The DNP Practicum Hour Verification Form and your 1,000 post-BSN hours

What the form is and who needs it

The DNP Practicum Hour Verification Form, headed "PRACTICUM VERIFICATION FORM," is an admission document for Liberty's post-master's DNP. The copy on Liberty's site is dated June 2026. Liberty's DNP page says your MSN program director completes it, stating your total supervised or precepted graduate clinical hours.

The key line on the form is "Total Number of Supervised Practicum Hours." Once Liberty accepts that figure, it becomes the starting point for your DNP plan, because it shows how much of the 1,000 post-BSN hours you've already completed.

If your MSN is from Liberty, Liberty completes the form for you. Everyone else needs the previous school to fill it in. Request it as soon as you decide to apply, so a slow reply from another school's graduate office doesn't hold up your file. The form belongs to the post-master's DNP; FNP and PMHNP DNP students complete 1,050 hours inside their programs instead.

How the form moves

The public steps are short. Here is the order Liberty's DNP page implies, with one step of our own added at the end.

1. Download the current formUse the PDF linked from Liberty's DNP program page, not an old saved copy; the current version is dated 2026.
2. Send it to your MSN programYour previous program director certifies your total supervised practicum hours from your graduate program.
3. Liberty graduates skip this stepIf your MSN is from Liberty, Liberty completes the form itself.
4. Submit it with your applicationLiberty counts your verified MSN hours toward the 1,000 and works out whether you need more than the 560 minimum.
5. Confirm your target in writingAsk DNP advising at dnp@liberty.edu to confirm your required DNP hours, and keep that email with your records.

How 560 and 1,000 fit together

Two numbers govern your hours. Liberty's catalog says "Students must complete at least 560 DNP practicum hours." It also cites CCNE's requirement of at least 1,000 practicum hours after the BSN, with MSN practicum hours counted toward that total.

Read together, the DNP hours you need are the larger of two figures: 560, or 1,000 minus your verified MSN hours. The table shows the arithmetic for a few sample totals. It illustrates the rule; it isn't Liberty's calculation of your hours.

For reference, Liberty's current MSN tracks carry 300 practicum hours each, and older Liberty MSN plans had 200. Which of your MSN hours count is Liberty's call: the form asks for supervised practicum hours, so ask before relying on a figure that includes anything else.

Where the DNP hours happen: NURS 828 and NURS 840 to 843

Your DNP hours run through four 2-credit practicum courses, NURS 840, NURS 841, NURS 842 and NURS 843, after the zero-credit NURS 828 School of Nursing DNP Practicum Gate. NURS 828 is a prerequisite for NURS 840, and it's where you submit practicum requirements.

The courses move from micro-level systems leadership in 840 and 841, to the meso level in 842, to the macro level in 843. The catalog calls them "faculty-guided activities" and says "All planned activities must receive faculty approval." They're synchronous, so expect set meeting times as well as practicum hours.

If you need more hours than the standard sequence covers, NURS 843 can be repeated, with no more than three enrollments in the post-master's plan. The current catalog doesn't split the hours per course. An earlier FNP plan listed 112 hours for each DNP practicum course, but that was a different plan, so don't count yours by it. More on the courses: DNP practicums NURS 840 to 843.

Where your DNP practicum can take place

Liberty's state pages say LUSON "will support a practicum, mentorship or shadow experience placement in an approved state." For the post-master's DNP, Washington and the District of Columbia aren't approved, and anyone living in a U.S. territory has to use one of the 50 states for practicum. California and New York are allowed with a California or New York RN license.

You also need an RN license in the state where the practicum happens; Liberty's DNP page says so directly, and the RN license page explains how compact licenses fit. Fast Track applicants, who are Liberty MSN graduates from the past year, must also maintain compliance in CastleBranch. The full state picture is on Liberty's state restrictions page.

No Liberty source spells out who finds the site or mentor for NURS 840 to NURS 843; the course descriptions mention only faculty guidance and approval. Ask the practicum team how placement support works for your plan before NURS 828 opens.

Turning your hour target into a placement

Once you know your hour target, the practical question is where those hours will happen and with whom. We search for a practicum site and a mentor or preceptor suited to leadership-level DNP work near you, and assemble the site and mentor details Liberty asks for in NURS 828. Faculty approve your planned activities and Liberty approves the site, and both receive details that are complete. If a mentor steps away partway through, we look for another while you talk to your course faculty.

A high hour target leaves less slack if a site falls through, so it's worth starting the search before your Gate course rather than during it. See the post-master's DNP page for the program overview, or contact the placement desk with your verified total and start term.