DNP practice hours at Graceland: 636 in the program, 1,000 to graduate
Graceland University's post-master's DNP includes at least 636 practice hours and field experiences, and you graduate only with documentation of 1,000 post-BSN supervised practice hours, counting verified hours from your master's program. BSN-to-DNP students owe 500 DNP practice hours on top of 750 NP practicum hours. The work happens in your home community with a practice mentor at a practice site, and Graceland does not publish who finds them.
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Tell us your Graceland program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with the preceptor and site options that fit your course.
Where the 636 hours sit
Graceland's 2026-27 catalog attaches practice hours to seven DNP courses. Added together they come to 636, the same minimum the catalog and the handbook state for the post-master's degree. The three project courses carry most of the load.
| Course | Title | Hours | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
NURS8100 | Professionalism, Ethics and Issues | 12 | Field experience |
NURS8120 | Health Systems Policy and Regulation | 8 | Field experience |
NURS8140 | Epidemiology | 16 | Field experience |
NURS8210 | Project Management | 100 | Supervised practice |
NURS9710 | DNP Practice Improvement Project Proposal | 200 | Supervised practice |
NURS9711 | DNP Practice Improvement Project Implementation | 100 | Supervised practice |
NURS9712 | DNP Practice Improvement Project Analysis & Dissemination | 200 | Supervised practice |
NURS8220 Healthcare Informatics also mentions field experiences without giving an hour figure. When practice is counted in credits, Graceland's DNP rule is that one semester hour equals 80 to 100 clock hours of practice experience.
From 636 to 1,000: the hours you bring
The 1,000-hour graduation rule counts more than the DNP courses. In the handbook's words, "DNP practice hours include verified practice hours from the Master's POS, field experiences in selected DNP courses, individualized advanced practice experiences completed in the student's home community, and the completion of a faculty-supervised and peer-reviewed Practice Improvement Project."
The arithmetic is simple. The program supplies 636, so any student who arrives with at least 364 verified post-BSN supervised hours from a master's program reaches 1,000 by finishing the DNP. A nurse practitioner who completed 540, 600 or 750 practicum hours, the totals Graceland's own NP tracks have used, clears the bar with room to spare. A master's degree with little or no supervised practice is where a gap appears.
Graceland does not publish how master's hours are verified. Ask the DNP track coordinator what documentation your master's program must send, and request it early, since it has to come from a school you may have left years ago. The post-master's degree allows four years plus one 1-year extension, so hours missing at admission are best planned from the first term. The DNP program page covers credits and admission.
NURS8950 and the 400-versus-364 conflict
Students short of hours take NURS8950 Advanced Practice in Organizational Leadership, 1 to 4 semester hours at 80 to 100 practice hours per semester hour. Graceland's sources disagree on who must enroll.
The catalog introduction and the handbook say students admitted with documentation of fewer than 400 post-BSN supervised practice hours must enroll. The course description says it includes up to 400 advanced practice hours for students with less than 364 verified post-BSN supervised practice hours, and adds that the course is not a requirement for the degree. The 364 figure is exactly 1,000 minus the program's 636, which suggests the description reflects the math of the graduation rule.
If your verified total falls between 364 and 399, the two sources point in different directions. Settle it with the DNP track coordinator before your first term, get the answer in writing, and have Program Advising (programadvising@graceland.edu) place the course on your completion plan if you need it.
The 1,000-hour rule is about documented, verified hours. Collect your master's program's hour verification before you apply, not in your final term.
BSN-to-DNP: 500 practice hours after the NP practicums
The handbook states that the BSN-to-DNP programs require 750 hours of practicum hours and 500 hours of DNP practice hours. The 500 line up with the three project courses: 200 in NURS9710, 100 in NURS9711 and 200 in NURS9712. NURS8210 adds 100 supervised hours and NURS8120 and NURS8140 add field hours, but Graceland does not say whether those count toward the 500 or sit on top of them.
The catalog lists the prerequisite for NURS9710 as documented completion of at least 500 post-BSN supervised practice hours, plus NURS8210. For a student entering with a BSN, the NP practicums are the obvious source of those hours, which points to the project work coming after most of the practicum sequence. Your completion plan shows the real order. The BSN-to-DNP page covers the rest of the program.
The practice mentor and practice site
Graceland describes DNP practice hours as taking place in your home community, with a practice mentor at a practice site. The NURS9710 description says the project proposal must be approved by the faculty advisor, the practice mentor, the practice site and the institutional IRB or IRBs, and that the nature of the practice hours is mutually agreed among the student, the faculty advisor and the cooperating agencies.
What Graceland does not say is who finds the mentor and site, or what qualifications a practice mentor needs. No handbook, catalog or program page covers either point, and neither the collaborative wording used for NP preceptors nor the NP preceptor standards are stated to apply. The wording about your home community suggests you are expected to bring an organization and mentor forward, but that is a reading, not a rule.
Ask before you start searching. The DNP track coordinator and your faculty advisor can say who identifies the mentor and what credentials they expect. The contract coordinators at soncontracts@graceland.edu can say whether the practice site needs an affiliation agreement like an NP practicum site does. Your RN license must be unencumbered in any approved state where practice requirements are completed.
What Graceland does state about project hours
- The project courses count both direct hours in the practice setting and indirect hours spent on the project elsewhere
- Practice hour logs and project deliverables are approved by the faculty advisor and filed in the online course site
- NP practicum hours, by contrast, count only direct patient contact
How we help DNP students
Our placement desk searches for organizations near your home whose leadership wants the kind of practice improvement project you have in mind, and for a practice mentor there with the standing to champion it. We gather the details your faculty advisor, the site and the IRB process will ask for, and we time the search so your mentor and site are confirmed before NURS9710 opens. If your track coordinator already has a mentor in mind for you, we work around that choice and put our effort into the site details and the timeline instead.
BSN-to-DNP students get both halves from one desk: preceptors for the NP practicums, matched to the track's rules, and a mentor and site for the project hours that follow. Start with the form below, or read how our process works.
Questions Graceland students ask
Who finds my DNP practice mentor at Graceland?
Graceland does not say. Its pages describe practice hours in your home community with a practice mentor and practice site, and require the mentor and site to approve your project proposal, but no handbook or catalog page assigns the search to you or to the school. Ask the DNP track coordinator or your faculty advisor, and start early either way.
Do indirect hours count toward Graceland's DNP practice hours?
In the DNP project courses, yes. Graceland's descriptions count both direct hours, spent on the project in the practice setting, and indirect hours, spent on it elsewhere. That differs from the NP practicums, where only direct patient contact counts. Your faculty advisor approves the practice hour logs, which are filed in the online course site.
Do my MSN clinical hours count toward the 1,000?
Verified practice hours from your master's program of study count toward the 1,000 post-BSN supervised hours. The program itself supplies 636, so 364 verified master's hours reach 1,000 arithmetically, though the catalog's 400-hour threshold for NURS8950 may still apply to you. Ask the DNP track coordinator what verification Graceland accepts and have your master's school send it before your first term.
Is NURS8950 required for the Graceland DNP?
It depends on your verified hours and which source you read. The catalog introduction and handbook require it below 400 post-BSN supervised hours; the course description targets students below 364 and says it is not a degree requirement. Anyone between 364 and 399 should get a written ruling from the DNP track coordinator.
Does Graceland's DNP lead to licensure in my state?
No, and that is expected. Graceland's DNP licensure chart, dated June 2020, marks the DNP as post-licensure in every state, meaning it does not lead to any type of licensure. It is not a warning about your state. The licensure disclosures page explains the chart and how to confirm your state with Graceland.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-25
We check these pages against Graceland's own catalog, program pages and Graduate Student Handbook. Your handbook, your track coordinator and the contract coordinators have the final word.
Graceland's practicums are arranged by you, with Graceland's help. We do the searching.
Tell us your Graceland track, your city and your next practicum. We find preceptors who fit the course, line up what Appendix A and Appendix B ask for, and aim everything at Graceland's paperwork deadline for your term.
- Preceptors matched to the course: primary care for FNP, hospital and ICU clinicians for AGACNP, psychiatrists and PMHNPs for PMHNP
- Site address, contract contact and preceptor details ready before the June 15, October 15 or February 15 deadline
- Close to home in your approved state, with a second preceptor planned for Graceland's two-preceptor rule
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