NURS6843 PMHNP Practicum: FINAL
NURS6843 PMHNP Practicum: FINAL is the 300-hour close of Graceland University's PMHNP track, always taken after Practicum: I and II. Whatever the first two terms left open lands here: the rest of the 300-patient age mix, time with a certified PMHNP for certification eligibility, and a second preceptor if you have only had one.
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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.
The biggest practicum comes last
The 2026 Graduate Student Handbook assigns 300 hours to NURS6843, which it calls Practicum III, bringing the PMHNP total to 750 for students whose matriculation date is August 1, 2023 or later. Students still on the older 540-hour plan owe 180 here instead. The prerequisites are NURS6841 and NURS6842 in the catalog, and the handbook adds NURS5430 Behavioral Therapy Concepts to the list.
The credit value depends on which page you read. The 2026-27 catalog lists 5 semester hours, the post-graduate certificate list on the PMHNP web page and the BSN-to-DNP course list show 4, and the handbook prints "4-5 s.h." The same web page also still shows 200 hours for this course, a remnant of an older split. Treat the handbook's 300 as current and confirm your own figures with the PMHNP track coordinator; the clinical hours page compares every track.
Fitting 300 hours into one trimester
Three hundred hours inside a 16-week trimester, finished by week 14 as faculty request, works out to a little over 21 hours a week once the term starts. Graceland's handbook illustrates it with a three-day week of 8-hour shifts held for twelve and a half weeks. That sits within Graceland's 16-to-24-hour weekly range, but only if the site can offer three clinic days from the first week.
Build slack into the schedule. Your opening 8 hours in any practicum are largely spent observing, a preceptor's vacation or a cancelled clinic can cost a week, and hours only count inside the term's dates once the approval email and Typhon listing are in place. A preceptor who can add a fourth day late in the term is worth more here than in either earlier practicum.
If you end the term short, an incomplete is possible with instructor approval, but it must be finished by the last day of the next term with no extension, and you cannot complete the program until it is done. See delayed graduation for how a late finish plays out.
Closing the 100/100/100 age mix
Graceland wants about 300 PMHNP encounters over the track, in equal thirds: children and teens under 18, adults over 65, and working-age adults from 18 to 64. The final practicum is your last chance to fill whichever band is short, so choose the site from your running tally rather than from convenience.
Pull your Typhon case logs from Practicum: I and II before you start searching. If you are short on older adults, look for geriatric psychiatry or a practice with nursing home consults; if you are short on children, a child and adolescent practice or a family-oriented community program. The handbook expects one to two patients an hour, so a 300-hour term gives room for well over 100 encounters when the panel is busy.
Graceland does not publish a remedy for finishing with an uneven mix, so raise any gap with the lead faculty for the PMHNP practicum courses early in the term, while there is still time to add a second preceptor or site.
Certification checks that come due now
Certification eligibility through ANCC or AANP requires at least one documented experience with an APRN or NP on your record, and Graceland's advice is to reach 120 such hours before your practicums end. In a PMHNP track, the only APRN who can precept you is a certified PMHNP. If psychiatrists precepted both earlier terms, this practicum needs a PMHNP for at least part of the hours.
The two-preceptor rule closes here too. Graceland wants a minimum of two different preceptors over your three practicums and caps each person at two terms. If the same person precepted Practicum: I and II, NURS6843 must go to someone new; see the two-preceptor rule.
Graceland's PMHNP blog points graduates toward the ANCC PMHNP-BC credential and at least 750 clinical hours. Certification paperwork, such as ANCC's verification of education, goes to songraduateprograms@graceland.edu. Export your Typhon case logs before you leave: the vendor deletes student accounts, logs included, five years after graduation.
Paperwork for the final term
The final practicum runs through the same approval chain as the first two. File Appendix A for every site and address, have each preceptor complete a fresh Appendix B for this term, confirm the affiliation agreement covers each location where you give hands-on care, and keep Castle Branch current. The due dates are the familiar ones: June 15 ahead of Fall, October 15 ahead of Spring and February 15 ahead of Summer.
Your hours begin only when all seven of Graceland's conditions are met, from signed agreements and clearance by Student Financial Services through your listing in Typhon and the term's opening day. Each is spelled out on the approval email page, and your instructor asks for the approval emails at the start of class.
Why students finish with us
The final practicum rewards precision, and precision is how our placement desk works. We start from your Practicum: I and II totals, then search psychiatrists and certified PMHNPs near home whose panels fill the age bands you still need and who can offer the three clinic days a 300-hour term demands.
Every candidate is checked against Graceland's rules before you see the name: certification, an unencumbered license in the site's state, no conflict with the two-term limit, and a practice that fits the course. You get the site's contract contact and every preceptor detail the two appendices require, arranged against the term's deadline, along with a backup option so a late change does not stall your finish.
Send us your city and your remaining counts using the form below, or see how it works.
Questions Graceland students ask
Can I take NURS6843 before finishing NURS6842?
No. The handbook states that the order of the PMHNP practicums cannot be changed, and the catalog lists both NURS6841 and NURS6842 as prerequisites for NURS6843. The handbook also adds NURS5430 to the prerequisite list. If a delay in an earlier course affects your final term, Program Advising at programadvising@graceland.edu reworks the completion plan.
How many hours a week should I plan for NURS6843?
Plan on about 21 to 24 hours a week. Graceland asks that practicum hours finish by week 14, and 300 hours over 14 weeks averages a little over 21. The handbook's example: three full clinic days weekly across 12.5 weeks. Two 8-hour days a week comes to 224 hours by week 14, so a two-day site needs longer days or a second approved preceptor.
Is NURS6843 5 or 4 semester hours?
The 2026-27 catalog lists 5, matching the 300-hour practicum. The certificate list on the PMHNP program page and the BSN-to-DNP course list still show 4, and the handbook prints 4-5. The credit change in the catalog lines up with the move to 225, 225 and 300 hours. Program Advising can confirm the value on your plan.
Does my final practicum preceptor have to be a PMHNP?
Not by rule, since psychiatrists qualify for every PMHNP practicum. It becomes important if you have had no APRN or NP preceptor yet: Graceland says certification eligibility needs at least one documented APRN or NP experience and recommends 120 hours with one across your practicums. In this track that means a certified PMHNP.
What happens if I finish the term short of 300 hours?
With your instructor's approval you can request an incomplete at least two weeks before the course ends, provided you are passing. You then have until the last day of the next term to finish, with no extensions for graduate courses, and an unfinished incomplete converts to an F. Tell the contract coordinators right away if the shortfall comes from a lost preceptor.
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 Graduate Student Handbook, Version 2026 (9-10-26 updates)
- Graceland University 2026-2027 Graduate Catalog: Master of Science in Nursing
- Graceland University MSN: Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner program page
- Graceland University blog: Why Become a PMHNP? (October 1, 2025)
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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