Liberty RN-to-BSN: 16 community hours in NURS 440

The short answer

For the RN-to-BSN, you don't need a preceptor in the NP sense, and you don't need a semester-long clinical placement. Liberty's program page says the degree does not require traditional practicums, and that the one course with community-based clinical observation hours can be completed at an approved location near you.

That course is NURS 440, Post-licensure Strategies for Community Health Care, which the catalog describes as having a clinical focus. Its course guide asks for two eight-hour shifts at a designated community location or with a community preceptor, subject to faculty approval, recorded in a clinical log. You choose the location and preceptor and submit them for approval.

Sixteen hours is a short requirement. Most of the work is picking a suitable community setting and getting it approved in time.

The program around NURS 440

The online RN-to-BSN runs in 8-week courses with eight start dates a year; the next are listed as October 26, 2026, January 18, 2027 and February 15, 2027. The catalog lists 120 total credits while the program page says 126, and Liberty lets you transfer up to 75% of the degree, including 39 credits for your RN license.

Admission asks for an active RN license in your state of residence and a diploma or associate degree in nursing from an accredited program. Your first nursing course, NURS 220 in the catalog, includes a background check and RN license verification, and the program page notes an extra fee for the check. The 2022-23 handbook ran it through CastleBranch.

Campus time is optional. NURS 325 and NURS 492 are sometimes offered as on-campus intensives in fall and spring, but they aren't required.

Completing the observation, step by step

The course guide sets out a simple path. Here it is in order, with the one caution that timing depends on faculty approval, so start before the course does.

1. Pick a community settingChoose a designated community location, or a community preceptor, near where you live. The 2022-23 handbook allowed the hours to be split across sites in your community.
2. Submit it for approvalSend the location and preceptor details to your NURS 440 faculty. Nothing counts until they approve it.
3. Work two eight-hour shiftsComplete 16 hours of community-based clinical observation at the approved location.
4. Keep the clinical logRecord your hours and what you observed in the clinical log the course guide requires.

The clinical hours page shows how these 16 hours compare with every other Liberty nursing track.

Choosing a community site

The course's focus is community health care, so think about settings where nursing reaches people outside a hospital bed. The course guide leaves the choice to you, within faculty approval, and doesn't publish a list of approved sites. If you're unsure whether a place fits, describe it to your faculty before you contact it.

When you ask, keep the request short and concrete: two eight-hour shifts, observation only, on dates within the course term. A clearly bounded request is easier for a busy agency to answer. Our outreach guide has sample wording you can adapt for a short observation request.

If your employer runs community programs, ask your faculty whether a program outside your usual role could count. Liberty's public RN-to-BSN material doesn't state a workplace rule for NURS 440.

RN-to-BSN-to-MSN: where the hours grow

Liberty's combined RN-to-MSN route is a different scale. Each of its five concentrations (Community Health, Health Policy, Nurse Educator, Nursing Administration and Nursing Informatics) runs 159 credits, with 39 granted for your RN license, and the program page mentions a two-year accelerated track and optional virtual intensives.

The MSN portion carries the same three practicum courses and 300 practicum hours as the stand-alone concentration, completed in person in your local area. NURS 492 acts as the gate: it must be finished before any 500- or 600-level nursing course except NURS 500 and 503. You'll still complete the NURS 440 observation on the way.

Those 300 hours need a preceptor and a site agreement you arrange, so they're where planning matters. Each concentration has its own page under programs.

States and licenses

Liberty's state pages say RN-to-BSN students are not approved for practicum or observation in Washington or the District of Columbia, and students in U.S. territories must complete the experience within the 50 states. The Washington page points students to a placement in an approved state, with School of Nursing support.

Your RN license must be valid wherever you do the observation. In a non-compact state such as California, Liberty's page asks for an active California RN license; in a compact state, a multistate license may work. If you're in the RN-to-MSN, your concentration decides the MSN practicum states: Educator and Administration are approved in Washington, while Community Health, Health Policy and Informatics are not. The state restrictions page has the full comparison.

How we help RN-to-BSN and RN-to-MSN students

For 16 observation hours, the search is short and focused: one suitable community setting, approved by your faculty in time for NURS 440. A direct request to a local setting can be all it takes, and when yours have stalled, a placement advisor lines up community settings that suit the observation.

Students bring us in at two points: when their own requests have stalled and the NURS 440 term is close, or when they're in the RN-to-MSN and want to plan early for the 300 practicum hours ahead. Liberty's faculty approve every location and preceptor, and we prepare what they need to see. In the RN-to-MSN case, we look for preceptors and sites that fit your concentration and prepare the preceptor and site details Liberty collects before the first MSN practicum. See how it works for the order we follow. If either case fits you, use the form below.