Liberty's post-master's DNP: planning 560 hours or more
Liberty's 36-credit post-master's DNP is a leadership doctorate, not a nurse practitioner track. You complete at least 560 practicum hours in NURS 840 to 843, and possibly more, because Liberty applies the rule of at least 1,000 practicum hours after the BSN and counts only the MSN hours your former program verifies.
Plan your DNP practicum hours
Tell us your state, your verified MSN hours if you know them, and your first practicum term. A placement advisor will reply about sites and mentors for leadership work.
A leadership doctorate, not an NP track
The general DNP is for nurses who already hold a master's degree and want doctoral preparation in leadership, evidence-based practice and systems work. It does not prepare you for NP certification, so you won't need a primary care or psychiatric preceptor. Your hours go into practicum courses built around organizational and systems leadership.
The catalog lists 36 credits over five semesters across two years, with five years allowed to finish. Courses are online, mostly 8-week, with some full-semester courses. Liberty lists upcoming starts on October 26, 2026, January 18, 2027 and March 22, 2027.
Beyond the practicums, the plan covers eight 3-credit courses (NURS 715, 716, 718, 721, 732, 832, 834 and 836), the DNP Practicum Gate NURS 828, and a four-part scholarly project, NURS 947 to 950, which ends with a final defense before the project goes to Liberty's Scholars Crossing.
How many hours you actually need
The catalog asks for at least 560 DNP practicum hours. A footnote adds that CCNE requires at least 1,000 practicum hours after the BSN, and that you may need more than 560 depending on how many of your MSN practicum hours are counted.
Those MSN hours are documented on the DNP Practicum Hour Verification Form. Your former program's MSN director certifies the total supervised graduate clinical hours you completed, and Liberty fills in the form itself for its own MSN graduates. The hour verification page walks through the form.
Simple arithmetic shows why this matters. Liberty's current MSN concentrations each list 300 practicum hours; 300 verified hours plus 560 comes to 860, which on its face leaves a gap of 140 below 1,000. A program with more verified hours could leave no gap at all. Liberty makes the final count, so get your verified number before you plan a practicum schedule.
560 is the floor, not always the finish line. Know your verified MSN hours before NURS 840 starts, so a site and mentor can plan for your real total.
The practicum courses
Four 2-credit practicums move from small-scale to organization-wide leadership. All four are marked synchronous in the plan, so expect set meeting times, and the 2026-27 catalog does not give per-course hours.
| Course | Focus | Hours |
|---|---|---|
NURS 828 DNP Practicum Gate | You submit practicum requirements (0 credits); required before NURS 840 | None |
NURS 840 DNP Practicum I | Systems leadership at the micro level, with individualized goals and objectives | Share of 560 or more |
NURS 841 DNP Practicum II | Micro level, with faculty-approved activities | Share of 560 or more |
NURS 842 DNP Practicum III | Meso level | Share of 560 or more |
NURS 843 DNP Practicum IV | Macro level: leadership in complex systems | Share of 560 or more; up to three enrollments to finish |
NURS 840 also requires NURS 832, 834 and 836. An older 2024-25 FNP plan gave each DNP practicum 112 hours, but that is not a published figure for this program today.
Who guides your hours, and where
The catalog describes NURS 840 to 843 as faculty-guided activities and says all planned activities must receive faculty approval. Liberty's state pages for this program speak of a practicum, mentorship or shadow experience, which suggests the on-site person may be a mentor in a leadership role rather than a clinical preceptor in the NP sense.
Liberty hasn't published credentials for that person, a rule on using your own employer, or any limit on telehealth or simulation for this DNP. Those are questions for your course faculty before you commit to a site. Bring a short description of the organization, the leader who would supervise you, and the kind of project or leadership activity you'd take on.
Compliance still applies. The DNP admission pathways list AHA BLS, a background check and drug screen, and an Immunization/Physical Exam Form, and Fast Track applicants, who are Liberty MSN graduates from the past year, must keep compliance current in CastleBranch.
What Liberty says about placement support
Liberty's state pages say the School of Nursing will support a practicum, mentorship or shadow experience placement in an approved state. The DNP program page also carries the collaborative partnership text Liberty uses for its NP tracks, but that text is written about the FNP and PMHNP programs, and the catalog doesn't say who arranges sites for NURS 840 to 843.
In practice, expect to be active. Finish every placement step and become fully compliant before the practicum, and raise site questions early with the practicum team at APRN.DNPPracticum@liberty.edu or DNP advising at dnp@liberty.edu. Anything a site or preceptor charges is a matter between you and the site, per Liberty's DNP page. The practicum team page explains how the coordinators work.
One older School of Nursing admissions page from 2023 still says the DNP is approved for practicum only in Maryland, Tennessee and Virginia. Liberty's current state pages replace it.
States: wider than the NP tracks
This DNP is not approved for a practicum, mentorship or shadow experience in Washington or the District of Columbia, and territory residents are directed to the 50 states for their hours. For Washington, Liberty's page adds that LUSON will back a placement in an approved state instead.
Unlike Liberty's NP tracks, California and New York are open, as long as you hold a California or New York RN license. Everywhere else, the rule is the same one Liberty applies across programs: an active RN license issued by the practicum state, or a compact multistate license if that state takes part. The RN license page covers compact states, and the state restrictions page compares every program.
Why post-master's DNP students choose us
Help looks different here than for an NP student. For the post-master's DNP, it usually means finding an organization and a leader willing to host systems-level work, then shaping a short description of that work your faculty can review. The search is for fit with micro, meso and macro leadership goals, not for a clinic with open exam rooms.
We help you work out your likely hour total once your MSN hours are verified, find a site in an approved state, and prepare the site and mentor details Liberty asks for. Your faculty approve every activity and Liberty approves every placement, and each receives a proposal that is clear about the systems-level work involved. If NURS 840 is two terms away or closer, use the form below and a placement advisor will reply with next steps for your state.
Questions Liberty students ask
Does Liberty's post-master's DNP need a nurse practitioner preceptor?
No NP hours are part of this degree. The practicum courses focus on leadership at the micro, meso and macro levels, and Liberty's state pages describe a practicum, mentorship or shadow experience. Liberty hasn't published who may supervise those hours, so describe the leader you have in mind to your course faculty and wait for approval before logging time.
What if I don't finish my DNP hours by the end of NURS 843?
The post-master's plan lets you take NURS 843 more than once, with no more than three enrollments in total, to complete required hours. Liberty doesn't publish what happens after that limit. If your hours are running behind in NURS 841 or 842, raise it with faculty then rather than relying on repeats of the final course.
I'm a recent Liberty MSN graduate. Does Fast Track change my practicum?
Fast Track is an admission route for Liberty MSN graduates from the past year, with a supplemental requirement to maintain compliance in CastleBranch. Liberty completes the Practicum Hour Verification Form for its own MSN graduates. The catalog doesn't describe a separate practicum plan for Fast Track students, so plan on the same NURS 840 to 843 sequence.
Can I complete DNP practicum hours at the organization where I work?
Liberty hasn't published an employer rule for the DNP. The only written workplace rule found is in the 2022-23 MSN handbook, which required unpaid hours in a different unit under an agreement. Since every DNP activity needs faculty approval, describe the role and department you'd work in and ask your faculty before you plan around your employer.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-23
We check these pages against Liberty's own published sources. The practicum team and Liberty's current handbook have the final word.
More leads, sooner, for your practicum.
Tell us your Liberty program, your county and when your practicum starts. We look for a preceptor and site that fit Liberty's rules for your track, and help you get the Gate-course paperwork right.
- Matched to your track: FNP, PMHNP, DNP or MSN
- Paperwork ready for the Gate course and the site contract
- In person near you, or telehealth where your track allows it
Start your placement plan
A placement advisor replies with what a Liberty-ready preceptor and site look like for you.