NURS 600 and 601: Gonzaga's health assessment pair

How the two courses fit together

NURS 600 is the 3-credit Advanced Health Assessment course, and NURS 601, Advanced Health Assessment Practicum I, is its 1-credit clinical companion. You register for both in the same term. Gonzaga's program materials describe roughly 13 hours of supervised lab inside NURS 600, with the 60-hour precepted clinical carried by NURS 601.

Both MSN nurse practitioner tracks share the pair, as do Second MSN students in either specialty and current Post-Baccalaureate DNP students. Gonzaga's FNP program page adds a rule worth reading twice: NURS 600 cannot be passed without satisfactory clinical performance. Lab skills and exams alone will not carry the course; the clinical hours are part of passing it.

Who can supervise NURS 601

Gonzaga's sources differ slightly on this course. The catalog entry for NURS 601 names a nurse practitioner or physician, while the program web pages add physician assistants. Treat the course syllabus and your course faculty as the deciding word before you approach a PA, and keep an NP or physician option in reserve.

Gonzaga's general preceptor standard applies on top: someone in active practice, with a year or more in the specialty they will teach, a clean and current license in your practicum state, and proof of licensure plus national board certification. The preceptor requirements guide sets these out track by track.

Two limits narrow the field further. Your preceptor may not be your direct supervisor, and a practicum inside your own employer needs faculty approval under Gonzaga's workplace practicum rules. Faculty sign off on each site request before a single hour begins.

When the pair lands in your plan

NURS 600 and NURS 601 open only after Advanced Pathophysiology (NURS 523) and Advanced Pharmacology (NURS 524). In the nine-semester MSN that places them in year two, somewhere in semesters four to six. Second MSN plans are individualized, so the pair is likely to come in the second or third term. The first clinical course guide maps timing for every program.

1. Well before the term: start the local searchGonzaga's first step is yours. Approach primary care providers near you who might precept, as soon as your progression plan shows the health assessment term.
2. Submit the site requestYour Practicum Site Placement Request goes to faculty, who review the preceptor and site and give final approval.
3. Clear the siteAn active affiliation agreement and CPNW compliance have to be in place before any hour counts.
4. Confirm the scheduleAbout two weeks before the rotation, settle dates with your preceptor and hand over a CV or resume with written learning goals.
5. Log and close outRecord encounters weekly (Typhon, or CORE if your cohort has moved), then your preceptor completes the end-of-term evaluation.

Why Gonzaga students choose us for NURS 601

A first practicum is where a slow search costs the most, because the whole progression plan rests on it. We are specialists in Gonzaga's clinical process, and we build the NURS 601 search around it: a primary care preceptor in your own state whose credentials match what the syllabus names, at a site that can host a student for 60 hours in your term.

Your file for the Practicum Site Placement Request and the Clinical Placement Team comes together in one pass: proof of the preceptor's license and certification, who signs agreements at the site, proposed clinic dates inside the term, and a short case for why the setting suits NURS 601. Approval stays with Gonzaga's faculty, and the file they open is whole from the start. PMHNP students get the same care, with a primary care match for this one course before the psychiatric sequence begins. Tell us your term and state with the form below.