This study presents a comprehensive time analysis of a 14‑week summer nursing program comprising four concurrent courses totaling 16 credit hours. Using established educational benchmarks and time‑estimation methods grounded in nursing‑education literature, we calculated that students require 73.3 hours per week to meet all program requirements. Students have 66.5 hours available after accounting for physiological necessities and scheduled commitments, resulting in a 6.8‑hour weekly deficit. Actual time demands exceed federal credit‑hour guidelines by 19.6 %, with individual courses ranging from compliance to exceeding the guideline by 57 %. Findings have implications for student success, wellness, and accreditation compliance.
nursing education, student workload, time analysis, credit‑hour compliance, accelerated programs, student wellness
Accelerated nursing programs condense rigorous curricula into shorter timelines and demand significant student commitment. This case study examines the time requirements of a 14‑week, 16‑credit summer nursing program at a major U.S. university and compares the workload to federal credit‑hour guidelines. The curriculum includes Gerontology 315, OBGYN/Childbearing NURS330, Adult Health NURS310, and NCLEX Immersion 335 (4 credits each). Federal regulation defines one credit as one hour of instruction plus two hours of out‑of‑class work weekly (U.S. Department of Education, 2011), or 48 hours weekly for 16 credits. Previous work notes full‑time students spend only ~3.3 hours per day on academics during a regular term, whereas accelerated nursing students may devote 40–60 hours weekly (Felician University, 2022). Reading alone can consume 28–41 hours weekly at medical‑text comprehension rates (Klatt & Klatt, 2011). We quantify whether this summer program exceeds guideline expectations and discuss implications for accreditation and student well‑being.
We extracted weekly schedules, syllabi, page counts, video lengths, clinical and laboratory hours, assignment descriptions, exam calendars, and commuting requirements (45 min each way) from official program documents. Clinical credits were converted using a 3:1 clinical‑hour:credit ratio, consistent with state board practices (Helene Fuld College of Nursing, 2025).
Reading was budgeted at 30 pages h⁻¹ with a 20 % note‑taking buffer (Johnson & Liu, 2022). Video runtime was multiplied by 1.5 to allow pausing and annotation (Murphy et al., 2022). Each clinical shift included 1 hour of pre‑conference and 1 hour of post‑conference documentation (American Nurses Association, 2023). A 20‑hour semester‑long team‑project allocation (≈1.5 h wk⁻¹) was added. Administrative overhead was set at 15 % of total academic hours (Gerolamo et al., 2014). Physiological time requirements (sleep, meals, hygiene) totaled 66.5 h wk⁻¹, based on CDC sleep guidelines (2024) and national student time‑use data (NEBHE, 2011).
The calculated workload averages 73.3 hours per week: 33.1 h independent study (45.2 %), 23.2 h class/clinical (31.7 %), 15 h commuting (20.5 %), and 2 h examinations (2.7 %).
Distribution of weekly required hours.
| Course | Total h wk⁻¹ | h credit⁻¹ wk⁻¹ | % Above 3 h guideline |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adult Health NURS310 | 18.9 | 4.73 | +57 % |
| OBGYN NURS330 | 16.7 | 4.18 | +39 % |
| Gerontology 315 | 10.6 | 2.65 | within |
| NCLEX Immersion 335 | 11.2 | 2.80 | within |
| Program Mean | 57.4 | 3.59 | +19.6 % |
Actual workload per credit versus the federal 3‑hour benchmark.
Workload peaks in Weeks 13–14 at 87 h and 83 h respectively, coinciding with final exams and HESI testing.
Weekly workload trend across the semester.
The program comprises over 797 individual tasks. Reading and clinical/class sessions dominate required activities.
Break‑down of task categories.
A typical clinical day spans 18 hours from a 04 : 30 wake‑up to a 22 : 30 bedtime, leaving only 6 hours for sleep.
Visual timeline of a single clinical day.
The 73.3‑hour weekly demand exceeds the federal 48‑hour upper guideline by 19.6 %. Two courses surpass the 3 h credit⁻¹ limit, echoing prior findings that accelerated nursing cohorts average 40–60 h wk⁻¹. The 6.8‑hour structural deficit forces trade‑offs between sleep, social needs, and academic quality, aligning with burnout prevalence in 30 % of accelerated nursing students (Kong et al., 2023). Educational‑technology interventions such as 1.5–2× video playback could reclaim up to 30 % of lecture time without harming comprehension (Murphy et al., 2022), offering one avenue to mitigate overload.
The Summer 2025 nursing program delivers a robust curriculum but requires sustained weekly commitments that exceed federal credit‑hour expectations. While compliant for accreditation, the intensity underscores the need for institutional support, optimized scheduling, and wellness resources.
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