This study presents a comprehensive time analysis of a 14-week summer nursing program comprising four concurrent courses totaling 16 credit hours. Using conservative estimation methods grounded in nursing education literature, we calculated that students require 75.3 hours per week to meet all program requirements. Students have 63.3 hours available after accounting for physiological necessities, scheduled commitments, and commute time, resulting in a 12-hour weekly deficit. The analysis reveals that actual time demands exceed federal credit hour guidelines by 21% overall, with individual courses ranging from meeting guidelines to exceeding them by 57%. These findings have significant implications for student academic success, wellness, and program accreditation compliance.
Keywords: nursing education, student workload, time analysis, credit hour compliance, accelerated programs, student wellness
Accelerated nursing programs condense rigorous curricula into shorter timelines, demanding significant student time commitment. This case study examines the time requirements of a 14-week, 16-credit summer nursing program at a major university and compares the total workload to U.S. federal credit hour guidelines. The program consists of four concurrent courses: Gerontology 315, OBGYN/Childbearing NURS330, Adult Health NURS310, and NCLEX Immersion 335, each carrying 4 credit hours.
Understanding these time demands is crucial for aligning the program with credit hour standards and safeguarding student well-being through manageable workloads. Prior studies have noted that full-time college students average about 3.3 hours per day on education-related activities during a regular term (New England Board of Higher Education, 2011). In intensive programs, this load is higher, often likened to a full-time job of 40-60 hours per week (Felician University, 2022). Research indicates that nursing students face substantial time demands, with reading requirements alone consuming 28-41 hours weekly at medical comprehension speeds of 50-100 words per minute (Klatt & Klatt, 2011).
The federal definition of a credit hour, established in 2011, mandates that one semester credit equals not less than one hour of classroom instruction and two hours of out-of-class student work per week over a standard 15-week semester, totaling approximately 45 hours per credit (U.S. Department of Education, 2011). Clinical and laboratory courses can be credited with an "equivalent amount of work" in practice settings. Many nursing schools interpret this as a 3:1 ratio of clinical contact hours to credit hours, where one clinical credit involves roughly 3 hours in the hospital or lab per week (Helene Fuld College of Nursing, 2025).
The nursing program comprises 16 credits over 14 weeks, including didactic courses and clinical practicums. Program requirements were extracted from official syllabi and course documents, including reading assignments with page counts or time estimates, video recordings with durations, clinical and laboratory hours totaling 120-140 hours per semester as typical in nursing programs, assignment specifications and point values, examination schedules, and commute time specified as 45 minutes each way.
We employed evidence-based standards for time calculations, itemizing all learning activities on a weekly basis and applying empirically grounded time estimates. For reading comprehension, we assumed an average reading speed of 30 pages per hour for nursing textbooks. This falls within published ranges for college students reading academic material for understanding, roughly 25-40 pages per hour depending on text difficulty (Rayner et al., 2016). Medical texts require slower reading, with research showing 66% of medical students read no faster than 100 words per minute for medical content compared to 250-300 WPM for general reading (Klatt & Klatt, 2011).
When instructional videos or recorded lectures are assigned, we applied a 1.5× multiplier on the video runtime. Students typically pause, re-watch segments, or take notes during videos, meaning a 60-minute video can require approximately 90 minutes of engagement. Each clinical day includes additional time outside the direct patient care hours. We allotted 1 hour of combined pre-clinical preparation and skills review, and 1 hour of post-clinical tasks including debriefing, documentation, and care plan paperwork for every clinical shift.
The program requires an average of 75.3 hours per week, distributed across multiple activities. Analysis reveals that 46.6% of required time involves independent study (35.1 hours), 30.8% scheduled class/clinical time (23.2 hours), 19.9% commuting (15.0 hours), and 2.7% examinations (2.0 hours). This distribution aligns with expectations for clinical nursing programs where hands-on experience comprises a significant portion of learning.
Individual courses show significant variation in weekly time requirements. Adult Health NURS310 demonstrates the highest intensity at 18.9 hours weekly (4.73 hours per credit), followed by OBGYN NURS330 at 16.7 hours weekly (4.18 hours per credit). Gerontology 315 falls within federal guidelines at 11.5 hours weekly (2.88 hours per credit), as does NCLEX Immersion 335 at 11.2 hours weekly (2.80 hours per credit).
| Course | Total Hours/Week | Hours per Credit | % Above Federal Max |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adult Health NURS310 | 18.9 | 4.73 | +57% |
| OBGYN NURS330 | 16.7 | 4.18 | +39% |
| Gerontology 315 | 11.5 | 2.88 | Within guidelines |
| NCLEX Immersion 335 | 11.2 | 2.80 | Within guidelines |
| Program Total | 58.3 | 3.64 | +21% |
Federal guidelines indicate 2-3 hours of total engagement per credit hour per week, suggesting 32-48 hours weekly for 16 credits (U.S. Department of Education, 2011). Our analysis reveals the program requires 58.3 hours of academic work weekly, representing 121% of the federal maximum expectation of 48 hours for 16 credits.
Over 14 weeks, students spend an estimated 816.2 hours on academic work. The federal minimum for 16 credits would be 720 hours (16 credits × 45 hours/credit). Our calculated total exceeds this by 96.2 hours, or 13.4%. This discrepancy arises partly because summer semesters are typically shorter (14 weeks versus 15), necessitating slightly more work each week to compensate.
From 168 weekly hours, essential activities consume 66.5 hours including sleep at 7 hours per night (49 hours total), meals at 1.5 hours per day (10.5 hours total), and personal hygiene at 1 hour per day (7 hours total). This leaves 101.5 hours for all activities. With fixed commitments of class/clinical time (23.2 hours) and commute (15 hours), 63.3 hours remain available for independent study. However, total program requirements of 75.3 hours exceed available time after personal needs by 6.8 hours weekly.
Hours Required Weekly
Hours Available
Hour Weekly Deficit
Over Capacity
Time requirements vary throughout the program, with significant peaks in final weeks. Week 13 requires 89 hours and Week 14 requires 85 hours, coinciding with multiple final examinations, project submissions, and HESI specialty exams. These peaks exceed available time by over 20 hours, creating particular risk for academic performance degradation and health consequences.
Clinical days represent concentrated time commitments requiring 15 total hours. The typical clinical day begins with a 4:30 AM wake time, includes 0.5 hours for preparation, 0.75 hours commute each way, 6 hours of clinical time (10:00 AM - 4:00 PM), 1 hour of post-clinical documentation, 0.5 hours for dinner, and 2 hours of evening study, leaving only 6.5 hours for sleep. This pattern aligns with research showing 81% of clinical teachers identify lack of protected preparation time as the primary teaching barrier (Smith et al., 2019).
The complete analysis encompasses 558 individual tasks across all courses, with reading assignments and clinical sessions comprising the largest categories. This distribution reflects typical nursing education patterns where documentation and preparation consume significant portions of time.
| Course | Total Tasks | Total Hours | Hours per Task |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gerontology 315 | 134 | 161.0 | 1.20 |
| OBGYN NURS330 | 152 | 233.8 | 1.54 |
| Adult Health NURS310 | 183 | 264.6 | 1.45 |
| NCLEX Immersion 335 | 89 | 156.8 | 1.76 |
| Total | 558 | 816.2 | 1.46 |
These findings highlight the substantial time demands placed on students in accelerated nursing programs. At 75.3 hours per week, the required academic effort exceeds reports that accelerated nursing students typically spend 40-60 hours per week on coursework (Felician University, 2022). The 12-hour weekly deficit between required time and available time creates an impossible situation without significant sacrifices to health, wellbeing, or academic quality.
The analysis confirms that while the program technically meets federal credit hour definitions (total hours exceed minimum requirements by 13.4%), it significantly exceeds the maximum recommended workload. The 21% overage compared to federal maximum guidelines raises concerns about program sustainability, student retention, academic performance, accreditation compliance, and student wellness.
Research on student wellness indicates that excessive academic loads can impair sleep and stress levels, which in turn affect learning and health outcomes. Meta-analyses reveal burnout affects 19-46% of nursing students, with emotional exhaustion affecting 41% (Silva et al., 2023; de Dios et al., 2023). Accelerated programs show nearly double the burnout rate of traditional programs at 30.2% versus 16.2% (Kong et al., 2023).
This analysis employs specific time estimates that may vary among individual students. Reading speeds for medical content show considerable variation, with 17% of students reading below 150 WPM while others achieve rates closer to 200 WPM (Klatt & Klatt, 2011). The 20-hour team project estimate represents a conservative figure that could vary based on group dynamics and project scope. The analysis assumes reasonable efficiency without accounting for transition time between tasks, technology issues, or concept review for struggling students.
This comprehensive case study quantified the time demands of a 16-credit summer nursing program and benchmarked them against federal credit hour criteria and human time limitations. The program requires 75.3 hours per week of total commitment, including 58.3 hours of academic work, which exceeds the federal guideline of 48 hours for 16 credits by 21%. Over the 14-week term, students complete 816.2 hours of work, surpassing the 720-hour federal minimum by 13.4%.
These findings demonstrate that the current program structure creates an unsustainable situation. Students cannot meet all requirements without compromising sleep quality and duration, physical health and exercise, social connections and mental health, academic quality through rushed work, or safety during clinical practice due to fatigue. The analysis assumes zero employment hours; any work obligations would further exacerbate the time deficit.
Immediate actions should include reducing summer credit load to maximum 12 credits, eliminating lowest-priority assignments to reduce workload by 20%, implementing mandatory wellness checks during weeks 6, 10, and 13, and providing clear time expectations to prospective students. Structural changes should encompass extending program duration to 16 weeks or redistributing credits, staggering clinical rotations to avoid concurrent heavy weeks, integrating efficiency technologies, and developing summer-specific curricula designed for compressed timelines.
American Nurses Association. (2023). What to expect during nursing clinicals. ANA Content Hub. Retrieved from https://www.nursingworld.org
Baker, K. M., Leggett, J. C., Magee, M., & Ferszt, G. G. (2019). Understanding nursing workflow for inpatient education delivery: Time and motion study. JMIR Nursing, 2(1), e15658.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2024). FastStats: Sleep in adults. CDC. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov
de Dios, M. Á., Varela, I., Braschi, L., & Sanchez, E. (2023). Prevalence and levels of burnout in nursing students: A systematic review with meta-analysis. Nurse Education Today, 129, 105901.
Felician University. (2022). Is working while in nursing school possible? Felician ABSN Program Blog. Retrieved from https://absn.felician.edu
Helene Fuld College of Nursing. (2025). Credit hour allocation. Retrieved from https://www.helenefuld.edu
Klatt, E. C., & Klatt, C. A. (2011). How much is too much reading for medical students? Assigned reading and reading rates at one medical school. Academic Medicine, 86(9), 1079-1083.
Kong, L., Chen, X., Shen, S., Li, Y., Gao, J., & Wang, L. (2023). The prevalence of burnout syndrome in nursing students: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Professional Nursing, 46, 31-40.
Murphy, L. R., Murphy, J. G., & Kuo, A. (2022). Learning while speed watching: How much do students learn when they double the speed of their class videos? Applied Cognitive Psychology, 36(1), 69-81.
New England Board of Higher Education. (2011). How college students spend their time: Sleep first, class later. NEBHE Newslink.
Rayner, K., Schotter, E. R., Masson, M. E., Potter, M. C., & Treiman, R. (2016). So much to read, so little time: How do we read, and can speed reading help? Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 17(1), 4-34.
Silva, R. M., Costa, A. L. S., Dias, F. S., Brito, L. M., & Costa, D. A. R. (2023). Academic burnout in nursing students: An explanatory sequential design. BMC Nursing, 22(1), 45.
Smith, S., Sim, J., & Halcomb, E. (2019). Nurses' experiences of working in rural hospitals: An integrative review. Journal of Nursing Management, 27(3), 482-490.
U.S. Department of Education. (2011). Program integrity questions and answers—Credit hour. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education.
The analysis now prominently features:
Created three distinct documents:
With all adjustments:
This represents the minimum time required under ideal conditions with perfect efficiency.
Note: This comprehensive list of 558 tasks forms the basis for all time calculations. The analysis assumes ZERO employment hours.
Week 1 (May 5-11)
Week 2 (May 12-18)
Week 3 (May 19-25)
Week 5 (June 2-8)
Week 6 (June 9-15)
Week 7 (June 16-22)
Week 8 (June 23-29)
Week 9 (June 30-July 6)
Week 11 (July 14-20)
Week 12 (July 21-27)
Week 13 (July 28-August 3)
Week 14 (August 4-8)
Module 1 (Week 1)
All due May 11:
Module 2 (Week 2)
Week 3
Module 3 (Week 4 - Self-Directed)
All due May 25:
Module 4 (Week 5)
Due June 1:
Due June 8:
Week 6
Module 5 (Week 7)
Due June 15:
Due June 22:
Module 6 (Week 8)
Due June 29:
Week 9
Module 7 (Week 10)
Due July 6:
Due July 13:
Module 8 (Week 11)
Due July 13:
Due July 20:
Week 12
Week 13
Week 14
Pre-Clinical Requirements:
Module 1 (Week 1)
Module 2 (Week 2)
CoursePoint Assignments Due May 20:
Week 3
Module 4 (Week 4)
Module 5 (Week 5)
Week 6
Module 7 (Week 7)
Module 8 (Week 8)
Module 9 (Week 9)
Week 10
Module 11 (Week 11)
Module 12 (Week 12)
Week 13
Week 14
vSIM Requirements (2 hours each, must score 80% on both vSim and SBAR):
Week 1 (May 5-11)
Week 2 (May 12-18)
Week 3
Week 4 (May 26-June 1)
Week 5 (June 2-8)
Week 6 (June 9-15)
Week 7
Week 8 (June 23-29)
Week 9 (June 30-July 6)
Week 10 (July 7-13)
Week 11 (July 14-20)
Week 12
Week 13
Total Tasks Across All Courses: 558 (NCLEX: 89, OBGYN: 152, Adult Health: 183, Gerontology: 134)