Liberty MSN Health Policy: finding a policy setting and a qualified nurse preceptor
Liberty's Health Policy concentration puts 300 practicum hours into NURS 680, 681 and 682, moving from local and state policy to executive decision-making and back to policy-making. Your preceptor must hold an MSN or doctorate. The middle course is written for students already employed in a healthcare organization, which raises the workplace question early.
Plan your policy practicum
Tell us your state, your current employer if any, and when you reach NURS 680. A placement advisor will reply about policy settings and preceptors near you.
NURS 680, 681 and 682NURS 721 and three policy courses
The Health Policy track in brief
This 36-credit online MSN mixes nursing and non-nursing coursework. Besides the shared nursing core, the concentration includes NURS 721, PADM 550, PPOG 530 and PPOL 501. Classes run in 8-week blocks. Liberty's upcoming start dates are October 26, 2026, January 18, 2027 and February 15, 2027, and a one-year accelerated option exists too.
The first practicum has a short prerequisite list. NURS 680 requires only the MSN Practicum Gate, NURS 527, which sits in your first semester and collects your practicum requirements. Your catalog plan still sets the order, but it means your site and preceptor may need to be ready sooner than you'd expect. The Gate course guide covers what NURS 527 collects.
Liberty says MSN practicum hours can be done in your own community, and every MSN practicum must be completed inside the United States.
The practicum sequence
The catalog gives 300 hours for the three courses combined. It doesn't publish how many belong to each one. Because NURS 681 looks for executive exposure while the other two center on policy work, ask a prospective site early whether it can offer both, or plan for a second site in the middle term.
| Course | Focus | Prerequisite |
|---|---|---|
NURS 680 Practicum I Health Policy Leadership | Local, regional and state health policy | NURS 527 |
NURS 681 Practicum II Health Policy Leadership | Exposure to executive management and policy-making, designed for students already employed in a healthcare organization | NURS 680 |
NURS 682 Practicum III Health Policy Leadership | Policy-making at the local and/or state level | NURS 681 |
Documents from 2022-23 used the older numbers NURS 627, 628 and 629 and a 200-hour total. The 2026-27 catalog's numbers and hours are the current ones.
The preceptor and the setting
The Health Policy plan asks you to obtain a preceptor site contract with an approved MSN- or doctorally prepared preceptor. The 2022-23 handbook described the setting as one where policy is developed. Put together, you're looking for a nurse with a graduate degree who works where policy is made or shaped, not just applied.
Where that is depends on your area. A health system's policy or government-affairs office, a public health agency or a professional nursing organization could fit, but run any setting past your course faculty before you commit. The course focus helps: NURS 680 looks at local, regional and state policy, and NURS 682 at policy-making at the local or state level, so a site with that reach serves the sequence well.
The older handbook's general MSN preceptor rules still help you screen candidates: an RN license in good standing, and a preference for doctoral preparation, certification and two years of experience. Our preceptor requirements page keeps those side by side with the current catalog wording.
Practicum II is written for working nurses
The catalog describes NURS 681 as designed for the student already employed in a healthcare organization, with exposure to executive management and policy-making. If you work in healthcare, that points straight at your own employer. The description doesn't say a non-employed student can't take it, so ask faculty how the course applies to you if you aren't currently working in healthcare.
If you use your employer, the most recent written rule governs. The 2022-23 MSN handbook allowed practicum at your workplace only with unpaid hours, an affiliation agreement, a site that meets course requirements, and a placement outside your own program, unit or department. The employer site page explains how students set that up.
Being employed by the organization doesn't make your paid shifts practicum hours. Under the last published rule, practicum time there had to be unpaid and outside your own unit.
Setting it up with Liberty
The MSN catalog leaves site selection to you, with Liberty approving the result. You identify the facility, obtain the preceptor site contract, and meet all pre-practicum requirements before the first practicum. The older handbook added that the MSN program works with students to secure preceptors, that you could ask the practicum coordinator about already-approved sites, and that a facility's own contract could slow approval compared with Liberty's standard agreement. The site contract page explains the documents.
Pre-practicum clearance, per the catalog, means current AHA CPR, immunizations, HIPAA and bloodborne pathogens modules, a background check and a drug screen, plus anything your site adds. The 2022-23 handbook routed those documents through CastleBranch, and students pay all practicum-related costs.
States closed to Health Policy practicum
Washington is off the table for this track. Liberty's Washington page says Health Policy students aren't approved for practicum there and points them to an approved state, with the School of Nursing's support. Liberty doesn't approve DC either, and students who live in a U.S. territory must complete these hours in one of the 50 states.
Outside those places, the practical test is your license: it has to be valid where the practicum happens, through that state's own RN license or a multistate license the state honors. Liberty's MSN pages also mention that some states may keep clinical sites for their in-state residential students. Its licensure FAQ says a move won't affect your enrollment as long as you stay enrolled, but a move to Washington would take your practicum out of an approved state. The state restrictions page shows how this differs from the Educator and Administration tracks.
What we bring to a policy placement
A policy placement asks for something specific: a nurse with a graduate degree who works where policy is shaped, at a site willing to sign Liberty's paperwork. We search for policy-focused settings and graduate-prepared nurses in your area, help you explain the three-course arc, including the executive focus of NURS 681, to a prospective preceptor, and prepare the preceptor and site details the Gate course collects.
We stay on call if a preceptor moves on before NURS 682, and our leads feed into Liberty's own process with the MSN practicum office. Liberty approves every preceptor and site, and a preceptor who already understands the three courses makes that review simpler. Use the form below once your NURS 680 term is set.
Questions Liberty students ask
Can a legislator or policy staffer without a nursing degree precept my Liberty Health Policy practicum?
Not as your approved preceptor, going by Liberty's wording. The catalog asks for an MSN- or doctorally prepared preceptor, and the 2022-23 handbook expected every preceptor to hold a good-standing RN license. A legislator or staffer could still be part of the experience at a site where a qualifying nurse precepts you. Ask your faculty how those hours would be counted.
I don't work in healthcare right now. Can I still take NURS 681?
The catalog says NURS 681 is designed for students already employed in a healthcare organization, but it doesn't list employment as a prerequisite. Its only listed prerequisite is NURS 680. If you aren't employed in healthcare, ask your course faculty early how they expect you to meet the course's executive and policy-making focus.
Can Health Policy practicum hours be virtual?
Liberty hasn't published a telehealth or virtual rule for MSN practicum. The older handbook expected most hours in a preceptor-supervised setting, with small shares for professional development and goal development or research. If your preceptor's work includes virtual meetings, ask faculty before logging them so the hours aren't rejected later.
How soon should I line up a Health Policy preceptor?
Earlier than you might think. NURS 680 lists only NURS 527, the first-semester Gate, as its prerequisite, and the site contract has to be in place before the practicum starts. Liberty publishes no deadline in days, so check your plan grid for your first practicum term and work back from there.
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.