefore the semester ends, confirm every entry is verified and download your case logs for your own records.

Semester dates are a hard edge

UC counts clinical hours only within semester dates, and the reason is insurance. The 2026–27 Student Handbook says UC's student malpractice coverage applies only between the start and end dates of each semester, and the FNP clinical FAQ tells students they can't do clinicals between terms because of it.

The handbook names one exception: coverage continues for a student with a satisfactory progress (SP) or incomplete (I) grade. If you expect to finish hours after the term closes, raise it with course faculty well before the last week.

These are the university calendar's dates. Half-semester sessions also run each term, so confirm your first and last clinical day with your course faculty.

Weekly pace, caps and carry-forward by track

UC publishes weekly limits and carry-forward rules for only some tracks. Where the table says none published, we found no rule in UC's current clinical requirement documents. That isn't permission to do anything you like, so ask course faculty before you plan an unusual week.

FNP is the only track with a published carry-forward allowance: finish a practicum above its required hours, and up to 32 of the extra hours can carry forward. Course totals for every track are on our clinical hours page.

Time that risks not counting

Lost hours usually trace back to a few situations, and none of them can be repaired by tidier logging after the fact. Check each one before the shift, not after.

• Shifts worked before the term starts or after it ends, including over winter or summer break.
• Days spent with a clinician who isn't your approved preceptor, even at the same practice.
• Hours at a site whose agreement hasn't been signed yet, even with an approved preceptor.
• Telehealth time in a track that doesn't allow it, or without program director approval; our telehealth hours page shows who may count it.
• FNP weeks above 40 hours, or AGPCNP days shorter than 4 hours with the preceptor.

If your hours are falling behind

Compare your verified total with the course requirement by midterm. If the gap keeps growing, tell your course faculty early and ask your CSC whether adding an approved preceptor is possible. Some tracks limit how many preceptors you can use per term: AGPCNP permits two per semester, with a single preceptor in Practicum I unless faculty agree otherwise, and PMHNP also permits two per semester.

Any new preceptor still has to be approved by UC before their hours count, so the earlier you raise it, the more of the term is left to use. Our behind on clinical hours page sets out the options. If you need another preceptor quickly, a placement advisor can search while your CSC handles approval; use the form on this page.