Graceland University's online MSN Family Nurse Practitioner, practicum by practicum
Graceland University's online MSN FNP combines at least 45 credits of coursework with 750 practicum hours in three courses, taken one per trimester in your home community. The classes are online, the focus session is on Zoom, and preceptors are found through a shared model in which you lead the search with Graceland's help. This guide lays out the courses, the sequence and what each practicum needs from a preceptor.
Plan your FNP practicums
Tell us your start term, next practicum and city. Your placement advisor maps preceptors for all three FNP courses.
The program in short
The MSN FNP is one of three nurse practitioner tracks the School of Nursing runs online from Graceland's Independence, Missouri campus. The catalog describes online cohort courses paired with “faculty and preceptor-guided practicums in the student's local community,” and the FNP program page says practicum work can be done anywhere in the United States, the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.
The degree totals 45 graduate credits or more, built from a 14-credit core every track shares, the 25-credit FNP specialty and 6 or more elective credits. You have six years to finish, plus one one-year extension. Graceland's FNP blog mentions finishing in as few as three years part-time, while the handbook places every admitted student on the full-time plan; completion plans are posted on the myGraceland SON Resources page.
Admission asks for a BSN from an accredited program, a 2.50 GPA, an unencumbered RN license and a satisfactory background check, with priority for applicants who have worked 1,000 or more hours as an RN in the past 12 months.
Courses and credits
| Course | Title | Credits | Clinical component |
|---|---|---|---|
NURS5010 | Introduction to MSN and Post-graduate Certificate Programs | 1 | None; first term, pass/fail |
NURS5100 | Pharmacotherapeutics | 3 | None |
NURS5143 | Advanced Health Assessment and Diagnostic Reasoning | 3 | None |
NURS5440 | Advanced Pathophysiology | 3 | None |
NURS6940 | Applied Theory and Research for Advanced Nursing Practice | 4 | None |
NURS5193 | Advanced Practice Nursing in Primary Care | 2 | None |
NURS5194 | Advanced Practice Competencies Lab | 1 | Virtual focus session on Zoom |
NURS5200 | Primary Care of Families: Pediatrics | 3 | None |
NURS6200 | Primary Care of Families: Adults | 3 | None |
NURS6800 | Roles and Issues for Advanced Practice Nurses | 3 | None |
NURS6740 | FNP Practicum: Pediatrics | 4 | 225 practicum hours |
NURS6760 | FNP Practicum: Adult | 4 | 225 practicum hours |
NURS6830 | FNP Practicum: Family | 5 | 300 practicum hours |
Electives fill at least 6 more credits, drawn from rural health, nurse education, informatics, leadership, epidemiology, integrative medicine and psychopharmacology. The handbook's certificate listing shows NURS6830 at 4 credits; the catalog's 5 is the current value.
The order you take things in
Graceland does not publish a term-by-term plan for the MSN; your completion plan comes from Program Advising. The catalog's prerequisites set this general order.
- First term
NURS5010, the pass/fail orientation course that also covers HIPAA and standard precautions before any clinical work. - Foundations
NURS5440, thenNURS5100, withNURS5143alongside. - Primary care and the lab
NURS5193together withNURS5194, which must come within two terms ofNURS5143, plusNURS6800. - Family didactics
NURS5200andNURS6200, each a prerequisite or corequisite for its matching practicum. - Practicums one and twoPediatrics and Adult, in either order, one per trimester.
- Final practicumFamily, always last.
Only one practicum fits in a trimester, and Graceland wants all three inside a 12-month window, so the clinical phase covers at least three back-to-back trimesters. Graceland's year has three 16-week trimesters; see the trimester calendar for 2026-27 dates.
The virtual focus session
FNP students attend a focus session on Zoom tied to NURS5194. It is offered every trimester, most often in the sixth or seventh week, and fills two or three whole days, 8 am to 5 pm, with competency requirements to meet along the way.
Treat those days as fixed. An unsatisfactory focus session can hold up your progression, and once you attend, withdrawing from the course is no longer an option if you fail there. Graceland emails session details well in advance, so block the dates with your employer as soon as they arrive. The focus sessions page compares the FNP, PMHNP and AGACNP formats.
750 hours across three practicums
The three practicums add up to 750 hours for anyone whose Graceland start date falls on or after August 1, 2023: Pediatrics and Adult take 225 each, and Family takes 300. Students who began earlier finish on the 600-hour plan. Only direct patient care counts, and in the FNP track your patient total must match your hour total.
The first two practicums happen entirely in primary care clinics. In the Family course, primary care must supply half the hours or more, and specialty clinics can supply as many as 150. Telehealth needs the instructor's sign-off. Budget two to three clinic days a week and aim to close out each course's hours by week 14.
Each course has its own guide: NURS6740 for children in primary care, NURS6760 for adults in family practice or internal medicine, and NURS6830 for the lifespan finale. The clinical hours overview compares every Graceland program.
How preceptors get found
In Graceland's words, practicum experiences are “arranged by the student (with the assistance of GU).” You identify the preceptor and site; the Graduate Practicums Coordinator helps with the search, and Graceland keeps a database of preceptors it has already approved. The contract coordinators and each course's lead faculty sign off on every pick. There is also Graceland's optional placement service, which students choose to join or decline.
Acceptable preceptors are master's-prepared nurse practitioners with a year or more in practice, or physicians holding board certification or eligibility in a primary care field; physician assistants are excluded. Across the three courses you will work with two preceptors or more, and Graceland advises logging 120 or more of your hours with an APRN or NP.
Every site needs an Appendix A, an affiliation agreement and an approval email, and every preceptor fills in an Appendix B each term. Forms for a Fall practicum are due June 15; Spring's are due October 15 and Summer's February 15. Graceland advises that the search may need to begin a year or more ahead. The clinical placement process page covers each step.
Where you can live and train
Where you live matters. The School of Nursing takes NP students only from states in which Graceland holds approval for practicum experiences, and because no current list is posted, it tells applicants to check their state directly. On Graceland's June 2020 licensure chart, the most recent it has published, the MSN is marked as meeting requirements in 32 states and unknown in 13, and five states are marked as not leading to licensure: Kentucky, Maryland, New York, North Carolina, Tennessee.
Washington's nursing commission lists Graceland's MSN/FNP among the programs approved for practice experiences there. Your RN license has to be unencumbered both where you live and in each state that hosts your practicum hours. See state licensure disclosures for what the chart's ratings mean.
Why FNP students choose us
We plan all three FNP practicums as one path: a pediatric preceptor with enough children, an adult primary care preceptor, and a family practice that can carry 300 hours, arranged so the two-preceptor rule and the APRN recommendation are both met. We search close to home, in a state where Graceland can place you.
For every practicum we assemble what the two appendices call for, from the site's address and contracting contact to the preceptor's license, credentials and experience, and time it to your deadline so the contract coordinators can open the affiliation agreement early. If a preceptor drops, we find the replacement quickly. Start your FNP plan.
Questions Graceland students ask
Is Graceland's MSN FNP fully online?
Classes run online, and FNP students meet for their focus session on Zoom rather than on campus; only AGACNP students travel to Independence. The practicums are the in-person part: 750 hours of direct patient care with approved preceptors in your own community, in a state where Graceland is approved to place you.
How long does the Graceland FNP take?
Graceland does not publish a fixed length for its full-time plan. Its FNP blog says the program can be completed in as few as three years part-time, and the time limit is six years with one one-year extension. The practicums alone take at least three consecutive trimesters, because only one runs per term.
What certification exam can Graceland FNP graduates take?
The FNP program page says graduates are prepared and qualified to sit for the national NP certification exam, without naming a board. The handbook ties ANCC and AANP eligibility to having worked, and documented it, with an APRN or NP preceptor at least once, and it suggests 120 or more such hours across the three practicums.
Can I start the Graceland FNP with an associate degree in nursing?
Yes, through the RN-to-MSN pathway. RNs complete Graceland's online BSN coursework first, with automatic acceptance into the MSN, and then follow the FNP track with the same three practicums and hour totals. The RN-to-MSN guide explains how the BSN portion works.
When should I start looking for my first FNP preceptor?
As early as your plan allows. Graceland cautions that contracts with sites and preceptors move slowly, and its handbook suggests starting as much as a year before the first practicum. Early paperwork is held until the term before the practicum, but a preceptor confirmed early gives the coordinators time to set up a new affiliation agreement.
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 University MSN Family Nurse Practitioner program page
- Graceland University Graduate Catalog: Master of Science in Nursing
- Graceland University Graduate Student Handbook (Version 2026, 9-10-26 updates)
- Graceland University School of Nursing licensure and disclosures
- Graceland University blog: What Is a Family Nurse Practitioner?
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
Start your placement plan
Track, city and practicum start is all we need to begin.