NSU's DNP project practicum: four courses, 150 hours each
NSU's DNP project runs through four courses, NSG 7431, NSG 7444, NSG 7445 and NSG 7451, each with 2 practicum credits and 150 practicum hours, 600 in all. The coursework is online, but the practicum is face-to-face, so every DNP student needs a real practice site willing to host the project from mentored scholarship through evaluation.
Find a practice site for your DNP project
Tell us your program, your project idea and the semester Project I starts.
The four project courses and their hours
Each project course splits its credits between didactic work and practicum. The practicum share is 2 credits every time, and NSU's BSN to DNP page gives the conversion: "2 credits practicum = 150 practicum hours", which is 75 hours per practicum credit. The didactic share shrinks as the project moves from design to evaluation, while the site hours stay level.
| Course | Title | Credits (didactic / practicum) | Practicum hours | Post-master's semester |
|---|---|---|---|---|
NSG 7431 | Project I: Mentored Scholarship | 5 (3 / 2) | 150 | II |
NSG 7444 | Project II: Project Plan | 4 (2 / 2) | 150 | III |
NSG 7445 | Project III: Implementation | 3 (1 / 2) | 150 | IV |
NSG 7451 | Project IV: Evaluation | 3 (1 / 2) | 150 | V |
| Total | Four project courses | 15 (7 / 8) | 600 (computed) | II to V |
The rest of the 36-credit post-master's DNP wraps around the project: NSG 7300, NSG 7400 and NSG 7020 in semester I, NSG 7350 and NSG 7131 beside Project I, NSG 7135 beside Project II and NSG 7040 Biostatistics I beside Project III. NSU describes the whole program as five semesters, fully online.
Face-to-face hours inside an online program
NSU delivers DNP coursework online and requires "Virtual Intensive days during each project course", 1 to 2 days each. The 2026-27 graduate catalog also describes a "face-to-face practicum experience". Taken together: your classes come to you, but your 150 hours per course happen in person at a practice site. If a virtual day runs on Zoom, the handbook requires your camera on with a live view and no Zoom background.
One conflict to check. The 2025-26 handbook still describes the DNP as "primarily online" with "a required one-time, three- to four-day summer institute" on the Fort Lauderdale/Davie campus, up to the successful completion of the project proposal. The DNP web page and the 2026-27 catalog mention virtual intensives only. Ask your program director which applies to your cohort; the intensives page tracks every program's on-campus and virtual days.
What a practice site for a DNP project needs
NSU does not publish a list of DNP site requirements; the project courses in Canvas and your DNP faculty set them. A project that lives at one organization for four semesters does depend on a few things from that organization, and each one is worth confirming before you commit.
- Access for the whole project. The site has to host you from Project I through Project IV, four consecutive semesters in the post-master's plan, including the implementation phase in
NSG 7445when the project actually runs there. - A site sponsor or mentor. Project I is titled Mentored Scholarship. Someone inside the organization who backs the project, opens doors and speaks for it with leadership turns a plan into an implementation. NSU does not publish the credentials it expects of that person, so ask your DNP faculty.
- Data you are allowed to use. Project IV is Evaluation, so you need measurable outcomes from the site, before and after, plus permission to use them. Agree on what you can collect early. NSU's handbook requires your NSU email for university business and strictly prohibits forwarding protected health information to a non-NSU account.
- A problem the site wants solved. A project that answers a question the organization already cares about wins time, access and data far more easily than one imported from outside. Bring a draft focus and shape it with the site during
NSG 7431.
If your own workplace looks like the natural site, raise it with your DNP faculty early. NSU's public documents do not address workplace sites for project hours; clinicals at your employer covers what NSU says about workplaces for APRN clinicals.
How BSN to DNP students reach the project
BSN to DNP students earn the MSN and DNP together and finish their APRN clinicals before the project begins. In the FNP concentration as NSU sequences it, clinicals run from NSG 5549 in semester IV to the NSG 5599 capstone in semester VII, then the project courses follow one per semester: NSG 7431 in VIII, NSG 7444 in IX, NSG 7445 in X and NSG 7451 in XI. The AGACNP and PMHNP concentrations also hold their clinical blocks in semesters IV to VII.
The 2026-27 catalog states 1,455 practicum hours for each concentration: 855 APRN clinical hours plus the 600 project hours. NSU's BSN to DNP page words it as "more than 500 clinical hours each in M.S.N. and D.N.P., totaling more than 1,000", and the older 2025-26 plan stated 1,365. Credits are 73 for FNP and AGACNP and 76 for PMHNP.
The practical point is overlap. While you finish 285 capstone clinical hours in semester VII, you should already be talking with the organization that will host NSG 7431 the next semester. The concentration pages, such as BSN to DNP, FNP, show the full sequence.
Grades, time limits and the 500-hour gate
DNP courses carry a higher bar than the MSN: NSU requires a grade of B or higher in every required course, and a second failed course means dismissal. In the BSN to DNP, 5000-level courses are graded on the master's scale and 7000-level courses on the doctoral scale. Students must stay continuously enrolled, so a project stalled at the site can hold up the whole sequence.
The 2026-27 catalog gives two DNP time limits, "within five years" and "2.66 years or 8 semesters"; confirm which governs you. Post-master's students also face a 500-hour gate: 500 post-BSN clinical hours verified by the school that supervised them, due before NSG 7431 on the web page or before NSG 7451 in the catalogs. The 500 clinical hours page covers that conflict and the NSG 7460 top-up course.
Why DNP students ask us to find the project site
Your placement advisor looks for a practice site near your home that fits the project you are planning: an organization with a real need, a sponsor or mentor inside it, and data you can use in the evaluation course. We start before NSG 7431 so the site conversation happens while you are still drafting the project, and we prepare the site and mentor details your DNP faculty will want to see.
For BSN to DNP students, we run the capstone preceptor search and the project site search side by side so semester VIII starts with a site in place. For post-master's students still short of 500 hours, we look for a clinical site for NSG 7460 too. Your DNP faculty and NSU make the final call on every project and site; we make sure what reaches them is complete. Start with the placement request form.
Questions NSU students ask
How many practicum hours is NSG 7431 at NSU?
150. NSG 7431 Project I: Mentored Scholarship is 5 credits, 3 didactic and 2 practicum, and NSU converts 2 practicum credits to 150 practicum hours. The same 150 applies to NSG 7444, NSG 7445 and NSG 7451, which makes 600 project hours across the four courses.
Is the NSU DNP fully online?
The coursework is. NSU's DNP page says the curriculum is delivered fully online, with Virtual Intensive days of 1 to 2 days during each project course, and the 2026-27 catalog describes a face-to-face practicum. The 2025-26 handbook still mentions a one-time summer institute on the Fort Lauderdale/Davie campus, so confirm with your program director.
Does NSU assign a site for the DNP project?
NSU's coordinator-placement rule, which places APRN students within 150 miles of home when no preceptor is named, is written for APRN clinical courses. NSU publishes no matching rule for DNP project sites. Ask your program director how sites are arranged for your cohort, and come with an organization in mind, because the project is built around a real site's need.
Can I do my NSU DNP project where I work?
NSU's public documents do not address it for project hours. A workplace can offer the access, sponsor and data a project needs, and you already know its problems. Ask your DNP faculty before you commit whether your role there raises any issue for the project and how they want the practicum hours documented.
What if my DNP project site falls through mid-project?
NSU publishes no specific procedure for a lost project site. Tell your course faculty and program director at once, because the project courses run in a fixed order and students must stay continuously enrolled. A replacement site needs the same things as the first: access, a sponsor or mentor, and data you can use for evaluation.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-25
We check these pages against NSU's own handbook, catalog and program pages. The graduate clinical guide, your course in Canvas, your clinical coordinator and your program director have the final word.
NSU lets you name your own preceptor. We make sure you have one, close to home and in time.
Tell us your NSU program, your home ZIP area and when your next clinical course starts. We find preceptors who fit the course and have everything ready for your clinical coordinator well before the two-semester notice.
- Preceptors matched to the course: primary care for FNP, acute care for AGACNP, psychiatric care for PMHNP, a practice site for DNP project hours
- Named early enough for NSU's two-semester notice, with license, credentials and site details ready for the coordinator
- Close to your home ZIP code, with clinic days we plan around your work schedule
Start your placement plan
Program, ZIP area and start term is all we need to begin.