MEGAI, the campus skills intensive for Augusta University NP students
MEGAI is a multi-day, in-person skills event Augusta University runs for its DNP-FNP, DNP-AGACNP and DNP-PNP students, with hands-on work in suturing, joint injections, ultrasound and casting. The university explains what it is and why it matters, but not when it happens, how long it lasts or what it costs. This guide sets out what is known, what to ask, and how we keep your clinical placements on schedule around it.
Keep your clinicals on track around MEGAI
Tell us your track, your next clinical course and where you live in Georgia or South Carolina.
What Augusta University says about MEGAI
The name stands for Mastering Engagement Gaining Awareness through campus Intensive Experiences. On its DNP program page, Augusta University describes a multi-day event for College of Nursing FNP, AGACNP and PNP students that brings a mostly online cohort to campus to work with faculty face to face.
The stated purpose is skills. Faculty support students as they learn procedures such as suturing, joint injections, ultrasounds and casting. Augusta University links the intensive to the National Taskforce Standards for Quality NP Education and calls it an integral part of the curriculum, which is as close as the page comes to calling it expected.
That short passage is the whole public description. The DNP Handbook, revised for fall 2026, does not mention MEGAI, since it covers the residency and the DNP Project rather than the clinical side of each track.
What is not published
Augusta University's public pages leave these questions open. Your course faculty or the DNP program office can answer them for your cohort.
- Dates, and whether MEGAI happens once or more than once during the program.
- Length beyond multi-day, and the daily schedule.
- Which semester or year of the plan it falls in, and whether it belongs to a particular course.
- Cost, including any fee, travel and lodging.
- Whether PMHNP, post-graduate certificate or post-master's students take part; only FNP, AGACNP and PNP are named.
- Attendance and make-up rules if you cannot be there.
- Whether time at MEGAI counts toward any course's lab hours.
The common planning mistake: assuming MEGAI will fall in a quiet week. Until your cohort has dates, keep some slack in your work schedule, and let your preceptor know early that a multi-day campus event is coming.
The on-campus pieces Augusta University does publish
MEGAI is one of several in-person or hands-on elements described for BSN-to-DNP students. Knowing the others helps you budget trips, though Augusta University does not say whether any of them are combined with MEGAI.
| Element | What is published | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Face-to-face orientation | Accepted students must attend | Graduate School admission requirements |
| Face-to-face defense | Required of accepted students | Graduate School admission requirements |
| Hybrid delivery | On-campus and online instruction with simulation and clinicals | DNP Handbook, fall 2026 |
| Cohort location | The Augusta campus, in a program approved as more than half online | 2026-27 catalog |
| Lab hours | 45 each in NURS 7470 and NURS 7460, 45 in each Practice I, and 45 in AGACNP Practice II | Fall 2026 plans of study |
| Skills lab fee | Listed on NP practice courses | 2026-27 catalog |
| DNP poster day | On campus or by web conference, about a month before graduation | DNP Handbook, fall 2026 |
| MEGAI | Multi-day skills intensive for FNP, AGACNP and PNP | DNP program page |
Post-master's DNP students face a different campus question: the catalog mentions one or two visits, while the program pages describe those tracks as fully online. The post-master's DNP guide covers that conflict.
How far you will travel
Augusta University names its Augusta campus as the cohort location for the NP tracks, and the MEGAI description says the event is on campus, so plan for a trip to Augusta unless faculty say otherwise. Because NP students may live anywhere in Georgia or South Carolina under the residence rule, that trip ranges from a short drive to a long day.
By our routing estimates from downtown Augusta, Columbia is about 80 driving miles away, Athens about 100, Greenville about 110, Savannah about 125, Charleston about 145 and Atlanta about 150. Myrtle Beach, Columbus and Rome sit around 215 to 220 miles out, Valdosta about 235 and Bainbridge about 275.
For a multi-day event, students from the far corners of either state will likely need lodging. College of Nursing policy leaves transportation and any overnight lodging for clinical agencies to the student; Augusta University publishes no separate rule for MEGAI, so our suggestion is to budget as if the same approach applies.
Planning your clinicals around MEGAI
- Ask early.At orientation, ask your course faculty or the DNP program office when your cohort's MEGAI is expected and how long it runs, and watch your university email, which the catalog asks students to check every day.
- Hold the dates.Once dates exist, block them with your employer and, if you are in a clinical course that term, with your preceptor and site.
- Protect your hours.If the intensive overlaps a clinical term, add clinical days before or after it so your hours stay on pace. College of Nursing attendance policy expects you to notify your clinical instructor and the site contact before any missed clinical day.
- Mind the work rule.If you move work shifts to make room for campus days, remember that College of Nursing policy bars working in the eight hours before any clinical.
- Log only what counts.Record time in the College of Nursing tracking system only as your course directs; see the tracking system guide.
Putting MEGAI skills to work in your placements
Every skill on the MEGAI list is a procedure, and procedures need patients. In our view, the payoff comes from a preceptor whose practice lets students perform them under supervision: suturing and casting in urgent care, family practice or orthopedics, joint injections in sports medicine or orthopedic clinics, and point-of-care ultrasound in emergency and critical care settings for AGACNP students.
Whether you may perform a given procedure depends on the site and your course faculty, and Augusta University does not publish procedure rules for NP clinicals. When our placement desk matches FNP, AGACNP and PNP students, we ask each practice what students may do hands-on, so you know before the term whether your campus skills will get used. The FNP, AGACNP and PNP course guides show where those settings fit each course. To start a search, use the placement form.
Questions Augusta University students ask
Is MEGAI required for Augusta University NP students?
Augusta University's page does not use the word required. It calls the intensive an integral part of the curriculum, backed by national NP education standards, which suggests you should plan to attend. Ask your course faculty about attendance expectations and what happens if a work or family conflict comes up.
When is MEGAI held?
Augusta University does not post MEGAI dates, frequency or length online. Ask at your face-to-face orientation or contact the DNP program office through the DNP program page, and watch your university inbox. Once your cohort has dates, we build them into your clinical schedule and your preceptor's calendar.
Do PMHNP students attend MEGAI?
The published description names only FNP, AGACNP and PNP students, and PMHNP does not appear. The procedural skill list may explain that, but Augusta University does not say. PMHNP students should ask the College of Nursing directly rather than assume either way, and keep the face-to-face orientation and defense on their calendars.
Does MEGAI cost extra?
Augusta University publishes no price or fee for the intensive itself. The catalog lists a nursing skills lab fee on NP practice courses without tying it to MEGAI, and College of Nursing policy leaves clinical travel and lodging to students. Ask the DNP program office what, if anything, applies to the intensive, and budget for travel either way.
Do post-graduate certificate students attend MEGAI?
The MEGAI description mentions DNP students in the FNP, AGACNP and PNP tracks only. Neither the AGACNP nor the PMHNP post-graduate certificate is named, so certificate students should check with their own program office before planning travel, booking lodging or rearranging clinical days.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-27
We check these pages against Augusta University's own catalog, program plans, DNP handbook and program pages, and Georgia and South Carolina rules. Your course faculty and the College of Nursing have the final word.
Whatever your program arranges, we find the preceptor who fits.
Tell us your Augusta University track, where in Georgia or South Carolina you live and when your next clinical course starts. We find preceptors near you who fit the course and Augusta University's rules, and hand you everything your faculty and the site need, well before the semester.
- Adult, pediatric and older-adult preceptors for
NURS 8312toNURS 8318, acute care forNURS 8332toNURS 8338 - Pediatric primary care for the PNP courses and psychiatric preceptors for
NURS 8342toNURS 8348 - Across Georgia and South Carolina, from the CSRA to Savannah, Atlanta and Columbia
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